BY PREM SOURI KISHORE
LOS ANGELES,CA-Judy Mitoma, Curator and Producer, World Festival of Sacred Music has been enthralling audiences with her series of music and dance events by inviting artistes to “Dance the World with Music for the Soul” for the past six months at the Aratani Theater here. The accomplished Navarasa Dance...
LOS ANGELES,CA-Judy Mitoma, Curator and Producer, World Festival of Sacred Music has been enthralling audiences with her series of music and dance events by inviting artistes to “Dance the World with Music for the Soul” for the past six months at the Aratani Theater here. The accomplished Navarasa Dance...
Group- an exciting and adventurous collective under the compelling direction of Aparna Sindhoor, S M Raju and Anil Natyaveda presented a stunning and visceral program of work- ‘A Story and A Song’, on May 2.
This was provocative storytelling lushly layered with martial arts, explosive movement, swirling aerial feats, vocal chants, Bharata Natyam ,narrative and deep rooted traditions. The evening’s work inspired by a story by A K Ramanujam and Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz honored the natural environment and was told through dynamic interplay of body, gesture, and emotion. Emotionally complex and intricate rhythms explored their signature powerful movements as performers explored the capacity of the human body.
Aparna Sindoor is a thrilling artiste with a fierce passion for all the arts. Her singing shorn of all orchestration,her voice threading between South Indian languages and English, her deep tenderness using her body was riveting.Founder and Director of Navarasa Dance Theater, she has a doctorate in Dance, Cultural and Women’s Studies from Boston University, and has won many awards and presented her work in prestigious spaces like Jacob’s Pillow, Bates Dance Festival and Amol Palekar’s Theater Festival. She has also choreographed for Indian films including SM Raju’s ‘Varnam’ and Santhosh Sivan’s ‘Anandabhadram’.
Anil Natyaveda has trained in dance and aerial dance forms. With his lithe dynamic and powerful body he used creative energy and drama to demonstrate his agility as he swung into the empty air with a glorious sense of liberation. He explored the capacity of the human body and unleashed it into space expressing it in story form.
As a duo, Aparna and Anil melded folk tradition and visual imagery into a constantly evolving, adventurous play of bodies swathed in fabric erupting in tumultuous joy as they wove intricate patterns of movement in the air.
Anil is Co-Director choreo-grapher,dancer and teacher of the martial art Kalari Payattu. He has performed internationally including in the Edinburgh Dance Festival, Germany International Summer Theater Festival and Khajuraho Festival.
Kennedy Kasabares a commanding aerial artist in the program is an actor and has competed in Aerial Acrobatic Arts Festival and has worked with 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors and Singapore Rep.
Complexity and narrative were enhanced with the exuberant energy, gleeful abandon and skill of the other dancers, Smitha Radhakrishna, Leah Vincent, and Baja.
Rodhakrishna is a professor at Wellesley College and holds a dectorate from UC Berkelely . Vincent has a Masters in Latin American Studies from Ohio University. Baja has trained in ballet, jazz,and performed with Colulmbia College Chicago Dance Theater Red Clay and Speak Hill Dance project.
Ric Zimmerman, Series Lighting Designer and Edward Orlando, Technical Director were responsible for a seamless performance.
This was provocative storytelling lushly layered with martial arts, explosive movement, swirling aerial feats, vocal chants, Bharata Natyam ,narrative and deep rooted traditions. The evening’s work inspired by a story by A K Ramanujam and Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz honored the natural environment and was told through dynamic interplay of body, gesture, and emotion. Emotionally complex and intricate rhythms explored their signature powerful movements as performers explored the capacity of the human body.
Aparna Sindoor is a thrilling artiste with a fierce passion for all the arts. Her singing shorn of all orchestration,her voice threading between South Indian languages and English, her deep tenderness using her body was riveting.Founder and Director of Navarasa Dance Theater, she has a doctorate in Dance, Cultural and Women’s Studies from Boston University, and has won many awards and presented her work in prestigious spaces like Jacob’s Pillow, Bates Dance Festival and Amol Palekar’s Theater Festival. She has also choreographed for Indian films including SM Raju’s ‘Varnam’ and Santhosh Sivan’s ‘Anandabhadram’.
Anil Natyaveda has trained in dance and aerial dance forms. With his lithe dynamic and powerful body he used creative energy and drama to demonstrate his agility as he swung into the empty air with a glorious sense of liberation. He explored the capacity of the human body and unleashed it into space expressing it in story form.
As a duo, Aparna and Anil melded folk tradition and visual imagery into a constantly evolving, adventurous play of bodies swathed in fabric erupting in tumultuous joy as they wove intricate patterns of movement in the air.
Anil is Co-Director choreo-grapher,dancer and teacher of the martial art Kalari Payattu. He has performed internationally including in the Edinburgh Dance Festival, Germany International Summer Theater Festival and Khajuraho Festival.
Kennedy Kasabares a commanding aerial artist in the program is an actor and has competed in Aerial Acrobatic Arts Festival and has worked with 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors and Singapore Rep.
Complexity and narrative were enhanced with the exuberant energy, gleeful abandon and skill of the other dancers, Smitha Radhakrishna, Leah Vincent, and Baja.
Rodhakrishna is a professor at Wellesley College and holds a dectorate from UC Berkelely . Vincent has a Masters in Latin American Studies from Ohio University. Baja has trained in ballet, jazz,and performed with Colulmbia College Chicago Dance Theater Red Clay and Speak Hill Dance project.
Ric Zimmerman, Series Lighting Designer and Edward Orlando, Technical Director were responsible for a seamless performance.