|
IAAC ERASING BORDERS FESTIVAL OF INDIAN DANCE INDOORS
Hosted by
Michael Schimmel Auditorium, Pace University, 3 Spruce street, NYC |
| highlighting the literary content and languages of Indian classical dance repertoire |
| Click here for MAP and DIRECTIONS |
Tickets: $30 General public; $25 IAAC members
Monday, August 14, 2017
 |
| |
 |
VIRAJA and SHYAMJITH KIRAN trained in Bharatanatyam - as well as Yoga and Kalaripayattu - at the renowned Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai, where they were part of the Repertory company. Currently they are in great demand to choreograph for – and teach at - renowned dance institutions all over the world. Their duo recitals are comprised of works that reveal the potential inventiveness embedded in Indian dance tradition.
Rekha (‘line’) celebrates the symmetrical nature of Bharatanatyam, and the straight lines manifested by dancers’ limbs performing the basic dance vocabulary of this seminal Indian dance form. Verses from the ancient ‘Kalagni Rudra Upanishad’ reveal the significance of the three lines that make up Shiva’s sacred forehead mark, each of which is said to represent one of the three primordial syllables in the sacred sound of ‘A-u-m’, familiar to every practitioner of yoga. |
| |
|
 |
ASHWINI RAMASWAMY trained by renowned exponent of Bharatanatyam Alarmel Valli, has toured throughout the US, Russia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, the U.K, and India, as member of the acclaimed Ragamala Dance Company of Minneapolis. She was last seen in a solo traditional recital at Drive East Festival 2015, since when she has been developing the evolving work, ‘Nocturne’.
Solo from Nocturne is set to music that develops from a lone cello, then sitar, before bursting into a repetitive theme accompanied by mridangam percussion, this excerpt creates a mysterious moonlit realm filled with woodland creatures brought alive with Bharatanatyam hand gesture and body language. Fingers evoke fluttering insects, quivering feathers and tiger claws, arms become peacock tails and flying birds as these creatures emerge at nightfall. |
| |
|
 |
KALANIDHI DANCE captivates its audiences with group works that take Kuchipudi in new and exciting directions. Under the direction of award-winning artist Anuradha Nehru, the company performs regularly in the US and around the world, and has often worked with non-traditional music. Its recent collaboration with Opera LaFayette in Lalla Roukh (2013) and Gods of Egypt (2014) incorporated Kuchipudi into western opera – to considerable critical acclaim.
Synergy
A creative concept of nrtta, or pure dance, Synergy takes inspiration from the music of Ravi Shankar and Phillip Glass to inhabit a contemporary space through the vocabulary of Kuchipudi ‘nrtta’ (‘pure dance’). What emerges is a stylistically original and exciting piece.
Group dance from the opera Lalla Roukh
Set to music by the 19thC French opera composer Félicien David, this quintet was performed for the daughter of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb – Lalla Roukh on her way to be married to her love, the prince of Samarkand. |
| |
|
 |
PARUL SHAH is an internationally acclaimed Kathak dancer and choreographer who has been presented at major venues around the world, including NY City Center’s ‘Fall for Dance Festival’, the Kennedy Center, Asia Society (NY), Jacobs Pillow Festival’s ‘Inside/Out’ series, World Music Institute’s ‘Dancing the Gods’ as well as the Japan Forum Foundation (Tokyo) and Suvarna Parva (Ahmedabad, India). While preserving the emotive quality unique to Indian classical dance, Shah tells her own stories that foster understanding, empathy, and relationships between audience and performer.
Enduring Silence
They toil in arid fields while bearing and caring for children, balance heavy pots of water, cement blocks, and wooden planks on their heads. They endure physical hardships, violence, and inequality protected under the canopy of tradition. Drawing from the classical source, Kathak, Enduring Silence takes its inspiration from these women all over the world and their ignored sorrows, resiliency, and desperate strength. |
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
