ERASING BORDERS 2008 : Festival of Indian Dance

Erasing Borders: Festival of Indian Dance, August 18-21 2008

CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS

	Amy Chin Consultant (Arts Administration & Non-Profit Management) Amy Chin serves as a current appointee to the Mayor's Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission for the City of New York. Ms. Chin has held many positions as a non-profit executive, governmental representative, board officer and grant maker including acting as Interim Executive Director and Special Advisor for Cultural Initiatives with the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation, and Executive Director for the New York Chinese Cultural Center/Chinese Folk Dance Company. The Chinatown Partnership pioneered initiatives integrating arts and culture into community economic development, including an award-winning marketing and tourism campaign. She worked as an Arts Program Specialist for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; as Development Associate at Dance Theater Workshop; and has consulted for foundations and non-profit organizations nationwide. She has been recognized with a special citation from the Office of the Manhattan Borough President; and has received and Arts Administration Fellowship from the NEA.

	Dr. Ananya Chatterjea Artistic Director, Ananya Dance Theatre Ananya Chatterjea is an artist and activist, and Associate Professor of Dance at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Featured in Ms. Magazine's millennial issue as a choreographer who is still pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a woman and a dancer. Trained initially in Indian classical and folk dance traditions, she became a well-known exponent of Odissi dance under the tutelage of her renowned guru, Sanjukta Panigrahi, at a young age. Ananya came to the U.S. in 1989 in her search for more innovative ways to conceptualize the dancing body. She trained in modern dance styles such as Graham and Limon, and various styles of African dance. She earned her doctorate in 1996 along with Certification in Women's Studies from Temple University.

	Anurekha Ghosh Artistic Director, Anurekha Ghosh & Company Anurekha Ghosh has been experimenting with Kathak through extensive research and development. Drawing influences from classical Kathak, Sufism, Martial arts, Indian classical music, Western contemporary dance and music, her aim is to shift and change, going through a process of chaos and confusion and then clarifying a concept which holds relevance to the present environment. This results in creation of a dance and musical language which is spiritual, dynamic, pure, fresh, beautiful, personal, innovative and is still a blend of 'tradition and modernity'.

	Blondell Cummings Dancer and Choreographer Blondell Cummings is founder and artistic director of the Cycle Arts Foundation, multi-disciplined diverse arts collaborative that focus on social and political issues. Ms Cummings has created over 50 experimental collaborative, solo, duet and group multi-media works and has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa. She has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, the Asian Cultural Council, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She was profiled in Michael Blackwood post modern dance film "Dancing On The Edge" and the PBS "Free To Dance" series. "Chicken Soup" her choreography received a 2006 American Masters grant. She was a presenter and panelist in the Danse Resistance conference in Paris, France 2008. A recent project is titled, "30/30" (Meditations on Human Rights).

	Daniel Phoenix Singh Founder & Artistic Director Daniel Phoenix Singh completed an MFA in Dance and a Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies from the University of Maryland. He obtained a Laban Movement Analyst Certificate from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, NYC. Singh trained in Bharata Natyam with Guru Meena Telikicherla of Nrityanjali for several years. Singh has been exploring the Cuban/Colombian variations of Salsa and Merengue with Javier Varela and Shawn Malone, and has recently begun studying Tango with Sharna Fabiano. His works have been the critic's pick in the Washington City Paper and the Washington Post. In 2007, Dance Metro DC recognized Singh with the Founder's Award for Innovation in Dance.

	Deirdre Towers Director, Dance on Camera Festival Deirdre Towers has been associated with Dance Films Association since 1983, first as the editor of Dance On Camera News, then as the writer of Dance Film/Video Guide published in 1991 by Princeton Book Company, as a member of the DFA's Board of Directors since 1991, and as the director of the Dance On Camera Festival from 1994-present. She initiated the collaboration with Lincoln Center's Film Society, began the touring of the festival and designed the June 2003 outdoor event PORTALS, THE FLOATING CINEMA in Prospect Park. She took the Dance on Camera Festival to Cuba as part of Los Dias de la Danza; to Lotz, Poland; to Reykjavik Iceland; to Universidad Politecnica in Valencia, Spain; and for the Certamen Coreografico International Burgos-NY.

	Hema Rajagopalan Artistic Director, Natya Dance Theatre Hema Rajagopalan is a Bharata Natyam dancer, teacher and choreographer of international repute. Her gurus are some of the foremost figures in Bharata Natyam - Padma Shri K. N. Dandayudapani Pillai and Padma Bhushan Kalanidhi Narayanan the Abhinaya exponent. Hema has performed as a soloist at prestigious venues throughout the world, receiving critical acclaim. She was also the first choreographer working in an Indian tradition to be selected among leading Chicago choreographers to create new work by the Chicago Dancemakers Forum. She has served as a dance panelist with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, and other state arts agencies. She conducts workshops and master classes at colleges and universities throughout the country, and is an adjunct faculty member at the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago.

	Janaki Patrik Kathak Dancer & Founder, Kathak Ensemble & Friends Janaki Patrik has been a disciple of Kathak Guru Pt. Birju Maharaj since 1967. she trained in Hindustani vocal with Vidushi Siddeswari Devi and in tabla with Guru Purushottam Das. She has a BA in Russian from Swarthmore College (1966) and MA in Hindi and Sanskrit from Columbia University (2000). In 1978, she founded the Kathak Ensemble & Friends/CARAVAN, Inc. She was granted a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship to study poetry in the Kathak repertoire, and the American Institute of Indian Studies Senior Performing Arts Fellowship 2008 to make a comparative study of Kathak teaching methods and new directions in Kathak choreography in India. A performing and teaching artist since 1970, she works with Urban Gateways/Chicago, Young Audiences/NY, Henry Street Settlement, Music for Many and others.

	Dr. Joan Erdman Ph.D. Anthropology, Joan Erdman is professor of anthropology and cultural studies at Columbia College Chicago, and associate member of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies at The University of Chicago. She writes about performers, music, dance and cultural policy in India. Her recent publications include "Coming on 'Sam': When the End is the Beginning", and "Empowering Performance: TheChoreographic Techniques of Uday Shankar". She is currently working on a book-length manuscript on dancer-choreographer Uday Shankar.

	Jonathan Hollander Executive and Artistic Director, Battery Dance Company Artistic Director, Downtown Dance Festival Jonathan Hollander founded Battery Dance Company in 1976 and established the Downtown Dance Festival in 1982. He has choreographed over 60 works that the Company has presented throughout the U.S., Europe, South Asia and the Caribbean. He traveled to India as a Fulbright Lecturer in 1992, and has collaborated with leading dancers and musicians of India and Sri Lanka. Hollander has played a leadership role in the Downtown Manhattan community, and is a founder of Downtown Dance Partners, a coalition of dance companies located south of Canal Street. He co-founded the Indo-American Arts Council, a national service organization, on whose Board he serves. For well over a decade, Hollander has built and maintained a busy cultural bridge between India and the U.S. He has introduced American audiences to some of the best exponents of Indian classical dance and has helped to create a fertile ground for contemporary experimentation and collaboration by creative artists in India and the U.S.

	Krithika Rajagopalan Associate Artistic Director, Natya Dance Theatre Trained in Bharata Natyam under Hema Rajagopalan and Padma Bhushan Kalanidhi Narayanan, Krithika has also trained in Kalari Payatu (Indian martial arts) and yoga. She has given numerous solo performances at prestigious venues all over the world, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Ravinia Festival, Highland Park; the Auditorium Theatre, Chicago; the Kentucky Centre for the Arts; the Music and Dance Festival of Madras, India; and the National Centre for Performing Arts, Bombay, India. Krithika was the first Indian nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award that acknowledges outstanding achievement in Chicago Theater. She taught at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago and was an artist in residence at the Art Institute of Chicago. She is a certified instructor for Gyrotonics and has been teaching the technique in NY.

	Lata Pada Artistic Direct & Founder, Sampradaya Dance Creations Lata Pada is the Founder, Director, and Principal Teacher of SAMPRADAYA Dance Academy. Committed to showcasing bharatanatyam as a world art form, Sampradaya explores diverse movement styles, contemporary themes and innovative dance creations. Ms. Pada has trained for over thirty-seven years in the Tanjavur style of bharatanatyam under the acclaimed bharatanatyam master teacher - Kalaimamani Guru K. Kalyanasundaram. She has also trained in abhinaya under the eminent Guru Padmabhushan Kalanidhi Narayanan. After a rewarding career as a bharatanatyam soloist, she founded the Sampradaya Academy. Ms. Pada has received several training grants including the Canada Council Professional Training Grant, the Chalmers Training Grant and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations scholarship for advanced training in bharatanatyam from Gurus Kalyanasundaram and Kalanidhi Narayanan.

	Leigh Witchel Dance Writer A Guggenheim Fellow in choreography, Mr. Witchel writes regularly on dance for several publications including Ballet Review, Danceview Times and Dance Now.

	Dr. Madhulika Khandelwal Director, Asian/American Center, Queens College Prof. Madhulika S. Khandelwal has taught Asian American Studies at a number of universities and has conducted research on contemporary Asian American communities. Prof. Khandelwal's main interests include immigrants, women, South Asian diaspora, Asian American communities, and multicultural issues in the United States. Dr. Khandelwal's ethnographic research on South Asian immigrant communities in the New York area has been published in her book Becoming American, Being Indian: An Immigrant Community in New York City. Born in India, Prof. Khandelwal was educated in both India and the United States and holds a Ph.D in History from Carnegie-Mellon University. She is widely recognized for her community-oriented research and has been honored community organizations such as Pragati, Nav Nirman, and SAYA! (South Asian Youth Action!). Contact: Asian/American Center 718-997-3050 or madhulika.khandelwal@qc.cuny.edu

	Marcus Doshi Freelance Lighting Designer (opera, dance theatre) Marcus Doshi designs lighting and scenery for theatre, opera & dance as well as collaborating with artists & architects on a wide array of nontheatrical ventures. Recent projects of note include designs for the world tour of the Khmer Arts Ensemble's PAMINA DEVI, QUEENS BOULEVARD (THE MUSICAL) at the Signature Theatre Company and Bartlett Sher's production of THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH at Intiman. Upcoming work includes AIDA with Baltimore Opera, ELEKTRA with Seattle Opera, and WHERE ELEPHANTS WEEP in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Further documentation can be found at www.marcusdoshi.com

	Michelle Audet Former Executive Director, Dance New Amsterdam Michelle Audet has served the field of dance for over 30 years. Her work began as the founding Director of Education for New York City Ballet. With guidance and inspiration from George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein, she pioneered the design of interdisciplinary programs and performance models for schools and the stage. As Director of Development for Ballet Hispanico, Ms. Audet helped to raise millions of dollars in support of dance curriculum in public education, new choreography and capital funds to build the new facility. Last year, she brought her programming experience downtown to Dance New Amsterdam. Ms. Audet has a BS in Arts Administration and a Masters in Education.

	Dr. Nadia Sefcovic Physical Therapist, Westside Dance Physical Therapy Nadia Sefcovic received her BFA in Dance Performance from the Ohio State University. She has danced with companies such as Keshet Dance Co, danahbella DanceWorks, and etc Dance Co. Nadia received her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from New York Medical College, where she completed her research project in conjunction with the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries. Nadia now has the honor of working at Westside Dance Physical Therapy, where she is also a staff physical therapist for the New York City Ballet and School of American Ballet. She has recently presented at the Westside Dance Physical Therapy Dance Medicine Symposium. Currently, Nadia is in the process of obtaining her Certificate of Manual Therapy through the North American Institute of Manual Therapy.

	Parijat Desai Artistic Director, Parijat Desai Dance Company Parijat Desai is the founder and artistic director of Parijat Desai Dance Company. While her work is strongly South Asian in aesthetics and in content, it is also American, in dialogue with immigrant/people-of-color histories of the United States. Desai's goals are to develop contemporary South Asian movement aesthetics, as well as to engage audiences across boundaries of language and culture. By creating hybrids, she hopes to challenge, dangerous ideas about cultural and national purity. Desai began training in bharata natyam at age five and has studied with Rathna Kumar, Katherine Kunhiraman and Viji Prakash. She has a B.A. in cultural anthropology (Stanford University) and an MFA in choreography (UCLA).

	Parul Shah Artistic Director, Parul Shah Dance Company Parul Shah is an internationally acclaimed Kathak dancer and choreographer who will soon be premiering her work 'History of Unforgetting' in New York. By remaining within the Kathak tradition, Parul's repertoire challenges stereotypes about classical Indian dance and illustrates the dynamic nature of the form. Her work includes traditional solo pieces alongside compelling contemporary group choreographies. She has presented solo and group works at major venues around the world, including City Center's first fall for Dance Festival in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, Japan Forum Foundation in Japan, and other international venues in the Netherlands, France, and Austria.

	Preeti Vasudevan Artistic Director, Thresh Preeti Vasudevan is a performer and choreographer whose creative explorations derive from her deep training in Indian classical dance (Bharatanatyam) as well as multiple other modern and contemporary forms. Her goal is to develop a new language of movement through a multi-disciplinary approach to dance and theatre. As a classical soloist, Ms. Vasudevan has been the recipient of prestigious awards for her outstanding contribution in the classical arts of India. Her most recent solo performance Waiting for the Fifth Arrow was presented at Dance New Amsterdam, New York, April 2007. In June 2007 she was invited to present her choreographic experiments with movement at the International Symposium for Dance Research (Centre National de la Danse, Paris).

	Rachel Cooper Director of Cultural Programs and Performing Arts, Asia Society Rachel Cooper has been at the Asia Society since 1993 and is the Director for Cultural Programs and Performing Arts. She has extensive experience in the presentation of traditional and contemporary Asian and Asian-American performing arts and the development of interdisciplinary programs. Ms. Cooper is the co-founder, former director, current board president of the Balinese music and dance company, Gamelan Sekar Jaya (San Francisco). Ms. Cooper did her undergraduate and graduate work at UCLA in Ethnic Arts and Dance Ethnology. She lived in Indonesia for six years. She is the recipient of the 2006 William Dawson award for Programming Excellence, a Rockefeller grant for choreography, and the Clifton F. Webb award for film. Ms. Cooper is an advisor for the National Dance Project.

	Guru Rachna Sarang Artistic Director, Sarang Academy of Performing Arts Guru Rachna Sarang is a veteran Kathak exponent, teacher and choreographer. She was trained in Kathak by great maestros such as Pandit Sundarprashad, Pandit Lachhu Maharaj and the renowned Padmavibhushan Pandit Birju Maharaj, and in Bharatanatyam by Guru Kalyan Sundaramji, Raja Rajeshwari Institute. Her style of Abhinaya retains the nuanced, delicate and intimate style of traditional Kathak Abhinaya and is yet deep, moving and dramatic. Her style of Abhinaya is most influenced by Pt. Lachhu Maharaj, the doyen of abhinaya in the Lucknow school of Kathak and by Guru Kalyan Sundaramji. She has developed her own unique style of choreography that is as delicate as it is dynamic. She is the founder and Artistic Director of the Sarang Academy of Performing Arts based in New Jersey, and has been performing, teaching and choreographing, for the last 40 years.

	Rajika Puri Dancer, Choreographer and Writer Rajika Puri is trained in Bharatanatyam and Odissi, and best known for her creative melding of different kinds of music and theatrical techniques with dance: Flamenco Natyam (Works & Process at the Guggenheim), Union/Severed performed to both Oriya and American songs (with Nora York, at Asia Society), Conversations with Shiva, a post-modern approach to Bharatanatyam movement and music (Joyce SoHo), Devi-malika, a garland of danced stories sung and narrated by her (Duke on 42nd), the last three productions directed by Yuval Sharon. An M.A. in the (social) Anthropology of Human Movement, Rajika writes and lectures on dance, music & theatre both western and Indian. She has been on the Advisory Board of IAAC since its inception.

	Rhoda Grauer Dean, School of Visual and Performing Arts, C. W. Post Campus, Long Island University Rhoda Grauer, an Emmy-winning producer, writer and filmmaker, has served as dean of the School of Visual and Performing Arts at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville, New York since 2006. Ms. Grauer has led some of the nation's most prominent programs of dance, theatre, film and television. Ms. Grauer's media work has been broadcast nationally and internationally. Ms. Grauer has worked in and studied the classical and popular arts of the West as well as the classical and folkarts of Asia. Her most recent work originated in Indonesia, where she has lived for many years. At the C.W. Post Campus of LIU, Ms. Grauer provides leadership for one of the region's most prominent schools of the arts.

	Roger Sinha Artistic Director, Sinha Danse Roger Sinha, has presented his works both nationally and internationally. Sinha was born in England of an Armenian mother and an Indian father. His creative impulse wells up from the recollection of his cultural origins, expressing itself in a dynamic tension between the intimate and the universal, between control and abandon. His inspiration stems from a deep felt and intense need to reclaim his Indian heritage and to use this tradition to shape a modern expression of his reality. In order to be truer to his cultural roots and to grow artistically, Sinha began a deeper examination of the dance vocabulary of Bharata Natyam. By borrowing movements from Bharata Natyam, contemporary dance and martial arts and integrating them, Roger Sinha created his unique language and special signature.

	Sridhar Shanmugam Executive Director, The Arch, Inc. Sridhar Shanmugam trained in the most prestigious school of dance from Tamil Nadu - India, Later started working with Chandralekha, the legendary Dancer in 1983 and danced in all her production and performed in all major National and International dance festivals under the banner of Cultural Center Chennai. Sridhar Shanmugam has toured around the world over the past two decades, working with many of the world's most famous artists. Sharing with Pina Bausch, Suzanna Linke, and countless others, Sridhar has been an international ambassador for the arts. Won Sangeeth Natak Akademy Awards, Time out Dance umbrella award GIAI Aaward for culture and ecology as part of Chandralekha's group, has given him the basis with which to step onto any stage or into any classroom. He choreographs for youth and does intensive counseling via arts.

	Sudarshan Belsare Dancer & Choreographer Sudarshan Belsare is a Boston-based dancer, choreographer, actor, visual artist and art-museum educator and belongs to a generation of young dancers in the South Asian Diaspora in North America who have created a unique niche for themselves in the realm of classical Indian arts, while expanding their repertoire in the contemporary idiom. Formally trained in Bharatanatyam by Shankar Hombal and Padmashri Geeta Chandran, Belsare has been working on creating choreography that addresses gender, gender-identity and sexuality.

	Sudha Thakkar Artistic Director, Manu Kala Mandir Sudha Thakkar (Artistic Director): Sudha has been a highly acclaimed solo performer and teacher. She has choreographed, directed and produced several dance dramas, dance compositions and fusion dance pieces. In 2006, she had the distinct honor of being included among the top 50 dancers who have made significant contribution to dance in Alberta during the last 100 years. She is the recipient of several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and Calgary Arts Development. Her outreach activities include presentations, week-long school residencies, and Master classes at university dance departments and professional dance companies.

	Dr. Sunil Kothari Leading Indian Dance Scholar, Critic and Historian Dr Sunil Kothari is a leading dance historian, scholar, author and critic of Indian classical dance. He has to his credit more than 12 books on Indian classical dance forms and allied subjects including definitive works on Bharata Natyam, Odissi, Kathak, Kuchipudi, and Chhau Dances. He has edited volumes on 'RASA', 'Damaru', photo biographies of legendary dancers Uday Shankar and Rukmini Devi, edited volume on 'New Directions In Indian dance' etc. Dr Kothari was a dance critic of the Times of India group of publications for 40 years. Dr Kothari has held several positions such as Uday Shankar Professor and Chair, Dance Department, Rabindra Baharti Univeristy (Kolkata); Dean and Professor, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

	Dr. Sunita Mukhi Director of Asian and Asian American Programs, Charles B. Wang Center, Stony Brook University Sunita is a theater artist, performance scholar, and culture manager. She is the Director of the Charles B. Wang Center's Asian/American Programs at the State University of New York in Stony Brook producing innovative programming in light of promoting a multi-faceted, intellectually sound and humane understanding of Asianness. She received her Phd. in Performance Studies at New York University in 1997. Her book entitled Doing the Desi Thing: Performing Indianness in New York City was published in year 2000 by Taylor and Francis. She has developed courses such as Contemporary Performance in India, Cultures of the South Asian Diaspora. She has performed, directed and choreographed in university, community, and professional theatrical, television and film productions in Manila, United States, Mexico and Singapore. She continues to write poetry and stories, and performs. Website: http://www.stonybrook.edu/sb/wang/index.shtml

	Tadej Brdnik Principal Dancer, Martha Graham Dance Company Tadej Brdnik is a dancer, choreographer, educator and program director. He began his professional dance career in Slovenia. He is a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company (since 1996) and is currently also working with the Pick Up Performance Company and the Battery Dance Company. His choreography was performed in many US cities, Germany and Slovenia. It includes works: God is playing golf - winner, Benetton Dance Award, taped for Slovenian National TV; In every one of you, One of me - in collaboration with Milwaukee Dance Theater, Where memories run free and K-Mart Shopper. In 2007 he was Assisting Choreographer to Susan McClain for "Ardent Song (Redux)", premiered by the Martha Graham Dance Company in June of that year.

	Uttara Asha Coorlawala Choreographer, Researcher, Writer and Scholar Uttara Asha Coorlawala, (Ph.D. New York University) has been teaching technique and theoretical dance courses at Long Island University's C.W. Post Campus, Barnard College (Columbia University) and at Princeton University, NJ. She served as editor and as member of the Editorial and Executive Boards for Dance Research Journal. Her articles have been published in Pulse, U.K. Animated, U.K. Sruti (India's leading magazine for Music and dance) Dance Chronicle, Dance Research Journal, Sangeet Natak Akademi Journal and anthologies. Uttara studied hatha yoga with B.K.S. Iyengar, Siddha Yoga, Bharatanatyam (Kalakshetra style) and studies in Ancient Indian Culture (St. Xavier's College). She studied at the Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham studios. Her own choreographic style brought her three disciplines, modern dance, Bharata Natyam and yoga, to the dance stage.

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