Dr. Sohini Chakraborty, Ashoka Fellow, Sociologist, and dance activist is a Dance Movement Therapist and Founder Director of Kolkata Sanved. Over 22 years, Sohini experimented with breaking the barriers of traditional dance and introduced Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) as a tool for psycho-social rehabilitation to provide a fresh approach to rehabilitation in South Asia. Honed over the past two decades, the Kolkata Sanved model ‘Sampoornata’ is recognized as a pioneering concept in South Asia. Under her Leadership, Kolkata Sanved now collaborates with the Center for Lifelong Learning of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai to offer a Diploma in Dance Movement Therapy.
Sohini has received global recognition for her inspirational work in transforming lives as recipient of the Diane Von Furstenberg Award (supported by the The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation and Vital Voices) from Hillary Clinton in New York in 2011. She received the Newsmaker 2012 award from 24 Ghanta a leading Television News Channel in Eastern India and is a recipient of the prestigious True Legend Award, 2015 supported by the Indian English Daily The Telegraph. Sohini has been felicitated by the Department of Women & Child Development and the Department of Social Welfare, Govt. of West Bengal in 2016 for her work.