Ananya Dance Theatre (ADT), the leading creator of contemporary Indian dance in the global arts and social justice movement, brings a seventh, inspiring production and collaboration to The O’Shaughnessy on Friday-Saturday, September 20-21, 7:30pm, as part of the Women of Substance series. They’ll unravel time and unwritten histories in Sutrajāl: Revelations of Gossamer as a poet, one of the few surviving humans in an imagined Broken City, bears witness.
In this compelling dance performance, the narrative centers on the life-forms that flicker in and out in the circuitous streets and despair-laden corners of the Broken City. Who were the folks who danced all night at the Global Feminist Funk Underground Club, now haunted and empty? Who were the people who lived their lives fully here before they disappeared? How did they labor? Love?
Throughout Sutrajāl, the artists of ADT connect their performance with a philosophy of social justice, creating original dance theater about the extraordinary work and dreams of women around the world, and to inspire audiences through visual and emotional engagement.
Sutrajāl (which means “network of connections” in Bengali) is conceived and choreographed by ADT Founder Ananya Chatterjea in collaboration with the artists of ADT, Stage Director Marcus Young, and with support of guest artists Tish Jones and Douglas R. Ewart, and guest dramaturg Sharon Bridgforth. Her creative team includes Renée Copeland (sound design and score composition), Kevin A. Jones (lighting design), Annie Cady (costume design), and Chelsea M. Warren (scenic design).
A free Audience Empowerment Workshop will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 7pm-8:30pm, at the Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice, 1197 University Avenue West, Saint Paul. ADT dancers will demonstrate and discuss excerpts from Sutrajāl, with an opportunity for attendees to then join the dancers in making movement together. Reservations are requested at https://www.facebook.com/events/400512354182644/.
Tickets for Sutrajāl are $19-$32. There are discounts for groups, students, seniors, MPR and TPT members, and military. For more information and tickets, contact The O’Shaughnessy Ticket Office at 651-690-6700 or online at theoshaughnessy.com. The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University is located at 2004 Randolph Ave., Saint Paul.
ABOUT ANANYA DANCE THEATRE
Celebrating 15 years of linking dance and social action, Ananya Dance Theatre is a dance company composed of women artists of color who create People Powered Dances of Transformation™ at the intersection of artistic excellence and social justice. Their contemporary dance technique, Yorchha, draws on Classical Odissi, Vinyasa Yoga, and the martial art Chhau. Dancers and collaborators represent many cultural communities in Minnesota: South Asian, Chinese, Hmong, African American, Pacific Islander, Latinx, and mixed race. The ensemble’s composition as “women of color” is crucial, yet nuanced, including queer men of color and trans women of color. The company premieres one major work annually, and offers touring performances, classes, workshops, and dialogues. ADT is based at the Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice, a women of color-centered space of embodied practice, located at 1197 University Ave. W. in Saint Paul.
ABOUT THE O’SHAUGHNESSY
Located on the scenic main campus of St. Catherine University, The O’Shaughnessy is one of the Twin Cities’ premiere venues for showcasing the arts. Since opening in 1970, The O’Shaughnessy has presented a dazzling array of both local and national performing arts companies, including the Minnesota Orchestra, The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, James Sewell Ballet, TU Dance, The Indigo Girls, Joan Baez and countless others. In addition, the venue hosts public events, student and community performances and features multicultural programming with an emphasis on dance, music and theater. Known for its dedication to artistic development and collaboration, the venue has premiered over 400 new works by local and national artists. The O’Shaughnessy is the home of the Women of Substance series, which showcases the artistry and innovative work of women, both prominent and emerging in their fields, whose voices need to be heard. theoshaughnessy.com
ABOUT WOMEN OF SUBSTANCE
For more than 20 years, the Women of Substance series has showcased women’s ideas, amplified their voices and honored their places on life’s stage. These artists, thinkers and change-makers challenge the status quo, make audiences to look at the world in new ways, and instill a deeper understanding of self, purpose and action. Through art and ideas, the series ignites women’s innate power, consciousness and sense of justice, motivating and inspiring others to take action and lead lives of substance. The Women of Substance Festival magnifies the mission, values and spirit of St. Catherine’s University.
Sutrajālis supported by an Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts; the Ford Foundation; The MAP Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the McKnight Foundation; and the Imagine Fund. Sutrajāl was developed with support from the Urban Bush Women Choreographic Center Initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation. 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.
(BOSTON, MA) The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) has awarded $1,800,000 through the National Dance Project (NDP) to support the creation of 20 new dance works that will tour the United States.
Now in its third decade, National Dance Project is widely recognized as one of the country’s major sources of funding and field building for dance, supporting both the creation and touring of new works. A panel of national dance artists, presenters, and arts administrators selected these projects out of 170 competitive applications. The choreographers and companies from around the country include 20 U.S. artists, 11 of which are first-time production grant recipients. Each project will receive $45,000 for the creation of the new work, as well as $10,000 in unrestricted general operating support. A total of $700,000 is allocated to support U.S. organizations to present these works.
NDP has invested more than $38.5 million in funding to artists and organizations to strengthen partnerships and bring dance into communities across the U.S. To date, NDP has supported the creation of over 452 new choreographic works that have toured to all 50 states and Washington, DC, reaching over three million audience members.
“We have partnered with NDP since its founding, to help our foundation ensure our funds support contemporary dance artists across the country and connect with audiences in a wide range of communities,” said Maurine Knighton, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. “The people, projects, and places included in this group of grantees provide a glimpse of the breadth and depth of today’s contemporary dance sector and are a wonderful testament to the vitality of dance.”
“The Mellon Foundation has supported NDP nearly as long as our esteemed colleagues at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Over the past two decades NDP has consistently played a vital role in helping to amplify the national work of diverse and talented danceartists,” said Susan Feder, program officer for Arts and Cultural Heritage at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.“We are deeply grateful to the NEFA staff and panelists for their dedication in assembling this exceptional group from a highly competitive applicant pool, and look forward to their work being seen across the country.”
NEFA’s National Dance Project is generously supported with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with funding for special initiatives from the Barr Foundation, the Boston Foundation, and the Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation.
The New England Foundation for the Arts invests in artists and communities and fosters equitable access to the arts, enriching the cultural landscape in New England and the nation. NEFA accomplishes this by granting funds to artists and cultural organizations; connecting them to each other and their audiences; and analyzing their economic contributions. NEFA serves as a regional partner for the National Endowment for the Arts, New England’s state arts agencies, and private foundations. Learn more at www.nefa.org.
Ananya Dance Theatre (ADT) is one of 20 artists/arts organizations that will receive a 2019 Creation & Development Fund Award from the National Performance Network (NPN). The award will support the creation and touring of Āgun, the company’s 2020 production.
Ananya Dance Theatre congratulates the other 19 awardees, including Emily Johnson/Catalyst Dance, Minneapolis, and Mary Prescott, Minneapolis.
Through The Creation & Development Fund, the NPN awards $300,000 – and leverages an additional $1.6 million – in support of the creation of 20 new artistic works.
Creation & Development Funds are awarded to artists across disciplines, geographies and cultures that reflect NPN’s commitment to advancing racial justice and cultural equity through the arts. Sixteen of the 20 artist companies are first-time Creation Fund recipients, and they hail from 16 cities across the country from Tucson, AZ to Bighill, KY.
The Fund supports the creation, development and mobility of new artistic work resulting in live experiential exchange between artists and community. It provides a framework for relationships to develop over time among diverse artists, arts organizations, and communities.
Through the investment of commissioning funds from cultural organizations and NPN direct subsidies, each project is eligible for multilevel support. Forty-seven organizations from Homer, AK to Wilmington, NC are participating as co-commissioners, which will result in more than 60 paid artist engagements over the next three years.
The Creation and Development Fund is made possible with support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency) and Co-commissioners.
Bijayini Satpathy, world renowned exponent of Odissi dance, graced the Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice for three days, July 9-11, as she worked with the dancers of Ananya Dance Theatre. We were honored to have her with us.
Bijayini Satpathy at Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice, St. Paul MN.Bijayini Satpathy at Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice, St. Paul MN. Photo by Ananya ChatterjeaBijayini Satpathy at Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice, St. Paul MN. Photo by Ananya Chatterjea
Find rhythm, groundedness, and flow with dance classes at Ananya Dance Theatre’s Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice. No pre-registration or shoes necessary. First class: Always free! Drop-in class: $13. Five-class card: $60. Ten-class card: $110.
The July and August schedule of Intro to Yorchha and Foundations in Yorchha/Buniyaad classes with Artistic Associate Kealoha Ferreira has been posted here.
Friday, June 28, was busy at the Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice as members of the 2019 Shawngram Summer Intensive class completed 45 hours and three weeks of training and presented their finished work to audiences at two performances. Photo by Hui Wilcox.
Ananya Dance Theatre and the Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice were delighted to present new solo works created by artists trained in Yorchha, the aesthetic and movement vocabulary.
The performance, under the title Notner Das: New Voices Calling, took place Friday, June 28, 2019.
The artists are works presented:
Kealoha Ferreira: Mākaukau – Preparation and readiness in Hawaiian.
Renée Copeland: Rhizome – A subterranean solo that traces the imagined pathways and emotional landscapes of embodied souls, both recent and ancient, that were held captive by natural states of contradiction right before their chosen departures.
Alexandra Eady: Arise – A solo moving through memories of ancient dreams.
Alessandra Lebea Williams: A Ritual – A reflection on black African femme embodiment, healing, story telling, and memory.
The 2019 Americans for the Arts Convention invited Ananya Dance Theatre to perform in advance of the June 15 keynote presentation by Chandrika Tandon at the Minneapolis Hilton Hotel.
Carl Atiya Swanson, MBA, Associate Director at Springboard for the Arts, St. Paul, MN, posted remarks to his LinkedIn page:
“Over the [last] weekend, the Twin Cities had hosted the Americans for the Arts Convention (AFTACON), bringing 1,000 arts and culture leaders from around the country and Canada to the Twin Cities. I was honored to organize the local host committee along with the City of Minneapolis Office of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy, working with artists, arts leaders, government officials, and marketing folks from the Twin Cities.” –READ MORE–
Ananya Dance Theatre and the Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice were pleased to host a reading and performance by Gabrielle Civil to activate her new performance memoir, Experiments in Joy, celebrating black feminist collaborations and solos in essays, letters, performance texts, scores, images, and more.
Civil celebrated her new performance memoir with Twin Cities writers and artists: Ellen Marie Hinchcliffe, Moe Lionel, Josina Manu Maltzman, and Miré Regulus.
The book features Civil’s solo encounters with artists and writers, ancestors, and audiences.
Gabrielle Civil is a black feminist performance artist, originally from Detroit, MI. She has premiered over 40 original solo and collaborative performance works around the world. Her performance memoir, Swallow the Fish, was published by Civil Coping Mechanisms Press in 2017, and her second book, Experiments in Joy, was released February 15, 2019. https://www.gabriellecivilartist.com
Ananya Dance Theatre and the Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice presented Onurawnon/Vibration, performances of choreography by Toan Thanh Doan and Orlando Zane Hunter, Jr., June 15.
The June 2019 issue of Dance Magazine featured Ananya Chatterjea, artistic director of Ananya Dance Theatre and co-leader of the Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice.
Ananya Chatterjea, Deneane Richburg & Rosy Simas, all of the Twin Cities, are among the 31.
Washington, DC – Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance, is pleased to announce that Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists (DFA) has awarded $1,000,525 in funding to 31 artists addressing social change. The 31 Dance/USA Artist Fellows were selected through a rigorous review by a peer panel. In this pilot round DFA addresses a decades-long issue in the dance field — the importance of supporting individual artists. DFA was established through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. See the list of Dance/USA Artist Fellows here. Find the review panel here.
“We are grateful for the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s partnership as we evolve in addressing the needs of the national dance field by raising up the voices of artists who are tackling relevant issues in our society today,” said Dance/USA Executive Director Amy Fitterer. “The Dance/USA Artist Fellows illustrate the ways in which dance flourishes in our country, playing an active and vital role in connecting communities and sustaining cultures.”
“The Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists program helps dancemakers create both in the manner and with the communities they choose, whether or not their projects result in work for the stage,” said Maurine Knighton, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. “This flexible funding, combined with the program’s shared learning network, will help Fellows grow their artistic practices and connect audiences to the creative process.”
About Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists DFA provides direct support to dance artists who work through dance to address social change within one or more communities. DFA funds may be used at the artist’s discretion to support costs related to their practice; artists are not required to complete a project or perform. The panel was charged with constructing a fellowship portfolio that reflects a range of artists, practices, and communities. Many of the Dance/USA Artist Fellows utilize community facilitation and organizing to advance issues, including race, disability, and immigration; others are the bearers of cultures that were nearly lost.
Dance/USA Artist Fellows work in an extremely wide range of dance forms and traditions, including:
• Indigenous forms, including Alaskan Inuit drum dancing, hula, hoop dance, and Interdisciplinary Native art.
• Traditional dances of Africa, Cambodia, and the Philippines.
• Latin and Caribbean forms, including salsa, Afro-Cuban, danzon, and capoeira.
• Black vernacular and urban styles, including Chicago footwork, hip hop, house, social, and club.
• Percussive forms such as tap and zapateado.
• Contemporary and post-modern dance, drawing from improvisation, performance art, movement theater, as well as scores of dance forms, including Indian, African diasporic; physically integrated, adaptive, jazz and ice skating.
Ananya Chatterjea Minneapolis, MN In her contemporary practice, Chatterjea draws from Indian performance traditions, activist street theater, and community to create workshops, staged and interactive public art performances and to train emerging indigenous and artists of color. She intends to deepen her healing movement practices based on yogic and ayurvedic principles and build community relationships near her space, Shawngram Institute, in St. Paul.
Deneane Richburg Saint Paul, MN Richburg expands the boundaries of ice skating from a Black perspective, using facilitated conversations and the wisdom of the moving body on and off ice to heal the wounds caused by racial trauma. She intends to spend time on a new work about 17th-19th century Black social dance and explore new formats for post-show discussion.
Rosy Simas Minneapolis, MN Rosy Simas’ (Seneca) choreographic work centers Native cultural/political persistence, weaving themes of personal/familial/collective identity with matriarchy, sovereignty, equality, and healing. During the fellowship period she will foster new and strengthen existing relationships with urban and rural Native communities, work with Native writers on the contextualization and visibility of writing on Native contemporary dance, focus on documenting her work, and strengthening her tribally based leadership skills.
The DFA Program Director is Suzanne Callahan, founder of Callahan Consulting for the Arts, who has managed other re-granting programs for Dance/USA and other organizations.
About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research, and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties. The Arts Program of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation focuses its support on contemporary dance, jazz, and theater artists, and the organizations that nurture, present, and produce them. For more information, please visit ddcf.org.
About Dance/USA Propelled by our belief that dance can inspire a more just and humane world, Dance/USA will amplify the power of dance to inform and inspire a nation where creativity and the field thrive. Dance/USA is the national service organization for the professional dance field. Established in 1982, Dance/USA champions an inclusive and equitable dance field by leading, convening, advocating, and supporting individuals and organizations. Dance/USA’s core programs are focused in the areas of engagement, advocacy, research, and preservation. Learn more about Dance/USA at danceusa.org.
On April 23, 2019, the Metro Regional Arts Council awarded $216,136 to 22 organizations/projects in the second round of its FY 2019 Arts Learning grant program. The awards included a $10,000 grant to Ananya Dance Theatre for the Connective Creations projects at two St. Paul high schools: Gordon Parks High School and the High School for Recording Arts. Activities will take place in late spring and fall of 2019 at the Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice.
The Arts Learning projects chosen by MRAC panelists will provide high-quality, age-appropriate arts education for Minnesotans to develop knowledge, skills, and understanding through the arts for children, youth, and adults by engaging people in extended arts experiences and activities with clearly articulated learning objectives. The Arts Learning grant program is a direct result of the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of the Legacy Amendment.
Dr. Alessandra Williams, dance artist-scholar-educator, has accepted an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Dance Department, Mason Gross School of the Arts, at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Dr. Williams is a dancer and scholar whose academic interests include dance and performance studies, Asian and African American culture, transnational feminism, queer of color theory, and comparative studies of race and ethnicity. Having joined the Minneapolis-based Ananya Dance Theatre to train in the company’s Yorchhā technique in 2006, she has performed in seven productions: Pipaashaa: Extreme Thirst (2007), Ashesh Barsha: Unending Monsoon (2009), Moreechika: Season of Mirage (2012), Roktim: Nurture Incarnadine (2015), Horidraa: Golden Healing (2016), Shyamali: Sprouting Words (2017), and Shaatranga: Women Weaving Worlds (2018).
Dr. Williams recently worked alongside artistic director Dr. Ananya Chatterjea and founding company member Dr. Hui Wilcox to submit their book manuscript Meditation on Dream, an anthology of poetic and scholarly essays on the relationship between choreography and race, gender, sexuality, and diaspora and indigenous frameworks. In other publications, she has theorized the choreography of David Roussève/REALITY dance company as a form of decolonizing alliances in Talking Black Dance Inside Out/Outside In, edited by Takiyah Nur Amin and Thomas DeFrantz (Conversation Across the Field of Dance Series XXXVI).
As Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellow, Dr. Williams earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in Culture and Performance at UCLA. Through the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, she finished her B.A. with honors in American Studies and Dance at Macalester College. From 2018-2019, she served as Inclusive Excellence Fellow in Women’s and Gender Studies and Theatre and Dance at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she choreographed two original pieces for the spring dance concert, and also served on committees supporting diversity and inclusion efforts. From 2016-7, she taught as Visiting Assistant Professor in the dance program of Carleton College.
Urban Bush Women Choreographic Fellowship Candidate Ananya Chatterjea (Ananya Dance Theatre) speaks with E. Gaynell Sherrod resulting in a “no-holds-barred portrayal of Chatterjea – a transnational feminist, choreographer, performing artist and scholar with exceptional acumen for creating transformational dance-theatre that challenges systemic injustice.”
In this post, the second in a five-part series of articles offering insight into the UBW 2018-2019 co-hort of choreographers redefining the world of dance today; Chatterjea talks with E. Gaynell Sherrod about her origins as choreographer and organizer and her desire to be authentically seen.
Ananya Dance Theatre’s Ananya Chatterjea will participate in the opening keynote of Dance/NYC’s 2019 Symposium at Hunter College, Feb. 22-23. The Symposium will consider the role of New York dance artists and their creativity in a changing United States. It will invite participants to investigate topics of transformative justice, the role of youth in activism and social change, increasing dance education for a thriving workforce, and radical practice, among others, in the context of a changing political climate and following CreateNYC, the City of New York’s first-ever cultural plan.
As the only gathering of its kind for the dance community in the New York metropolitan area, the Symposium aims to share information innovation and to stimulate awareness, interest, and ongoing engagement in dance and dance education. The 2019 Symposium will be hosted campus-style and make use of Hunter College’s expanding dance facilities and performance spaces for panel discussions, case studies, interactive workshops, a networking lunch, and more.
For Symposium overview, agenda, speakers, venues, and sponsors, click here.
When: Friday, February 22, 2019 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
and
Saturday, February 23, 2019 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Where: Hunter College, 695 Park Ave, New York, NY 10065
Ananya Dance Theatre will participate in three dance festivals as part of its first tour to India, November 22-30, 2018: Aavejak Avaaz, New Delhi; Pragjyoti International Dance Festival, Guwahati; and Natya Ballet Dance Festival 2018, New Delhi.
The tour happens on the heels of October performances at the Bethlehem International Performing Arts Festival, Palestine, and Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond.
The festival title, “Aavejak Avaaz,” is a two language title with the first word coming from Hindi and the second from Urdu to reflect the syncretic society that India has been. The festival is presented by the Kri Foundation.
Ananya Dance Theatre’s “In Our Bodies Live Our Stories” (film 60 mins) at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
The preview of this ‘documentary film in the making’ captures excerpts from Ananya Dance Theatre’s visually striking performances over many years, against candid conversations that illuminate their journey and philosophy. It embodies the joy, struggle and resilience of women from global communities of color, articulating social justice through a distinctive language of Contemporary Indian Dance. Present for the Q & A will be Darren Johnson, Director and Filmmaker and the dancers of the Ananya Dance Theatre. (Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre)
The film will be presented in the Gulmohar venue at Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi, Thursday, Nov. 22, 7pm.
For queries: email krifoundation.aavejakavaaz@gmail.com
This film is presented by the Kri Foundation.
Ananya Dance Theatre’s “Shaatranga” at Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
This is the capstone choreography of the quintet that explores the Work Women Do. Choreographed by Ananya Chatterjea, Shaatranga (seven colours in Bangla) is specifically inspired by ancient Indian Ocean Trade routes that connected Asia, Africa, and parts of South America. It is also connected with shared practices and different methodologies of indigo dying. Central to this choreography is the question ‘How do we show up for each other?’ (Stein Auditorium, IHC)
Ananya Chatterjea is an internationally known feminist, a social justice warrior with a sharp mind and eloquent voice. Her work is both reflected as academic research and dance practice. She is committed to collaboration and community to take on the challenges facing the world. She dedicates this work, especially her solo section in it, to little Asifa.
Ananya Dance Theatre will present “Shaatranga: Women Weaving Worlds” in Stein Auditorium at the Habitat World India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi, Friday, Nov. 23, 7:30pm. Doors will open at 7:15pm (entry from Gate 3). Free and open to all. For queries: email krifoundation.aavejakavaaz@gmail.com.
“Shaatranga” was commissioned by The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University with support from the Joyce Foundation.
This performance is presented by the Kri Foundation.
Ananya Dance Theatre’s performance is supported by the Ford Foundation.
Pragjyoti International Dance Festival (PIDF), an annual classical dance extravaganza in Guwahati, Assam, India, organized by Kalpa, a Society for Promotion of Literature, Art, Culture and Social Harmony, is celebrating a decade of its cultural journey this year.
On Nov. 25, the curtain raiser of the 10th PIDF will be held at Madhavadev International Auditorium in Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra, Guwahati. The curtain raiser will feature internationally recognized Ananya Dance Theatre, a contemporary Indian dance company based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. The group is composed of artists of color who create performances about the lives and dreams of women around the world.
Ananya Dance Theatre will present “Shaatranga: Women Weaving Worlds.” The production was commissioned by The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University with support from the Joyce Foundation.
The Guwahati edition of the Festival will be in collaboration with the Kri Foundation. Ananya Dance Theatre’s performance is supported by the Ford Foundation.
In the second edition of The Natya Ballet Dance Festival, a host of accomplished and distinguished artists will reflect the myriad paths of dance in film, choreography, and experimental theatre, delving into the role of dance in narrative.
Ananya Dance Theatre will present a master class, 10:30am-1:30pm, Friday, November 30, 2018.
The class will be held at the Meghdoot Complex, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Mandi House, New Delhi.
The master class is presented by The Natya Ballet Dance Festival 2018 with Sangeet Natak Akademi.
Ananya Dance Theatre presented Shaatranga: Women Weaving Worlds as part of the Bethlehem International Performing Arts Festival, Palestine, Oct. 5-12, 2018.
The company was part of 100 performers and 10 arts organizations from eight countries – United States, Taiwan, Lithuania, Palestine, Hungary, Germany, Tunis, China – that engaged 2,500 audience members and 3,000 students with theater, dance, and magic.
The Festival was organized by the Diyar Theatre of Dar Al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture.
The BIPAF featured 100 theater, dance, and magic artists from eight countries.
Ananya Dance Theatre’s entourage to Bethlehem for its performance of “Shaatranga.”
Festival organizers conducted a walking tour of Bethlehem’s seven neighborhoods.
The International Centre, Dar Al-Nadwa, and Diyar Theatre, Bethlehem, Palestine.
The Bethlehem Peace Center, located on Manager Square, Bethlehem, Palestine.
Clown magicians from Colorado (USA) entertained school children during the Festival.
A street banner for the festival that engaged 2,500 people plus 3,000 students.
Festival artists shared three meals daily on the terrace of the International Centre in Bethlehem.
Some of the many hills surrounding the city of Bethlehem.
Dance, Music and Theatre in the Sattras, the Medieval Monasteries of Assam in India: A Quiet Resistance to the Dominant Forces of Inequity of the Times
Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice presents: A talk by Dr. Arshiya Sethi
Sunday, September 30, 3:30pm-5pm | This event is free and open to the public.
Dr. Arshiya Sethi
About 500 years ago, in the northeastern state of Assam in India, a quiet resistance happened to the then socially prevailing ideas of inequity, forced labour, and insecurity of life, via a faith that used dance music and theatre as worship. In the monasteries, the social divisions crumbled, human dignity was prized, and cultural creativity took root. New expressions in literary, plastic, and performative arts changed the face of the region forever. Political constraints have attempted to conscript these crucibles of cultural creativity through history, but never as severely or as successfully as in recent decades. This talk offers an overview of the journey of this creativity supported by an inclusive and humanising faith, and the challenges by political authority.
Independent scholar, Dr. Arshiya Sethi, twice a recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship, writes and speaks on cultural issues, in India and internationally. After three decades as Consultant, building tangible and intangible cultural equities, being dance critic, commentator on Dance and Music on Doordarshan’s archival National programme of Dance and Music for more than three decades, and then advisor on India’s national arts channel, she has established and runs the Kri Foundation, which promotes different ways of looking at the Arts, especially ‘Artivism’- Art directed at Activism. Her doctoral research has been on the dances of the Vaishnav monasteries of Assam called Sattras from which has emerged the eighth classical dance style of India, Sattriya. Her current scholarly research focuses on diasporic constituencies of dance, and through a multi-disciplinary lens, on cultural ecology at the intersection of politics and society, studying the ways in which artistic practices, especially dance, link with governance, gender, environment, cultural rights, identity issues and beyond, and social justice paradigms. She recently concluded a year long Post Doc attachment under the Fulbright fellowship at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Ananya Dance Theatre will present the world premiere of Shaatranga: Women Weaving Worlds, a 90-minute dance without intermission, as part of Women of Substance at The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University, St. Paul, September 21-22, 2018. The work is the fifth in the company’s five-year series on the theme “Work Women Do.”
Shaatranga (which means “seven colors” in Bangla and is pronounced “SHA-trong-uh”) asks the question, “How do we show up for each other?” and suggests that global women who engage in world-making are refusing to be seen in only blue/indigo – the pain, sorrow, and defeat that has historically framed them. Instead, they share their multifaceted stories that express not only their pain, but their joys, laughter, and the work they do, that goes largely unrecognized, to create positive force in their communities and the world.
Choreographer Ananya Chatterjea uses two primary metaphors to explore relationships among global south communities linked by Indian Ocean trade routes that pre-existed colonization and slavery: Indigo, an important export/import on these trade routes across Asia and Africa, and blue jeans, whose ubiquitous presence in global commerce falls differently on our skin, mediated through histories of denim and indigo.
Shaatranga is Ananya Dance Theatre’s sixth production and collaboration with The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University. Executive Director Kathleen Spehar and Production Manager Kevin A. Jones are key partners in the detailed planning that leads to the production’s mix of interactive and concert elements. “Work Women Do” concludes with this production exploring women’s work with indigo and cotton, commissioned by The O’Shaughnessy with support from a Joyce Foundation Award.
Chatterjea’s choreography combines metaphor and poetry in Contemporary Indian Dance. Yorchha – the company’s remix of Classical Odissi, Chhau martial art, and Vinyasa Yoga – is a movement practice anchored by social justice as it invokes the spirit of Dakini, traditionally embodied by destruction, chaos, and ultimately transformation. Dakini lives in the possibilities of audiences’ and performers’ discomfort and insists that the role of women’s rage and their spiritual ecstasy be seen in the arc towards equity. This tumult resolves through the choreography that weaves ritualistic performance and dances of the gentle warrior.
ADT’s dancers and collaborators represent a range of ethnic, cultural, immigrant, and of color communities: South, South east, and East Asian, African American, Pacific Islander, Latinx, and mixed race. The ensemble’s composition as “women of color” is crucial, yet nuanced, including queer men of color and trans women of color.
Project collaborators are celebrated artists, including behavioral artist/collaborating director Marcus Young, composer Dameun Strange, scenic designer Chelsea Warren, media designer Darren Johnson, costume designer Annie Cady, lighting designer Kevin A. Jones, and composer/lyricist Queen Drea/Andrea Reynolds.
Tickets for Shaatranga: Women Weaving Worlds are $19-$29. There are discounts for groups, students, seniors, MPR and TPT members, and military. For more information and tickets, contact The O’Shaughnessy Ticket Office at 651-690-6700; summer business hours (through Sept. 1) are Mon.-Fri. 12-4pm; ticket office is located on the main campus of St. Catherine University at 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul. Tickets can be purchased online at theoshaughnessy.com.
Residencies and performances of Shaatranga will be presented at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, Oct. 26-27, 2018; Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersy, Feb. 1-2, 2019; Dance Place, Washington, DC, Mar. 30-31, 2019; John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Apr. 11, 2019; and Kelley-Strayhorn Theatre, Pittsburgh, May 10-11, 2019.
ABOUT ANANYA DANCE THEATRE
Celebrating 14 years of linking dance and social action, Ananya Dance Theatre is a Contemporary Indian Dance company composed of artists of color who create performances about the lives and dreams of women around the world: People Powered Dances of Transformation™ at the intersection of artistic excellence and social justice. Dancers and collaborators represent many cultural communities in Minnesota: South Asian, Chinese, Hmong, African American, Pacific Islander, Latinx, and mixed race. The company premieres one major work annually, and offers touring performances, classes, workshops, and dialogues. In June 2018, ADT took up residence in its new facility, a women of color-centered space of embodied practice, located at 1197 University Ave. W. in Saint Paul.
World Premiere: September 18, 2014, The Cowles Center for Dance, Minneapolis
Neel is about women’s dreams: dreams that unleash tremendous joy; shattered dreams; the imaginative labor that conjures up the most unlikely but exciting dream-visions; and dreams of wholeness and freedom that sound the call for revolution.
World Premiere: September 18, 2015, The O’Shaughnessy, St. Paul
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 have partnered 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.
World Premiere: September 16, 2016, The O’Shaughnessy, St. Paul
The year: 2053. A patient, dark of skin, has been checked into urgent medical care in a state of collapse. She self-identifies as “the child of many continents.” Follow her journey as she travels into the recesses of memory and imagination to conjure a magical healing experience that invites all into its joy-filled dance. Choreographer Ananya Chatterjea, the dancers of Ananya Dance Theatre, collaborating director Marcus Young, sound artists Greg Schutte, Queen Drea, Pooja Goswami, and Tenzin Ngawang, visual artist Alison Hiltner, and lighting designer Kevin A. Jones create an original dance theater production inspired by the remarkable properties of turmeric, the root ingredient of many cuisines and recipes that heal from within!
World Premiere: September 15, 2017, The O’Shaughnessy, St. Paul
Shyamaliwas inspired by the courage of global women of color who speak up to sustain communities and whose dissent fuels life force. It celebrates women who refuse to be broken and invokes the resilience of grass, which springs up even when trod upon.
ABOUT THE O’SHAUGHNESSY
Located on the scenic main campus of St. Catherine University, The O’Shaughnessy is one of the Twin Cities’ premiere venues for showcasing the arts. Since opening in 1970, The O’Shaughnessy has presented a dazzling array of both local and national performing arts companies, including the Minnesota Orchestra, The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, James Sewell Ballet, TU Dance, The Indigo Girls, Joan Baez and countless others. In addition, the venue hosts public events, student and community performances and features multicultural programming with an emphasis on dance, music and theater. Known for its dedication to artistic development and collaboration, the venue has premiered over 400 new works by local and national artists. The O’Shaughnessy is the home of the Women of Substance series, which showcases the artistry and innovative work of women, both prominent and emerging in their fields, whose voices need to be heard. theoshaughnessy.com
ABOUT WOMEN OF SUBSTANCE
For more than 20 years, the Women of Substance series has showcased women’s ideas, amplified their voices and honored their places on life’s stage. These artists, thinkers and change-makers challenge the status quo, make audiences to look at the world in new ways, and instill a deeper understanding of self, purpose and action. Through art and ideas, the series ignites women’s innate power, consciousness and sense of justice, motivating and inspiring others to take action and lead lives of substance. The Women of Substance Festival magnifies the mission, values and spirit of St. Catherine’s University.
FUNDING CREDITS
Shaatranga: Women Weaving Worlds Commissioned by The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University
with support from the Joyce Foundation
Choreography: Ananya Chatterjea
Shaatranga is supported by an Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Imagine Fund, the Marbrook Foundation, and the Seward Community Co-op. 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. Generous operating support is provided by McKnight Foundation.
Ananya Dance Theatre, in partnership with Andrea Reynolds aka Queen Drea, is a fiscal 2018 recipient of a Cultural Community Partnership grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature; and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Shaatranga (which means “seven colors” in Bangla and is pronounced “SHA-trong-uh”) asks the question, “How do we show up for each other?” and suggests that global women who engage in world-making are refusing to be seen in only blue/indigo – the pain, sorrow, and defeat that has historically framed them. Instead, they share their multifaceted stories that express not only their pain, but their joys, laughter, and the work they do, that goes largely unrecognized, to create positive force in their communities and the world.