Ananya Chatterjea, artistic director, Ananya Dance Theatre, was in residence in the Modern Dance Department at the University of Utah, April 21-23, as part of the “Fusion: Art & Social Justice Series.”
Chatterjea’s work interweaves the biographies and histories of women of color, the environment and performance in various global contexts, and physicalizes politics, choreographing identities and relationships in multiple arenas. She also questions and challenges tradition, artistic beliefs and practices, gender politics, and how we discuss and perceive modernity.
Residency activities included three talks, “Contestations in the History of Odissi,” “Thoughts on Contemporary Dance,” and “Socially Engaged Dance & Performance: Aligning Dance and Social Justice.” Chatterjea also presented a live performance at the Marriott Center for Dance and taught two master classes.
The residency was organized by Visiting Assistant Professor A’Keitha Carey, whose own doctoral research explores dance as an agent for societal change. She became interested in Chatterjea’s work while an undergraduate student.
“As a student, I read her work and become even more familiar with her in my doctoral program,” Carey said. “She is truly a wonderful model, illustrating how theory and practice coalesce producing educational, transformative, and transgressive works that express her theme of a call to action. We are both interested in this idea of dialogue and how these conversations do in fact provide opportunities for people to ‘stand together in difference.’”
Carey reflected about the residency in an open letter to Chatterjea:
The “shared heat” and “shared humanity” that was imparted upon the university is something that I can only equate to the phenomenal teachings of Chicana feminist Gloria Anzaldùa. Anzaldùa introduced the term nepantla which is “a Nahuatl word meaning ‘in-between space’” (Keating 2006). This liminal space is a place where one is able to disidentify from the mythology of white supremacy, allowing oneself to see oneself not as inferior but as an equal, a whole being. This theory allows for transcendence and a subversive consciousness that fractures and ruptures identity politics that often subscribe to the belief system that increasingly fictionalizes the superiority of the white race, subjugating people of color (Keating 2006).
A’Keitha Carey
Those of us who mediate and facilitate this process are called nepantleras. Nepantleras are “the supreme border crossers. They act as intermediaries between cultures and their various versions of reality . . . They serve as agents of awakening, inspire and challenge others to deeper awareness, greater concocimiento, serve as reminders of each other’s search for wholeness of being” (“Speaking Across the Divide” 20).
Ananya, you are a Nepantlera! Your entrance in this space was exactly what was needed – not a week before – or a moment after – right now – at this time. Lives have been touched, some women have found their voice, and you provided a snap shot into MY reality of what this journey can and should be as a nepantlera. Your power and presence are sublime, evoking a sense of desire that includes social change, clarity in one’s ideas and philosophies about life, purpose, and practice and specifically how one can be a change maker simply by listening and retelling the stories that we hear.
I want to offer words of encouragement to you and the warrior women known as Ananya Dance Theatre. The journey that you are on is one that will disrupt the cultural and social norms, one that is “painful [during] dimensions of this world-traveling [and border crossing]” (Keating 9). Your defiance of the expectations placed upon you, the themes that are discussed in your work, and the POWER that you present and evoke are threatening to the insecure and weak (in mind and spirit) resulting in “rejection, ostracism, and other forms of isolation” (Keating 9) but I am writing to applaud, restore, and embolden you for your work, passion, and the voice that you provide for many.
You stated “there is a way of knowing that comes from knowing your body.” The freedom from “knowing my body” allows me to communicate with a clarity that includes embracing my gifts, loving my body, and accepting and exploring the sensual imparted by the divine. Because of this “knowing” I can share my “bodily truths,” encouraging other women to share their stories. This sentiment was reified during your visit. You also mentioned “some stories need to be told over and over again.” You and your company provide the foremost example of how to occupy space, thoughts, and personhood so that these stories can be projected for what they are, “beauty and truth.”
In closing … you mentioned that a part of your purpose is to “remind young women of their power.” I felt this reclamation of my own power (through your presence) which I have purposely been (re)negotiating out of fear of the aftermath. But I am “ready to do the work.” Your presence here at the University of Utah will long be remembered. You have left your DNA in the building, in the soil, and the souls of many. Because of you, I walk bolder into the fire, I can fight another day because of what you have deposited into my spirit.
I/we find my/our voice through the roar of the Lioness… shine on and shout with the power and pleasure of knowing that across the nation, we hear you, we see you, and we stand in love, light, and in support of the freedom, transformation, and strength that Ananya Dance Theatre provides for many…
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (MN-5) with several members of Ananya Dance Theatre before the 2015 May Day Parade. Photo by Gary Peterson
Members of Ananya Dance Theatre danced their way down Bloomington Avenue in the 41st annual May Day Parade in south Minneapolis, May 3, 2015.
Every spring, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre sponsors the May Day Parade on Bloomington Avenue in South Minneapolis as a prelude to a ceremony and festival in Powderhorn Park. The parade features around 2,000 participants and the festival attracts upwards of 50,000 people.
The 2015 parade was the first time that Ananya Dance Theatre participated as an organization in May Day activities.
Following the two-mile parade, RARE Productions, an organization that uses arts to engage LGBTQ artists of color and their allies, invited dancers to perform on the festival’s Lake Stage.
Links Hall, a Chicago-based partner of the National Performance Network (NPN), presented Ananya Dance Theatre’s production of “Neel: Blutopias of Radical Dreaming” for three performances, April 17-19, 2015. Artistic Director Ananya Chatterjea and company dancers also presented master classes and workshops for members of Chicago’s dance community during a week-long residency.
“Ananya Chatterjea and Chitra Vairavan and everyone in ‘Neel: Blutopias of Radical Dreaming’ is truly doing otherworldly work.” –Ladan Osman, Somali Poet, Facebook, 4/18/15 • Photo by Ladan Osman
Soyini Madison, Professor, Performance Studies, Anthropology, African Studies, Northwestern University, April 30, 2015:
“I loved this work for many reasons: the precision of its artistry and technique; the boldness of its politics and truth telling; the brilliance of its multiple layered dance forms and temporalities; the speechless beauty of its staging and theatricality – colors in motion, how the choreography of faces, hands, and feet combined to make the body transcendent – dreams of impeccable horror and radical redemption. …
“I was shaken after the performance. It is true that I might not have known – in exact or specific terms – every symbolic gesture or every moment in ‘Neel’s’ overarching historical/contemporary time and context, but the work of brilliant art does not require or expect that I know it all – only sophomoric, didactic, inexperienced and bad performance does this. Your work does not insult the audience, your work does not insult the craft of dance (or your own intelligence and that of your dancers) by telling us how and what to think. Instead you OPEN the gates of brutal truths – you unleash them from their hiding places – you translate hard truths (unspeakable truths), you give them story and form and motion for us to feel, know, believe – be disturbed and moved by what we must know and will not forget after we leave your company’s performance.
“Those gun shots crossed epics – I hear them in the West Bank, in Afghanistan, in West Africa, in Columbia, in Ferguson, Missouri, in the every where places where life is destroyed at the hands of the spiritless. The tragedy of life lost, hope forgotten, memories unnamed, and the unrelenting desire for belonging is the script of the world and you danced it into our consciousness. The fact that we ARE our dreams and that a woman’s imagination is the life-blood of her soul is a birthing of new paths and futures that only comes out of the wombs of women. This is an existential fact that Ananya Dancers not only showed us, but also reminded us through dream story and through a performance of imaginings enshrined in radical love – love that surpasses time and space to make us strong beyond our means – beyond our own individual history, even our own singular body – the strength of the multitudes that foment revolution. …
“I wept at the end of your show because it ‘revolutionized me’ again. It reminded me of who I am, and what I am here to do, because I forget sometimes. ‘Neel’ reminded me of the power of art to change minds and feelings, to build community, to love, to believe in the possibilities of our dreams and that our strength of belonging is beyond measure. The Revolutionaries throughout history that I have read all seem to have one saying in common: revolutions begin with thoughts and feelings. ‘Neel’ made us think and feel abundantly, intelligently, and beautifully. Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.”
Ananya Dance Theatre dancers and master class participants at Links Hall. “My body feels stirred alive with heat & stomping passions. Thank you.” –@anjalchande, Twitter, 4/15/15
Laura Molzahn, chicagotribune.com, April 19, 2015:
“Freely interpreting her trademark blend of Odissi dance, yoga and an Indian martial art through the lens of contemporary choreography, Chatterjea is often ingenious. She shapes Indian dance’s acute angles — sharply articulated knees, wrists, elbows, spines — into intricately entwined puzzles in slow-moving, face-to-face duets. And though the traditional meanings of mudras (hand positions) are generally unknown in the U.S., harshly splayed fingers fanning across a face or flicked fists still convey emotion.
“Also stirring is the pounding of nearly two dozen feet in unison. In contrast to Indian dancers’ usual steely control, these performers can be wild and athletic in the nritta (pure dance) sections, yelling and abandoned.
“Chatterjea herself is a riveting performer, with the kind of authority only years of practice can give. Her abhinaya, or expressive movement of the face, is masterly. She exhibits both steely control and the ability to effect subtle, flickering shifts in emotion. Her solo, mourning paradise lost, is the most affecting moment of ‘Neel.’ … [A]ll the performers do a remarkable job in this challenging choreography.”
“A nonverbal spiritual awakening.” –Audience member, @LinksHall, Twitter, 4/19/15 Photo by Jennifer Grob
Lauren Warnecke, artintercepts.org, April 22, 2015:
“This was the stuff of nightmares. And, at times, it was really difficult to watch. …
“[T]he piece exemplified a balance of passion and pain, further reinforced by a large, diverse cast of women and hints of folklore from a potpourri of cultures. And yet, the dance was choreographed through a rather specific lens of contemporary Indian dance. Ananya’s namesake, Artistic Director Dr. Ananya Chatterjea, created intriguing movement that somehow remains true to her roots in classical Indian dance, and her solo performance mid-way through the first hour was a force to be reckoned with.”
“Infinitely jaw dropping and fascinating.” –@LinksHall, Twitter, 4/19/15 Photo by Jennifer Grob
Matt De La Pena, seechicagodance.com, April 21, 2015:
“The final product is probing, if not alternately moody in its tone.”
“I knew in the first 5 minutes that it would be a performance that would stay with me for a very long time.” –@LinksHall, Twitter, 4/19/15 Photo by Jennifer Grob
Ananya Dance mixes social activism with performance.
Photo by V. Paul Virtucio
Article by: SHEILA REGAN, Special to the Star Tribune
March 12, 2015 – 8:52 PM
“The evening was both celebratory and subversive, with performances taking place inside the theater and around the lobby.…it was a way to shake up the idea of performance, allowing audiences to experience dance by participating in it.”
“Well, that was different,” I overheard one of the audience members say after yesterday’s performance by Ananya Dance Theatre. I smiled to myself. What she was really saying in Minnesotan speak was, “I’m not entirely sure what to think of this nontraditional thing I just witnessed–and I don’t want to offend anyone–so I’m going to make as neutral an assessment as possible.”
Yes, last night’s performance was “different.” It wasn’t the opera; it wasn’t the symphony. Yes, it was challenging (some of the dancing was evocative of death and dying; some evoked sex). Yes, it brought up issues we don’t necessarily like to think about (i.e. the hardships and tragedies of modern, urban life). But it was important. And beautiful. And I applaud the Ordway for commissioning such a provocative, meaningful performance.
So, what made some people squirm last night? What challenged our pleasant, theatre-going selves?
It started with a map.
When my guest, Cindy, and I walked into the theatre, a friendly usher handed us a map, examined our tickets, and told us we would be starting on the third floor at the “Wishing Well.” The Wishing Well was one of five different interactive sets spread across the Ordway. The idea was to merge audience and performers, spectators and dancers. Each set had a unique theme and a distinct message revolving around social justice, human rights, and the meaning of humanity. There was The Empress of Whimsy and Fortunes, Life Force, Wishing Well, Longest Day’s Journey, and Veins. My favorite set was Wishing Well, in which we were each invited to jot down a wish on a piece of rice paper, hand the paper to a young girl seated in front of a basin of water, and watch as she swirled the wish into the water and it disintegrated into muddy flecks. The effect was fantastic. The image of a bowl full of wishes, swirling and melding together, is pure magic.
After Part One, we all filed into the new concert hall (with members of Ananya Dance Theatre bending and twisting around us) and found our seats. Then, Part Two began.
Although Part Two took place on stage, I wouldn’t call it traditional. The members of Ananya (all dressed in vivid colors) explored what the human body can do with elaborate twists, foot stomps, yoga-like poses, and both subtle and grandiose movements. As I watched, I could feel a narrative unfold. I could see birth, death, agony, chaos, sex, community. It was incredibly expressive and, at times, hard to watch.
The dance entitled Our Bodies Hold Struggle was particularly challenging. Amid minor-key music and wailing that made me think of demons, the dancers spasmed on the stage or flopped like dying fish. I could feel the misery and despair. I wanted it to stop. And then I realized…
That’s the point.
Life is not always neat and comfortable. Sometimes it’s painful and tragic. Sometimes it’s hard to watch. But it’s important that we do watch; it’s important that we recognize the illness in the world and attempt to cure it.
That said, the entire performance was not so serious. Some dances celebrated life, community, togetherness. Some mimicked water (the lifeblood of our cities). The bright colors and gorgeous movements left a kind of lingering hope.
As I exited the theatre, I couldn’t help feeling that I had just witnessed something important. And I wanted others to witness it too. My sincere hope is that Ananya Dance Theatre gets the recognition it deserves for the role it plays in our community. It brings color, vibrancy, and consciousness to the Twin Cities.
Aahvaan is conceived and created by choreographer Ananya Chatterjea with collaborating director, behavioral and social practice artist Marcus Young, and the dancers of the company. Recorded scores are composed and arranged by Greg Schutte in collaboration with Mankwe Ndosi, Laurie Carlos, Pooja Goswami Pavan, Dorene Waubanewquay Day, and Michelle Kinney. Click for tickets.
Scenography: Anne Henly with Annie Katsura Rollins; Lela Pierce
Costume Design: Annie Katsura Rollins with Annie Cady
Production Management: Josina Manu Maltzman; assistance: Emma Marlar
Commissioned for the grand opening of the Ordway Concert Hall, Aahvaan: Invoking the Cities is structured uniquely in two major acts. Supported by layers of recorded and live music, this epic, full-length dance theater piece weaves together images inspired by the rich history of indigenous communities on this land, the diversity of communities who now call the Twin Cities home, our rich legacy of water, the vicissitudes of urban life, and artistic innovation.
Act 1 begins when audience members walk into the Ordway and are invited to participate in five simultaneous performance installations inspired by histories, stories, and energies of communities in the Twin Cities and Minnesota.
ACT 1
EMPRESS OF WHIMSY AND FORTUNES
Hui Niu Wilcox
SCORE: Greg Schutte
LIFE FORCE
Camille Horstmann, Lydia Jones, Nakita Kirchner, Suzette Gilreath, Aemoni Dancy, Fiona Steen, Totianna Howard (young dancers from Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists) with Brittany Radke
The Kri Foundation has granted a fellowship to Ananya Chatterjea, ADT’s artistic director, to take part in an Intensive Artistic Residency in the Mayurbhanj style of Chhau, the martial art form that is part of Ananya Dance Theatre’s Yorchha technique.
Chatterjea will study for 10 days with Guru Sadashiv Pradhan, senior guru and lecturer at Utkal University in Bhubaneshwar.
On Minnesota Public Radio’s The Daily Circuit, Jan. 20, 2015, participants talked about how the Twin Cities arts community has engaged with the dialogue around race in recent months.
Sarah Bellamy & Ananya Chatterjea on MPR
Ananya Chatterjea, founder and artistic director of Ananya Dance Theatre, Sarah Bellamy, co-artistic director of Penumbra Theater, and Shá Cage, Twin Cities interdisciplinary artist,
joined the discussion and brought up what they’re seeing in the most recent reactions to national stories like Ferguson. Bellamy said you can look at protests as a form of artistic performance.
One answer to the question, “What happens when the river flows into the ocean?” was expressed when 86 people, cheered by a cast of hundreds, donated $5,210 over 35 days to ADT’s Kickstarter campaign. The campaign began December 11, 2014, and ended January 15, 2015, after reaching 104% of its $5,000 goal.
The raised funds will support creation of ADT’s new work, “Roktim: Nurture Incarnadine,” about women’s work with land, seed, food, and nurture. Funds also secure the final matching dollars for a grant from The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as part of its Knight Arts Challenge, a community-wide contest funding ideas that engage and enrich Saint Paul through the arts.
Inspired by the Seed Sovereignty Movement and farming practices in local communities of color, choreographer Ananya Chatterjea, visual artist Seitu Jones, and behavioral artist Marcus Young will partner with Frogtown Farm, Afro Eco, and the Indigenous Peoples’ Task Force to produce an evening-length story reflecting and honoring the age-old work of women who cultivate, nurture, and protect land and agriculture with emotional and blood labor to create a just and sustainable food system for our shared future.
ADT will present “Roktim” with multiple performances by 11 dancers at The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, in September 2015.
New York, NY – Ananya Dance Theatre will perform excerpts of work at an open rehearsal and at the Sheffield Global Arts Management 2015 Associated Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) Dance Showcase. The open rehearsal will take place at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, Studio 5, Sat., Jan. 10, at 1pm; the showcase will take place at The Ailey Studios, The Joan Weill Center for Dance – Studio 1B, Sun., Jan. 11, at 9:15pm.
Ananya Dance Theatre: People Powered Dances of Transformation will showcase as a roster artist with Sheffield Global Arts Management for its inaugural APAP Dance Showcase. ADT will perform Mohona/estuary: Poisoned Waters, excerpts of three water stories told through contemporary Indian dance: I didn’t mean to drown, reflecting women’s desperation and suicide by drowning; Chalchiuhlicue’s Rage, the story of the Aztec goddess of water; and Chemical Lawns, on the subject of chemical and industrial pollution.
Both events are free of charge. Reservations are highly recommended.
Open Rehearsal Location: Manhattan Movement and Arts Center, Studio 5, 248 West 60th Street, New York, NY 10023. Transit: 1, A, C, B, D trains to 59th St./Columbus Circle, M57 bus cross-town to West End Avenue.
Showcase Location: The Ailey Studios, The Joan Weill Center for Dance, Studio 1B, 405 West 55th Street @ 9th Avenue, New York, NY 10019. Transit: 1, A, C, B, D trains to 59th St./Columbus Circle, N, R, Q, to 57th St. (at 7th Avenue), C, E trains to 50th St. (at 8th Avenue), M57 bus cross-town to 9th Ave., M11 bus to 55th St. & 9th Ave.
Ananya Dance Theatre, a contemporary Indian dance company comprised of women artists of color, describes its artists as cultural activists, working through dance and artistic processes to engage audiences, build community, and move toward justice and beauty. www.ananyadancetheatre.org
Sheffield Global Arts Management represents emerging dance artists and dance companies with a focus on women and people of color. SGAM is committed to having dance accessible to all communities and have diverse cultures represented on the stage as well as in the audience.
Ananya Dance Theatre is creating its new work, “Roktim: Nurture Incarnadine,” about women’s work with land, seed, food, and nurture. And we need your help to raise $5,000 to realize our vision!
We will present “Roktim” with multiple performances by 11 dancers at The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, in September 2015.
Women’s loving labor produces the elements of our sustenance. Women from global societies have also defended the land and eco-systems with their lives and their continued work, from the onslaught of aggressive industrialization. But the food system in which we exist often obscures these stories.
Ananya Dance Theatre Photo by V. Paul Virtucio
Inspired by the Seed Sovereignty Movement and farming practices in local communities of color, choreographer Ananya Chatterjea, visual artist Seitu Jones, and behavioral artist Marcus Young will partner with Frogtown Farm, Afro Eco, and the Indigenous Peoples’ Task Force to produce an evening-length story reflecting and honoring the age-old work of women who cultivate, nurture, and protect land and agriculture with emotional and blood labor to create a just and sustainable food system for our shared future.
“Roktim” is created to an epic vision and your support will allow us to fulfill these elements of our project: (a) Artist Seitu Jones will create a unique, interactive set that changes as dancers work with it to demonstrate our mutually shaping relationship with the eco-system we inhabit ($2,250); and (b) Our 11 dancers will participate in research at local farms, learning how women farmers work and sharing their stories. This time, in addition to regular rehearsals, will be essential for the project’s authenticity ($2,750).
“Roktim” is funded in part by The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as part of its Knight Arts Challenge, a community-wide contest funding ideas that engage and enrich Saint Paul through the arts.
We must match Knight Foundation’s $50,000 grant dollar-for-dollar. To-date, we have secured matching funds of $45,000. We invite your financial gift in any amount to help put us over the top and meet the match. Any amount raised over $5,000 will be used for dancers’ compensation.
Please help us meet the match and make this project happen!
In the week leading to the performance, Artistic Director Ananya Chatterjea and the dancers introduced contemporary Indian dance and the interpretation of abstract, metaphoric dance to students and adults at 11 class, workshop, and presentational settings organized by staff of the Historic Holmes Theatre.
Detroit Lakes Middle School, Detroit Lakes MN
Classes and workshops took place in several of the Detroit Lakes public schools for 4th, 5th, 6th, middle, and high school grade levels; at two community dance studios; at a senior citizen residence; at a water aerobics class at the Detroit Lakes Community & Cultural Center; and at the White Earth Nation.
Artistic Director Ananya Chatterjea spoke about dance and social justice to a luncheon meeting of the Detroit Lakes Rotarians. She and Brittany Radke, a company dancer and native of Detroit Lakes, participated in radio interviews on two stations.
Through the good offices of Amy Stearns, executive director of the Detroit Lakes Community & Cultural Center and Historic Holmes Theatre, and her staff, members of Ananya Dance Theatre connected in person with a significant segment, 11%, of the area’s year-round population of 8,500 people. The Rotary Club luncheon provided for an intimate and personal conversation with members of the community.
This was Ananya Dance Theatre’s first performance and extended series of residency activities in a smaller community anywhere, and in the state of Minnesota outside of the Twin Cities.
Public Events:
5th Grade Dance Class Workshop – Lake Park Audobon Elementary School – 60 attendees
Circle of Life Academy, White Earth Nation
6th Grade Dance Class Workshop – Detroit Lakes Public Schools – 55 attendees
Dance Movement Workshop – Summit Dance Studio – 15 attendees
Rotary Club Luncheon – Presentation – 75 attendees
Dance Movement Workshop – Circle of Life Academy, White Earth Nation – 50 attendees
5th Grade Dance Class Workshop – Detroit Lakes Middle School – 125 attendees
Dance Movement Workshop – Northern Lights Dance Studio – 75 attendees
Radio Interviews – KDLM AM & Wave 104 FM – 1,000 (?) listeners
Water Aerobics Dance Movement Class – Detroit Lakes Community & Cultural Center – 55 attendees
Movement Class – Oak Crossings Senior Community – 75 attendees
4th Grade Dance Class Workshop – Roosevelt Elementary School – 125 attendees
Ananya Dance Theatre’s performance and residency activities were made possible, in part, by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Lakes Region Arts Council and the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Ananya Dance Theatre announces the second installment of a multi-year series of full-length dances exploring the kinds of work that women around the world do to sustain their communities. This second piece is funded in part by The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as part of its Knight Arts Challenge, a community-wide contest funding ideas that engage and enrich Saint Paul through the arts. Titled ROKTIM, it will premiere at The O’Shaughnessy on the campus of St. Catherine University in Saint Paul in September 2015.
Dennis Scholl, Knight Foundation Vice President / Arts, presenting Ananya Chatterjea a St. Paul Knight Arts Challenge Award • Sept. 29, 2014
To tell the story of women’s roles in the global food system, choreographer Ananya Chatterjea, visual artist Seitu Jones, and behavioral artist Marcus Young will partner with Frogtown Farm, Afro Eco, and the Indigenous Peoples Task Force to reflect and honor the age-old work of women who cultivate, nurture and protect land and agriculture. The work will employ contemporary Indian dance to weave together artistic process and social justice in telling the stories of those whose often-unacknowledged labor sustains communities.
Roktim will include an original sound-and-music score by Greg Schutte, Chatterjea’s longtime collaborator.
Young helped direct Ananya Dance Theatre’s two most recent productions, Neel: Blutopias of Radical Dreaming (2014) and Mohona: Estuaries of Desire (2013). Chatterjea recently collaborated with Jones on Create: The Community Meal, a multi-media public artwork that included an outdoor civic dinner served to 2,000 people on a half-mile long table. Earlier, Jones designed the sets for Duurbaar: Journeys Into Horizon in 2006.
“The arts are an important way to examine the stories and histories that shape our society. We expect that Ananya’s production, which involves some of the city’s leading artists, will provide an important lens for exploring this issue,” said Dennis Scholl, vice president of arts for Knight Foundation.
About The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit KnightFoundation.org.
Ananya Dance Theatre is honored to receive a commission from The Ordway Center for an original, evening-length work as part of Rock The Ordway, a 22-day celebration of the Center’s new Concert Hall in downtown St. Paul.
The performance, “Aahvan: Invoking the Cities,” will be a presentation of the Arts Partnership: The Ordway, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, and The Schubert Club, Wednesday, March 11, 2015, at 7:30pm.
Backed by layers of live and recorded music, this epic, full-length dance theater piece exudes extraordinary images that weave together our rich legacy of water, the relationship of our people to the land, the diversity of local communities, and our artistic innovation.
To kick off its 10th anniversary season, Ananya Dance Theatre will present Neel: Blutopias of Radical Dreaming, a multi-disciplinary immersion in the work and world of women’s dreams. The world premiere launches a multi-year series of full-length dances exploring the kinds of work that women around the world do to sustain their communities. Neel will be on stage at The Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, 528 Hennepin Avenue, in downtown Minneapolis. Performances take place at 8pm on Thursday, September 18; Friday, September 19; and Saturday, September 20. There will be a post-show discussion on Friday, September 19.
Ananya Chatterjea, artistic director, Ananya Dance Theatre, delivered a talk, April 27, 2014, at a TEDx event at Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota, produced independently of the TED Conferences:
What is the potential of dance to demonstrate social injustice? To unleash latent energy? In this talk, combined with powerful live and video performances by Ananya Dance Theatre, Chatterjea shows us how dance can provoke hope and help us surpass our own potential.
About TEDx: x = an independently organized event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations.)
The Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault held its 8th annual AWARE celebration, Tue., April 29, at the Kelly Inn in St. Paul. The event is an opportunity to educate the community about sexual violence, acknowledge individuals and organizations that have played a key role in working to end sexual violence, and to focus our attention on the growing call for an investment in prevention.
Dr. Ananya Chatterjea, artistic director of Ananya Dance Theatre, will moderate a Moving Dialogs: Global Exchange event at Chicago's Soham Dance Space, May 1, 2014, and penned these thoughts to prime that conversation.
Ananya Chatterjea and company members from Ananya Dance Theatre will teach daily technique class in the style of Yorchha, the company’s signature movement vocabulary combining elements from yoga, the classical Indian dance form Odishi, and the martial art form Chhau, and set exciting repertory on intensive participants. A public showing will conclude the intensive on Friday, July 11, at 2pm.
Residency activities included three talks, “Contestations in the History of Odissi,” “Thoughts on Contemporary Dance,” and “Socially Engaged Dance & Performance: Aligning Dance and Social Justice.” Chatterjea also presented a live performance at the Marriott Center for Dance and taught two master classes.
