| CURATOR | |
| Rajika Puri trained in Bharatanatyam and Odissi, and performed internationally in solo recitals, including a command performance for the President of Mexico. Currently, she focuses on developing different kinds of danced stories in which she sings, chants and narrates texts - in English and in Sanskrit – as she dances. (cf her "Ted India" INK talk on 'The Importance of Myth"). Major productions: Union Severed (Asia Society, ’05), Conversations with Shiva, (Joyce SoHo,’07), Devimalika (Duke @ 42nd St, ’08), Tapasya (Joyce SoHo, ’09). Her latest work is an hour-long retelling of the life of 'Helen of Troy': ELENI of SPARTA in which she sings in ancient Greek (Epic Women Festival, Chennai & Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi and on tour in Malaysia). An MA in the ‘Anthropology of Movement’ (NYU), Rajika writes, lectures, and gives workshops on Indian dance and theater, including onstage pre-performance talks for Indian dance shows (World Music Institute @ NYU Skirball, Cleveland Museum of Art). She also co-curates World Music Institute’s Dancing the Gods festival of Indian dance, & advises several NY dance presenters. Upcoming: An evening of danced stories from Indian myth at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (November 20, 2015) |
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| Uttara Asha Coorlawala teaches dance courses at Barnard College/Columbia University, and at the Alvin Ailey American Dance School Professional Program. Earlier, her solo show brought modern dance, Bharatanatyam and yoga, to stages of India, Europe, East Europe, Japan and the United States as she represented both the USA and India as a cultural representative. She served as a Performing Arts advisor to the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the National Center of Performing Arts, Mumbai, and greatly enjoys the challenges and social exchanges of co-curating the Erasing Borders Dance Festival, New York City. Uttara has served on various global dance research (CORD) and educational (International Baccalaureate or IB) committees. Her articles have been published in Discourses in Dance, Dance Research Journal and anthologies. Recently awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi ward for pioneering choreography, she is even more invested in the ongoing culture wars around global re-flows of body knowledges. | |