New York, New York (February 6, 2007) – The Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) is delighted to support the presentation of RAJIKA PURI and DANCERS, a company of eight dancers and two musicians, will present Conversations with Shiva: Bharatanatyam Unwrapped, an exploration of the south Indian solo dance form Bharatanatyam -and its music - from a twenty-first century perspective, at Joyce SoHo, Thursday, March 22nd to Sunday, March 25th at 8 p.m. Joyce SoHo is located at 155 Mercer Street between Houston and Prince. Tickets are $25 general admission and $20 students/seniors/IAAC artists. For reservations, please call (212) 334-7479.

Bharatanatyam – and the south Indian Carnatic music that accompanies it – are by tradition solo performance arts designed for a virtuoso performer – dancer, singer, or instrumentalist - accompanied by other musicians.  A typical program consists of specific dance and musical forms learned by every student and well-known to fellow performers and their audiences.Today, it is performed internationally in western-style theatrical spaces, and performers constantly re-think its parameters, ‘playing’ with tradition in less – or more – conservative ways.

Artistic director and choreographer Rajika Puri promotes an expanded view of the dance form. She moves the focus from its origins in temple ritual to its current status as a quintessentially south Indian performance art presented both as solo and as group work at major festivals around the world. The duets, quartets, quintets and octets that comprise Conversations with Shiva: Bharatanatyam Unwrapped make reference to the traditional repertoire while simultaneously exploring other possibilities inherent in the music, languages, textiles, colors, and movements that characterize the south Indian ethos.

The re-conceived music, too, plays with the idea of multiple ‘voices’. Traditional melodies and chants are overlaid with secondary melodies and rhythmic sounds made by the dancers themselves. Compositions include texts and vocalized syllables normally heard only in a classroom.  Music Advisor Anil Srinivasan is well-versed in both Carnatic and western classical music. The soundscapes have been skillfully engineered and produced by the Grammy Award-winning Frank Wolf. The whole production is overseen by director Yuval Sharon.

Rajika Puri, trained in both Bharatanatyam and Odissi, has performed in solo recitals all over the US, Europe, Latin America and India.  Her familiarity with western classical music, ballet, modern dance and flamenco has led to cross-cultural collaborations: Flamenco Natyam (Pace downtown, Works & Process at the Guggenheim, India tour) and Bharatanatyam Variations and Bach-Bharatanatyam Variations - experimental duets which were the genesis of the current work. Active in western theater, Ms. Puri has also developed a form of danced story-telling, the basis of her last two productions: Union/Severed (Asia Society, NY in collaboration with singer Nora York) and Devi-malika (Rubin Museum of Art), both directed by Yuval Sharon.

The nine New York-based dancers who comprise the rest of the company are all soloists who perform in the U.S. and in India:  Aditi Dhruv, Archana Janardhana, Alicia Pascal, Shobana Ram, Nirali Shastri, Sonali Skandan, Malini Srinivasan and Pavithra Vasudevan.  The musicians - vocalist Shobana Raj and percussionist-violinist A. R. Balaskandan - are trained in south Indian classical (Carnatic) music and are leading recitalists and teachers in the New York area.

Director Yuval Sharon is known for his experiments with music, text, movement and visuals in his many opera and theater productions. He has worked at New York City Opera, Berkeley Opera, Komische Oper Berlin, Ensemble Studio Theatre and founded the New York-based company Theater Faction. This is his third production involving Indian dance-theater with Ms. Puri.

The Indo-American Arts Council is a 501©3 not-for-profit arts organization passionately dedicated to promoting and building an awareness of Indian artists in the performing, visual, literary and folk arts.
For information: IAAC, 146West 29th St, Suite 7R3, New York, NY 10001. .

The creation of Joyce SoHo was made possible by the magnanimous support of the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust.  Altria Group, Inc. is the 2006-2007 Season Sponsor of The Joyce Theater.  Joyce SoHo is supported by private funds from Carnegie Corporation of New York, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, First Republic Bank, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, JPMorgan Chase, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation.  Additional support has been provided by the Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund established in The New York Community Trust by the founders of the Reader’s Digest Association, The Greenwall Foundation, and Foundation for Contemporary Arts; and by public funds from the New York City Council, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.