The Anderson Center at Tower View in Red Wing, Minnesota, will honor choreographer, dancer, and scholar Ananya Chatterjea with the 2021 A.P. Anderson Award for her significant contributions to the cultural and artistic life of Minnesota during an online ceremony on Friday, March 26 at 7 p.m.
The hour-long virtual program on the Anderson Center’s YouTube channel includes a screening of a pre-recorded interview with Chatterjea by Anderson Center Director Stephanie Rogers, produced in the Tower View Barn by Treedome Productions, followed by an opportunity for participants to submit written questions for Ananya to answer on the live video stream.
“The breadth of Dr. Chatterjea’s accomplishments is matched only by the depth of her thought and philosophy that inform each new work and endeavor. It was a pleasure to talk with an incredible intellectual and social leader in our field, and I look forward to sharing our conversation through this year’s virtual award ceremony,” said Rogers.
Chatterjea’s work as choreographer, dancer and thinker brings together contemporary dance, social justice choreography, and a commitment to healing justice. She is the artistic director of Ananya Dance Theatre, a Twin Cities-based professional dance company of BIPOC women, womxn, and femme artists, and co-founder of the Shawngrām Institute for Performance and Social Justice.
Chatterjea said, “I am honored to receive this award from the Anderson Center and follow in the footsteps of so many giants. It matters deeply that this is a Minnesota organization, but not located inside the Twin Cities; thus local, but not adjacent. It means that the consistent work I have tried to do through my work, in deepening roots and connecting to communities in the state in which I live and dance, is being recognized. This award brings prestige and an invitation to keep connecting with diverse audiences and welcoming them into the Dancing for Social Justice movement!”
Chatterjea received a 2011 Guggenheim Choreography Fellowship, 2012 McKnight Choreography Fellowship, 2015 Sage Outstanding Dance Educator Award, 2016 Joyce Foundation Award, 2018 Urban Bush Women Choreographic Fellowship, and a 2019 Dance/USA Artist Fellowship.
In response to the uprising in the Twin Cities last year, she created the Kutumkāri (Relationship-making) Healing Movement series with a particular invitation to BIPOC women and femme healers.
Her second book, Heat and Alterity in Contemporary Dance: South-South Choreographies, re-framing understandings of Contemporary Dance from the perspective of choreographers from South-South communities, was published in Fall 2020 by Palgrave MacMillan.
Chatterjea is a Professor of Dance at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where she teaches classes on Choreographing Social Justice, Dance History, and Contemporary Practice.
The annual award is named for Dr. Alexander P. Anderson, who invented the process for creating Quaker Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat cereals. An educator, botanist, writer and naturalist, Anderson built Tower View Estate, which today is stewarded by the Anderson Center who operates the historic site as a hub to develop, foster and promote creative endeavors and the exchange of ideas.
Past recipients include dancer/educator Larry Yazzie, actor/director Lou Bellamy, sculptor/architect Siah Armajani, poets Robert Bly and William Duffy, photographer Jim Brandenburg and storyteller Kevin Kling.
The interview will be close-captioned. ASL interpretation for the Q&A will be available upon request. To request interpretation, please contact Stephanie at stephanie@andersoncenter.org or 651-388-2009 by March 12.
This exhibit is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
ABOUT THE ANDERSON CENTER
Concluding the celebration of its 25 years in 2021, the Anderson Center – in its historic setting of Tower View – offers residencies in the arts and humanities; provides a dynamic environment for the exchange of ideas; encourages the pursuit of creative endeavors; and serves as a source of significant contributions to society. One of the North’s top artistic destination points, the Anderson Center has served the national arts and humanities community and the citizens of Minnesota since 1995. From the grounds of Tower View, a grand national registered historic landmark in the scenic Mississippi River town of Red Wing, Minnesota, the Anderson Center supports and showcases creativity and innovation at the intersection of art and ideas.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced the first round of recommended awards for fiscal year 2021 totaling $27,562,040. Supported projects span 14 artistic disciplines in communities throughout the United States. Also included in this announcement are the recipients of NEA Literature Fellowships in creative writing and translation and support for arts research projects.
The NEA made awards to 38 projects in Minnesota, including Ananya Dance Theatre. Nationwide, 99 grants were made in the dance discipline.
“The creativity and resilience of artists and arts organizations across the country have inspired Americans during this challenging year,” said Arts Endowment Acting Chairman Ann Eilers. “These projects represent the vitality and perseverance of arts organizations small and large to overcome significant challenges, transform to new ways of engagement, and forge new relationships that benefit the diverse populations in neighborhoods and cities throughout the United States.”
Click here to view a state-by-state listing of all the grants announced in this release.
Click here to view a listing of awards by discipline / grant category
Click here for a list of the panelists who reviewed the applications for funding
The Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) awards range from $10,000 to $100,000 and cover these artistic disciplines: Artist Communities, Arts Education, Dance, Design, Folk & Traditional Arts, Literary Arts, Local Arts Agencies, Media Arts, Museums, Music, Musical Theater, Opera, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works, Theater, and Visual Arts.
In February 2020, the agency received 1,674 eligible GAP applications requesting more than $82.4 million in FY 2021 support. Approved for funding are 1,073 projects totaling nearly $25 million, with grants recommended to 64% of all applicants and an average grant amount of $23,190. Grant guidelines and upcoming application deadlines are now available on the Arts Endowment website for organizations wishing to apply.
A $20,000 award to National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, to support the Move/Dance! Program in partnership with Atlanta Public Schools and Spelman College, which will virtually engage students in the appreciation of Black dance in America.
A $15,000 award to Illinois State University to supportoutreach to HBCUs and the publication of Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora. With the aim of growing its readership and cultivating new voices, Obsidianplans to offer online literary programming at HBCUs across the country.
A $25,000 award to Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts to support a master class series for aspiring classical music singers. The project will take place at several historically Black colleges and universities such as Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland; Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia; and Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia.
A $20,000 award to Josephine Sculpture Park inFrankfort, Kentucky, to support an artist residency program for visual artists and related public programming. Artists will engage local rural audiences and a partnership with Kentucky State University will enable students to engage with the residency program as interns and volunteers.
The National Endowment for the Arts will award $1.2 million in FY 2021 Literature Fellowships to creative writers and translators. This includes 35 Creative Writing Fellowships of $25,000 each. These FY 2021 fellowships are in poetry and enable the recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement. In addition, the Arts Endowment approved $325,000 in fellowships to 24 translators to translate works from 16 languages and 19 countries into English. Click here to take a more in-depth look at these fellowships and other Literary Arts grants this round.
The National Endowment for the Arts also offers two funding opportunities for research projects. This year marks the tenth anniversary of grants for arts research, a program currently known as Research Grants in the Arts. For FY 2021, 14 organizations are recommended for Research Grants in the Arts totaling $833,000. In addition, five NEA Research Labs are recommended for funding totaling $645,790. Transdisciplinary research partnerships grounded in the social and behavioral sciences will examine and report on the benefit of the arts in non-arts sectors. Click here to explore more about the recommended arts research awards.
Many supported projects are currently working in a virtual space. This is also true for the panel process. Once applications are submitted to the agency for consideration and staff have reviewed them for eligibility and completeness, a panel of dedicated experts with knowledge and experience in their field review and score each application in accordance with the published review criteria. Recommendations are then made to the National Council on the Arts. The council makes recommendations to the Chairman, who makes the final decision on all grant awards. The Arts Endowment assembles diverse panels every year with regard to geography, race and ethnicity, and artistic points of view. To learn more about the process or to volunteer as a panelist.
About the National Endowment for the Arts
Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the Arts Endowment supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. Visit arts.gov to learn more.
Classes to build and enhance the capacities of Black, Indigenous, Brown, LGBTQ, and Marginalized communities to resist and recover from harm and oppression
The Soul Survivor Sessions (SSS) is a series of communal learning experiences for Black, Brown, Indigenous, Marginalized, LGBTQ, and Femme folks focused to acquire skills in Personal Protection/Self-Defense, Home & Community Defense, Physical/Spiritual Conditioning, Stress Inoculation, Survival Skills, and Legal Self-Defense Knowledge. The guiding intent of the series is to hold space where participants can come to feel safer and more comfortable in their own skin and with their kin. Our classes are offered by BIPOC instructors with backgrounds in Security, Medicine, Faciliation, and Survival Skills.
SSS is a collaborative project of Black Star Club for Community Defense with the Ananya Dance Theatre’s Shawngrām Institute. We share a commitment to community-embedded artmaking and carework. The Shawngrām Institute is Ananya Dance Theatre’s space to create dance, practice, train, offer classes, hold dialogues, and host community events. Shawngrām, Bengali for resistance, describes our shared philosophy and our methodology for social justice performance. As we are able to gather safely, SSS sessions will be hosted inside the Institute.
Soul Survivor Sessions: Virtual Classes for December 2020
Foundations of Self-Defense and Community Safety: Saturday, December 5, 2pm-5pm. In this session, you will learn about: (1) Core legal knowledge and state statutes about Reasonable Use of Force and self-defense in Minnesota – stay safe personally and legally. (2) Fundamental concepts for personal protection and community safety. (3) Key considerations for protecting yourself – like what constitutes an actual threat to your life and how to respond. (4) For those interested, we will talk about firearms and less lethal tools for self-defense. If you’re interested in getting your MN Permit to Carry with Cousin D, taking this course will be counted towards your qualification process. Location: Zoom Webinar with Black Star
Intro to First Aid & Street Medicine: Sunday, December 6, 1pm-5pm. In this session, you will learn about: (1) Key concepts and skills in First Aid. (2) Key considerations and situations you’ll encounter as a Street Medic or Community First-Responder. (3) Equipment to purchase for your own first aid and medical kits. (4) Opportunities to continue your education in First Aid/Street Medic skills. Location: Zoom Webinar with Femme Empowerment Project
Intro to Conflict De-escalation: Saturday, December 12, 10am-12pm. In this session you will learn about: (1) The essential skills needed to de-escalate conflicts to protect yourself and others. (2) Use role-playing and Q&A sections to test out and practice de-escalation skills in real time. (3) Gain an understanding of how to direct and communicate with security professionals to resolve conflicts. Location: Zoom Webinar with Sequeerity
Personal Protection Mindset (Situational Awareness): Sunday, December 13, 3pm-5pm. In this session, you will learn about: (1) How to make yourself a harder target for attackers and other harmful events. (2) The mindset and simple tools that security professionals use to stay safe. (3) Practices you can use to keep relaxed and build your tolerance to stress. Location: Zoom Webinar with Atlas Defense
We are pleased to release Air, the last of our four-part film series, Dastak, created by filmmaker Darren Johnson.
This spring and summer, we adapted Dastak: I Wish You Me, our new, evening-length work about home, belonging, and borders, to nature and public places. The Farsi word dastak means knockings, and the dance traces the knockings of global injustices on our hearts through four sections: Earth, Water, Fire, and Air.
Until we can meet you in live performance next year, we offer the spirit of those sections in four surreal dance films (below).
Viewers are welcome to download and share the films.
The Dastak films were created by Darren Johnson of Northern Dawn Media, choreographer Ananya Chatterjea, composers Spirit McIntyre and Dameun Strange, textual magicmaker Sharon Bridgforth, performers Chatterjea, Kealoha Ferreira, Alexandra Eady, Renée Copeland, Julia Gay, Lizzette Marie Chapa, Parisha Rajbhandari, Nakita Kirchner, Noelle Awadallah, Laichee Yang, Fei Bi Chan, and Alessandra Williams.
We are also grateful to Marcus Young, our collaborator of many years, and Emma Marlar, our production manager, for their support in the process.
Full credits are available at the end of each film.
Air was filmed at Indian Mounds Regional Park, St. Paul; Battle Creek Regional Park, Maplewood; and Coldwater Spring, Minnesota.
Fire was filmed along and near the Lake Street corridor of Minneapolis, and University Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Water was filmed at White Sands Beach, Mississippi River Gorge, and Coldwater Spring, Minnesota.
Earth was filmed at Coldwater Spring, Minnesota.
This project is supported by the National Performance Network (NPN) Documentation & Storytelling Initiative. The NPN Documentation & Storytelling Initiative is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org
Dastak: I Wish You Me is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA, in partnership with the Bates Dance Festival, Lewiston, ME, UtahPresents, Salt Lake City, UT, and NPN. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org
Dastak was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Dastak is being developed with support from the Urban Bush Women Choreographic Center Initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
Production residency funded by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Dastak is supported by Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists made possible with generous funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
The development of Dastak was made possible, in part, by the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University.
Dastak is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
Dastak is supported by a grant from the Marbrook Foundation.
Ananya Dance Theatre, in partnership with Dameun Strange, is a fiscal 2020 recipient of a Cultural Community Partnership grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Metro Regional Arts Council and the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
This video is a short summing up of all the events of the World Dance Alliance -Asia Pacific (WDA-AP) Yearly Event and the Ocean Dance Festival Bangladesh 2019 organised, simultaneously, by ‘Nrityajog’ – the Bangladesh Chapter of WDA-AP, from November 22 – 25, 2019 at Cox’s Bazaar.
Ananya Dance Theatre was honored to participate in response to the Festival’s invitation.
An asymmetrical distribution of power between the student and the teacher in the Indian arts — especially in the classical performing arts — makes this sphere vulnerable to incidents of sexual abuse, thereby rendering systemic reform not just crucial, but indispensable to the progress of the disciplines.
The following article includes mentions of sexual abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
As nonprofits, faith, civic, labor, community, and business organizations we are joining to call for election integrity and democracy. We stand united for a democracy of, by, and for the people. Every eligible vote must be counted.
Under the United States constitution elected officials are decided by the people through a free and fair election. In Minnesota and across the country voters turned out in record numbers to make their voices heard. We expected that results would not be clear on Election Day. Now is the time for patience. When all eligible votes are counted, democracy wins.
During this unprecedented pandemic, we recognize how much effort has gone into making our election system safe and accessible for voters. Despite challenges, voters across the country have made their voices heard. Every eligible vote must count. We thank all voters, elections staff, and volunteers for their participation. We come together as a united voice to encourage trust in our democracy and ensure every vote counts.
Organizational Signatories
AchieveMpls
Amherst H. Wilder Foundation
AMS Digital Productions
Ananya Dance Theatre
APAHC, CHI/RRFC
Arc Northland
ArcStone
Arts Roseville
Blueprint Campaigns
Breakthrough Twin Cities
Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis
Center for Energy and Environment
Change Inc.
Chudgar Consulting
Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy
Como Community Council
Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Accion Latina
Corvus North
Ebenezer
Ecolibrium3
EVOLVE Family Services
Forecast Public Art
Fresh Energy
Frogtown Connection
Gender Justice
Girl Scouts River Valleys
Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota
Grand Rapids Area Chamber
Great River Chidren’s Museum
Habitat for Humanity of Minnesota
Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs
Honor the Earth
Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota
ISAIAH (MN)
Italian Cultural Center of Minneapolis/St. Paul
James J. Hill Reference Library
Jewish Community Action
Joint Religious Legislative Coalition
Just The Pill
Kayd Foundation
Kulture Klub Collaborative
League of Women Voters of Minnesota
Let People Vote Bryant
Lifetrack
Lifeworks Services, Inc.
Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota
Main Street Alliance of Minnesota
Mary’s Pence
Merrick Community Services
Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra
Minnesota AFL-CIO
Minnesota Citizens for the Arts
Minnesota Community Action Partnership
Minnesota Council on Foundations
Minnesota Housing Partnership
Minnesota Humanities Center
Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light
Minnesota Nurses Association
Minnesota Parent Teacher Association
Mission Momentum LLC
Missions Inc. Programs
MORE
Mount Olivet Rolling Acres, Inc.
MUUSJA – MN Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance
myHealth
National Association of Social Workers, MN Chapter
National Council of Jewish Women MN (NCJW)
National Youth Leadership Council
Neighbors, Inc.
New Americans Alliance for Development (NAAD)
Northside Economic Opportunity Network
OPEIU Local 12
OutFront Minnesota
Pillsbury United Communities
Planned Parenthood of Minnesota Political Action Fund
This spring and summer, we adapted Dastak: I Wish You Me, our new, evening-length work about home, belonging, borders, boundaries, and loss, to nature and public places. The Farsi word Dastak means knockings, and the dance traces the knockings of global injustices on our hearts through four sections: Earth, Water, Fire, and Air.
Until we can meet you in live performance next year, we offer (below) the spirit of those sections in four surreal dance films: Earth, filmed at Coldwater Spring, Minnesota; Water, filmed at White Sands Beach, Mississippi River Gorge, and Coldwater Spring, Minnesota; and Fire, filmed along and near the Lake Street corridor of Minneapolis, and University Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota.
We will release Air here over the coming weeks.
Created by filmmaker Darren Johnson, choreographer Ananya Chatterjea, composer Dameun Strange, composer Spirit McIntyre, textual magic maker Sharon Bridgforth, and performers Noelle Awadallah, Fei Bi Chan, Lizzette Marie Chapa, Ananya Chatterjea, Renée Copeland, Alexandra Eady, Kealoha Ferreira, Julia Gay, Nakita Kirchner, Parisha Rajbhandari, and Laichee Yang.
We are also grateful to Marcus Young, our collaborator of many years, and Emma Marlar, our production manager, for their support in the process.
This project is supported by the National Performance Network (NPN) Documentation & Storytelling Initiative. The NPN Documentation & Storytelling Initiative is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org
Dastak: I Wish You Me is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA, in partnership with the Bates Dance Festival, Lewiston, ME, UtahPresents, Salt Lake City, UT, and NPN. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: www.npnweb.org
Dastak was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Dastak is being developed with support from the Urban Bush Women Choreographic Center Initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
Production residency funded by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Dastak is supported by Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists made possible with generous funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
The development of Dastak was made possible, in part, by the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University.
Dastak is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
Dastak is supported by a grant from the Marbrook Foundation.
Ananya Dance Theatre, in partnership with Dameun Strange, is a fiscal 2020 recipient of a Cultural Community Partnership grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Metro Regional Arts Council and the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
ASIA SOCIETY, NEW YORK, October 19, 2020 — Dr. Ananya Chatterjea, choreographer, dancer, and professor of theatre arts and dance at the University of Minnesota, delivers her lecture How Do We Dance Now? Moving in Alignment with the Uprising. Following her address, she was joined in conversation Dr. Thomas F. DeFrantz, professor in the Department of African and African American Studies and the Dance Program at Duke University. The event featured introductory remarks by Sarah McCaffery, manager of interdisciplinary arts at Asia Society. (1 hr., 7 min.)
Hacking the Syllabus: Critical Solidarities is a three-part series that shares powerful perspectives of educator-activists and resources they’ve created, syllabi, to equalize access to knowledge and disseminate paths for learning. The series explores building solidarities, including Asian and Black racial alliances, through an intersectional lens and covers various disciplines, including dance, feminism, and Asian American studies.
Ananya Dance Theatre supports the Kolkata Centre for Creativity’s first Annual Conference in Performing Arts “Performing Performance 2020,” that flags-off conversations on the theme, “Women in Performance.”
Discussions on September 4-5 will span two sub-themes: Body in Performance & Agency in Performance, and will feature keynote addresses by Lubna Marium and Dr. Ananya Chatterjea, artistic director, Ananya Dance Theatre.
Conversation panels will include Dr. Anuradha Kapur, Dr. Bishnupriya Dutt, Dr. Urmimala Sarkar, Zuleikha Chaudhuri, Dr. Trina Nileena Banerjee and Meghna Bhardwaj.
The event will provide space for the exchange of thoughts, research, experiments, and practices regarding gender identity and politics of body.
Ananya Dance Theatre’s Kealoha Ferreira & Alexandra Eady
Hello Community!
It was powerful linking arm-in-arm with you during the Uprising. As we grow in our practice of resistance and resilience we feel the time has come to offer Virtual Yorchhā Classes again!
Tues: Yorchhā Strong, 9-9:30am, Central Wed: Intro to Yorchhā, 6:30-7:30pm, Central Fri: Intro to Yorchhā, 6:30-7:30pm, Central Sun: Advanced Yorchhā, 3-4pm, Central
To participate, email kealoha.ferreira@gmail.com for the class link. Suggested donation of $10-20 per class.
Class Descriptions:
Yorchhā Strong- Join Ananya Dance Theatre artist, Alexandra Eady for a 30 minute movement practice of building and releasing heat through cardio, strength and mobility movements. This class is for all levels. Modifications and progressions will be offered so that all feel comfortable and safe participating.
Intro to Yorchhā- Envision justice through rhythmic footwork, flowing torso, and sustained breath in Intro to Yorchhā with Ananya Dance Theatre Artistic Associate, Kealoha Ferreira. Each class begins with a warm-up followed by foundational Yorchhā exercises and a fun choreographed phrase.
Advanced Yorchhā- Dive into the nuance and complexity of Yorchhā with Ananya Dance Theatre Artist, Alexandra Eady. Advanced Yorchhā, is designed to challenge and hone experienced movers through strength training, technique refinement, and intricate choreography. Previous Yorchhā experience is encouraged.
Yorchhā, is Ananya Dance Theatre’s trade marked contemporary Indian technique that intersects principles of Vinyasa Yoga, classical Indian dance form Odishi (from the eastern Indian state of Odisha) and martial art form Chhau (also from Odisha).
Liability Disclaimer: By participating in these virtual classes, you agree that Ananya Dance Theatre is not responsible for, and you hereby waive all claims for, loss, injury, or illness to person or property relating to your participation in dance classes and other activities sponsored by Ananya Dance Theatre.
Thank you, dear friends, for your vigilance and unyielding support.
Ananya Dance Theatre is in no danger of closing. Not from COVID-19, and not from vandalism. However, we must prepare for what the weekend may bring, and we must contend with many of the uncertainties and challenges that all of the performing arts face in the year ahead.
Stay with us as our information and path forward evolve.
This film by Rheannah Wynter and Chris Cameron captures the essence of those residencies, work with FSU Dance students, and research for “Fires of Lost Homes,” with dancers Kealoha Ferreira, Alexandra Eady, and Lizzette Chapa, and Sharon Bridgforth, writer, Spirit McIntyre, composer, the Florida People’s Advocacy Center, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Our thanks to MANCC, Florida State University, and Urban Bush Women!
Full-length videos from Ananya Dance Theatre‘s repertoire will be available online for the duration of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s “stay-at-home” order.
Roktim: Nurture Incarnadine, 2015, will be available for viewing on Vimeo from 12pm CDT, April 3, through 8pm CDT, April 10: https://vimeo.com/148625810. Running time: 01:48:34.
Duurbaar: Journeys into Horizon, 2006, will be available for viewing on Vimeo from 12pm CDT, April 10, through 8pm CDT, April 17: https://vimeo.com/245678075. Running time: 01:17:56.
Moreechika: Season of Mirage, 2012, will be available for viewing on Vimeo from 12pm CDT, April 17, through 8pm CDT, May 8: https://vimeo.com/406989561. Running time: 01:25:55.
Sutrajāl: Revelations of Gossamer, 2019, will be available for viewing on Vimeo from 12pm CDT, April 24, through 8pm CDT, May 8: https://vimeo.com/410942082. Running time: 01:30:27.
Ananya Dance Theatre and the Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice are re-framing classes for the remainder of Minnesota’s “Stay-at-Home Order” using two online platforms. Click here for details: http://www.ananyadancetheatre.org/about/classes/
To participate, send an email to kealoha.ferreira@ananyadancetheatre.org by 30 minutes before class time to receive an invitation link to join the online class.
On Facebook Live (www.Facebook.com/ShawngramInstitute/), we offer Yorchha Burst – shorter, midday movement for the whole family. Sometimes stretching, sometimes strength-building, sometimes a burst of new grooves.
By participating in these virtual classes, you agree that Ananya Dance Theatre is not responsible for loss, injury, or illness to person or property relating to your participation in these classes.
All classes at Ananya Dance Theatre’s Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice have been cancelled for March 16-31. The March 28 dialogue, “Tracing Hmong Aesthetics,” has been postponed to a date TBD.
Dates: Monday-Friday, June 15-26, 2020, 9am-1pm (We recognize and continue to monitor the uncertainty of our times, and we will respond to changes in the environment if needed.)
There will be an informal showing on Friday, June 26 at 12pm and 6pm.
Ananya Dance Theatre’s Shawngram Summer Intensive is a 2-week training program in St. Paul, Minnesota (4 hours/day, 5 days/week). It will introduce Yorchha™, our unique movement aesthetic, in technique classes that build in complexity over 2 weeks, and our particular choreographic process of creating dance from the stories of our lives.
This program is part of Ananya Dance Theatre’s ongoing commitment to train next generations artists of color for professional engagement in dance.
This summer intensive embodies and enunciates our core principles: that moving and negotiating space with strangers, and connecting ourselves to our bodies and life stories through metaphoric movement, allows us to access experiences and power that have yet to be articulated.
Yorchha™ brings together movement principles from Odissi, the classical Indian dance technique, Chhau, the East Indian martial art, and Vinyasa Yoga.
For questions, please write to alexandra.eady@ananyadancetheatre.org
Washington, DC—Chairman Mary Anne Carter announced today that organizations in every state in the nation, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, will receive federal funding for arts projects from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in this round of fiscal year 2020 funding. Overall, 1,187 grants totaling $27.3 million will provide Americans opportunities for arts participation, and this year include projects that celebrate the Women’s Suffrage Centennial.
The NEA recommended grants totaling $951,000 for 45 Minnesota organizations, including $10,000 for Ananya Dance Theatre and $15,000 for The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support grants throughout the entire country that connect people through shared experiences and artistic expression,” said Arts Endowment Chairman Mary Anne Carter. “These projects provide access to the arts for people of all abilities and backgrounds in both urban centers and rural communities.”
10-Cornered Stakes of Contemporary Dance-Making at Times of High Imperatives | by Ananya Chatterjea, artistic director
• The world in 2020 is a very different place from what it was when Ananya Dance Theatre was birthed 15 years ago.
• I enter 2020 with clarity about the stakes of my Contemporary Dance-Making.
• My imperative: To make dance move with relevance through the polarized devastation of the current world.
Sutrajāl: Revelations of Gossamer (2019) Photo by V. Paul Virtucio
1. Practice: The body is home. Practice movement with 100% integrity, allowing different intelligences to emerge in consciousness, grounding the kinesthetic, physical, and visceral as modes of making meaning. The physical practices of shared rhythm, non-verbal interaction, moving together in spaces, and asserting presence constitute a core methodology of dance.
2. Low-flying Relevancies: Connect with urgent, age-old currents within communities that emerge in new forms and grassroots movements. As cultural fault lines often precede policy shifts, think dance-making as manifesting the cultural codes within resistance movements on the ground. Dance for life and for justice. #occupydance.
3. Marma/Nerve-root: Old-fashioned as it may sound, dancing is meaningful, activated by and activating sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Hold stories as fragmented, abstract, inter-connected mosaics in the body, in ways that strike the nervous core of our shared humanity as acts of presencing, energetic, sense-drawings of a more just universe.
4. Parābāstab/Hyper-reality: Surrender to the surreal, absurd, and illogical connections, and the uncanny juxtapositions in choreographic structure that were core to Bengali folklore. Simultaneously, divorce daily logic as an organizing principle. This is our roadmap to an ecosystem undergirded by visions of equity.
5. Magic: Claim Maya, the dramatic and passionately magical charge of the universe, ever-shifting, refusing stabilization, forever spirit, forever multiple. And claim Emotion, not as a flat state of being, but as a portal to knowing self-in-community. It might not be entertaining; entertainment is not our goal, shared pleasure is.
6. Ākasmik/Metalogic: Reject conventional meanings and narrative arcs. Invite audiences to reflect on the world when emotions, events, and rhythms can turn on a dime, and indicate the striking possibilities that lie folded within the surface of the stage.
7. Time-Space Juxtapositions: As the dance of the universe is choreographed on multiple planes, reflect simultaneity, resonance and connectivity with winding, looping, and defiant time-space bendings. This is key to illuminating the intersectional, global, feminist space that shapes our contemporary understanding of the world.
8. Indrajāl/Extraordinary Networks: Reiterate the power and flow of feminine, not female, divine energy. Flex the infinitely extensible and tensile Love, Connectivity, and Intimacy. This is the culmination of lessons learned from women across the world who have taken on care-work, caring for entire communities, as modes of resistance.
9. Inquilab Zinabad/Long live the revolution: Riffing off of Freirean ideals, embrace performance, not just as rehearsal for revolution, but as offering vital clues to embody protest via ensemble work that still celebrates different phrase work. Make space for active, choice-filled witnessing, not accidental bystanding, so we can hold stories that do not find their way to the surface. #shawngramchoreographicmethodology
10. Refuse invulnerability: The closing of artistic vulnerability is the success of racism, and the success of the strong-woman-of-color-safety-device. Refuse the inevitable big finish, play with anti-beauty, make space for rage and fury, clear rhythm for grieving. Trace the work that is necessary in the room, in the community, in the world right now.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced the first round of recommended awards for fiscal year 2021 totaling $27,562,040. Supported projects span 14 artistic disciplines in communities throughout the United States. Also included in this announcement are the recipients of NEA Literature Fellowships in creative writing and translation and support for arts research projects.
Foundations of Self-Defense and Community Safety: Saturday, December 5, 2pm-5pm. In this session, you will learn about: (1) Core legal knowledge and state statutes about Reasonable Use of Force and self-defense in Minnesota – stay safe personally and legally. (2) Fundamental concepts for personal protection and community safety. (3) Key considerations for protecting yourself – like what constitutes an actual threat to your life and how to respond. (4) For those interested, we will talk about firearms and less lethal tools for self-defense. If you’re interested in getting your MN Permit to Carry with Cousin D, taking this course will be counted towards your qualification process. Location: Zoom Webinar with Black Star
Intro to First Aid & Street Medicine: Sunday, December 6, 1pm-5pm. In this session, you will learn about: (1) Key concepts and skills in First Aid.
Intro to Conflict De-escalation: Saturday, December 12, 10am-12pm. In this session you will learn about: (1) The essential skills needed to de-escalate conflicts to protect yourself and others. (2) Use role-playing and Q&A sections to test out and practice de-escalation skills in real time. (3) Gain an understanding of how to direct and communicate with security professionals to resolve conflicts. Location: Zoom Webinar with Sequeerity
Personal Protection Mindset (Situational Awareness): Sunday, December 13, 3pm-5pm. In this session, you will learn about: (1) How to make yourself a harder target for attackers and other harmful events. (2) The mindset and simple tools that security professionals use to stay safe. (3) Practices you can use to keep relaxed and build your tolerance to stress. Location: Zoom Webinar with Atlas Defense
