Artist’s Statement

I make intercultural interdisciplinary dance theater pieces when I have something I need to say to the world. For instance, when it came time for me to articluate my personal protest against the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Gujarat Riots, and all the senseless violence in the world, I heard an inner minister that said, “Speak now, or forever know no peace!” I chose to create an evening length piece, Lamps on Lilypads, that questions our definitions of success, explores various aspects of freedom and peace, and finally revels in the myriad forms of Love.

I also make work that elucidates classical kathak dance while cross-pollinating with contemporary movement. The Hindustani classical forms are often inaccessible to anyone not trained in their complexities and sublteties. The challenge of displaying the magnificence of the art, revealing its intricacies, while actively engaging the audience has been one of my inspirations. Lamps on Lilypads used text and songs in different languages. The interdisciplinary and intercultural aspect made the work highly accessible to people previously unfamiliar with kathak. Audiences were moved and inspired by this piece and I am encouraged to experiment further with my new piece by incorporating more vocabulary from outside the Hindustani classical tradition. I’d like to show the commonalities and contrasts with other forms with which local people may be more familiar, such as tango, flamenco, or contact improvisation.

Traditionally Hindustani classical music communicates a mood and kathak re-tells the mythological stories of India. Within the schools of these forms it is deeply ingrained that the purity of the form must be maintained. Innovation is strongly discouraged. There is a fear that “fusion causes confusion.” I have been inspired to use these forms to express deeply personal, contemporary, and radically political issues in a manner that stays true to the tradition yet avails of the improvisational aspect to create work that not only is accessible to, but also touches, moves, and inspires multi-cultural and international audiences. I want to use the articulate potential in these forms to instigate introspection in the audience members that inspires them to radically change the way we we think and live.

In a world that extols the virtues of the specialist I have found myself to be the rare interdisciplinary physician artist who believes in excellence through integrated versatility. I thrive on the layering of forms, approaches, and methodologies and believe the process is enriching. For me, the first layer of my artistic process is the statement I want to make to the world. I often find my voice revealed in my writings and also reflected back to me in the things I read and hear. In the rhythm of these words I often hear the layering of the rhythms of tabla and kathak and am sometimes thrilled by how well they fit together. I start layering the words over the rhythm and then I interchangeably work with the movement and the melodic components. I often focus on different points along the arc of the idea and then work to connect those dots coherently. The polishing of the layers upon layers as a performance piece requires intense concentration and dedicated practice over months and years.

My hope is that the piece I’m currently working on, Aawara, La Vagabonda, will inspire women to value their creativity and inherent worth regardless of age or relationship or marital status. The protagonist is an amalgamation of my revolutionary heroines, such as Colette, Amelia Earhart, Umrao Jaan, and Arundhati Roy. Though their life histories include romance, their fulfillment lay in the cultivation of their talents. Women often abdicate this freedom at great expense to their human potential. Aawara explores how we negotiate the spectrum between freedom and security and exalts another option. Through this piece I wish to empower young women from diverse backgrounds and cultures to nurture their intellectual and creative pursuits.