Yamuna Sangarasivam

Yamuna Sangarasivam is a Sri Lankan American dancer, academic and writer. She became well known for dancing with Michael Jackson in the music video for his song "Black or White". She works as a professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Nazareth University. She is also currently director of the Women and Gender Studies Program at Nazareth College.

Biography Yamuna was born and raised in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Her father was of Singaporean-Ceylonese origin while her mother was from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

She pursued an interest in dancing from the age of six. She initially learned the classical dance Bharatanatyam. She learned the classical dance Odissi under the guidance of Gangadhar Pradhan, while she was staying in Odisha for her studies. She also studied western classical piano and Tamil carnatic voice.

She emigrated with her family and settled in the United States when she was nine years old. Prior to moving to the US permanently, she lived in Sri Lanka and North Borneo for some time. She obtained her Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology at the Syracuse University in 2000.

She rose to prominence and limelight following her dance performance with the iconic Michael Jackson in his 1991 song "Black or White". The song eventually premiered in over 27 countries, reaching a wider audience range of 500 million. She published a bibliography titled Nationalism, Terrorism, Patriotism: A Speculative Ethnography of War (2021) which was based on the tactics of suicide bombings deployed by the militants representing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during its fight against the Government of Sri Lanka in the 26-year Sri Lankan Civil War.