August 24, 2009
"Ashesh Barsha," set in a world out of balance, is an intense examination of issues of climate justice and witnesses the horrifying transformation of life-sustaining phenomena into deathly forces, and of natural resources into privately owned commodities. The unending monsoon is a metaphor for a world torn asunder by global warming’s howling winds and towering waves, irresponsible global industrial policies, toxic spills, and land appropriations from indigenous communities.
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August 24, 2008
"Daak: Call to Action" is an artistic response to historic and continuing land rights violations happening across the world – from the Native communities here in Minnesota to "special economic zones" in West Bengal, India, to the maquiladoras of Tijuana, Mexico. Second in our trilogy on environmental justice, "Daak" works through vivid dance images to share stories of trauma in global communities of color and the resistance and conjuring of hope that rises from desperation and devastation. "Daak" ends with a metaphoric "call to action" for audiences to lend their energy to the struggles of many women of color around the world about land and environmental and socio-cultural breakdown.
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August 24, 2007
"Pipaashaa: Extreme Thirst" is the first piece of a trilogy created by Ananya Dance Theatre exploring issues of environmental injustice. Working collaboratively with leaders in the environmental justice movement, Cecilia Martinez and Shalini Gupta of the Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the dancers and artistic collaborators in this piece have researched issues of arsenic poisoning, industrial dumping, and other phenomena that have resulted from environmental racism and disregard for the integral relationship of human and natural resources. Pipaashaa has evolved from our responses to this research and from the understanding that communities affected by environmental destruction still try to resist injustice and labor to create hope and life energy.
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