Meet LORRY MAY Founder of the ANNA SOKOLOW Dance Foundation

and

Daniel Phoenix Singh, Dakshina’s Artistic Director

RSVP by emailing RSVP@dakshina.org

Dakshina invites you to view an open rehearsal for the staging of Frida, an Anna Sokolow creation dedicated to the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo. This is a wonderful opportunity to see this iconic dance being restaged and to meet reconstructor Lorry May and Daniel Phoenix Singh, founder and artistic director of Dakshina. Both will be available for discussion.

2010 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Anna Sokolow, a choreographer who contributed to the world of modern dance for nearly seven decades. Dakshina was one of the first companies to celebrate the legendary Anna Sokolow during this her birth centennial. In January 2010, the company gave a ground-breaking performance in Bangladesh, where we became the first US company to visit since the country’s founding 40 years ago.

Anna Sokolow was known as one of the most dynamic and uncompromising of the modern dance choreographers and has had a profound impact on the course of modern dance throughout the world. The Anna Sokolow Foundation helps to keep her extraordinary legacy and vision alive through reconstruction of her works with contemporary dance companies to present stunning theatrical stagings of the original choreography.

We are privileged to have Lorry May — former principal dancer with Sokolow, founder of the Sokolow Dance Foundation, and assistant to Anna Sokolow — spend a three week residency with the Dakshina Dance Company. The role of Frida was actually created on Lorry May and it is truly an honor to have Lorry restaging the work for Dakshina. Melissa Greco Liu, a Dakshina principal dancer, will be the Frida in our reconstruction. We are delighted to be able to carry forward the wonderful legacy of Anna Sokolow with the widely acclaimed Lorry May.

Dakshina, a DC company committed to both the classical dance forms of Southern India and the contemporary choreography of America, remounts four pivotal Sokolow works — Dreams, Rooms, September Sonnet, and Frida. An Evening of Anna Sokolow will be presented by the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, on November 4th and 5th 2010.

FREE OPEN REHEARSAL: Staging of Frida

VENUE: Maryland Youth Ballet, 926 Ellsworth Drive, Silver Spring, MD

DATE: Saturday 28 August

TIME: 4:00 – 5:30

RSVP: rsvp@dakshina.org. While admission is free, we do need to know how many people are coming as the dancers will be in active rehearsal; please specify your preferred date and the number of friends you are bringing.

This is our 6th year of partnership with Alif and we are excited to have her back with us this Fall. Gracious and talented, she serves as a role model and mentor to Daniel.

Alif Laila was born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her connection with the arts has been very deep since early childhood. In Dhaka, Bangladesh, she began her initial training in vocal music, and was eventually inspired to learn the Sitar by her mother, Shehida. She was trained on a ‘one to one’ basis in the techniques and compositions of classical music by Ustad Mir Qasem Khan, nephew of Ustad Allauddin Khan, and founder of the Senia Maihar school of music. Alif’s passion for the arts was beyond music alone. She attended the College of Fine Arts in Dhaka where she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree and received several awards for her water color paintings. The world of rhythm and tone in drawing and painting gradually merged with her music and her love story with the arts began. She was fortunate to receive guidance from teachers like Partha Chatterjee and Krishna Bhatt and blessings from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. She has performed extensively in many prestigious venues in Bangladesh, India, Europe and the USA. World renowned Tabla artists like Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, Ustad Taari Khan, and Pandit Yogesh Shamsi have performed and recorded with her. In 2007 her DVD ‘Hrydayaragam’ was presented at The Smithsonian. She has recently released another DVD, ‘Strings of Resonance’ with Anubrata Chatterjee, presenting Indian Classical music as the link to the heritage of the land from the past to the present.

With devotion and dedication Alif embraces the Sitar as the instrument of her soul.

To know more about her and watch her video-clips please visit her website: www.aliflailasitar.com and blog: aliflailasitar.blogspot.com.

FACES: Blessed Unrest, is a presentation by Anita Ratnam of some of the most familiar and loved personae from our cultural tapestry. Portraying varied sentiments, these FACES together traverse a spectrum of emotions, to finally surrender to infinite bliss. She is coming to Washington DC shortly after receiving her Phd in Womens Studies.

Anita Ratnam discusses the inspiration and the process in creating Faces: Blessed Unrest.
Most creations find their inspiration in a fleeting word, image or moment. That is how FACES, too, was born. There are the familiar archetypes, but there is also that blurring of lines between them. “These faces were already there have always been,” says Anita. “But they have been recognized as personalities rather than emotions. So when you look at them just as faces, they become easier to relate to, the emotion becomes personal.”

The use of theatrical stage movement and tools links the faces together, the music stays true to each, and the evening thus becomes an exploration of the range of emotions of which one is capable. “Looking past the aura of these cultural icons and finding the recognizable feelings that drive us all, that connect them to us and each other, that’s what FACES is about.”

What the critics are saying:
Anita Ratnam’s dance finds power in stillness. In an irony of sorts, it was Anita Ratnam’s Contemporary statement “Faces” that stole the thunder in a festival titled Parampara (tradition).
Leela Venkataraman, THE HINDU, Friday Review Delhi, November 7, 2008.

Mallika Sarabhai is a lightning rod in India for taking on works ranging from Peter Brooks’ staging of the Indian epic Mahabharata to Bertolt Brecht’s Indian adaptation of The Good Person of Szechwan. She is an iconic feminist figure who strongly believes that one of the primary functions of Art is to make us take a critical look at the problems in society. Sarabhai uses her varied background from Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi, the folk idioms of India, and her acting skills to create sizzling social commentaries on issues ranging from land rights, the lingering problems of the caste systems, to all the way back to the myths of India that mistreat women and minorities.

In 2010 Sarabhai received the Padma Bhushan from the President of India (second highest civilian award). Her mother Mrinalini Sarabhai, an esteemed danseuse and social justice activist received this award in 1992, and together they are the only mother-daughter pair to have received this prestigious award.

Sarabhai was the founding guest artist for Dakshina’s Fall Festival series, starting the Festival off with her Meera at the Duke Ellington school in 2004. Sarabhai and her full company return to DC with her critically acclaimed production of Sampradayam. Bhajans have always been a mainstay of devotional music in Hinduism and the rousing passion of voices accompanied by nothing but cymbals creates a trance like effect. However, over the last couple of decades bhajans have been influenced by other music traditions like Bollywood and Ghazals, light classical music and western instruments. In a move to counter this and find the real community flavor of Bhajans, there is a strong revival movement in southern India focusing on the essence of the form that is without heavy instrumentation. Watch a clip of the production here.

We will be performing a full evening of Anna Sokolow’s dances, including the company premiere of Sokolow’s Frida. We are very grateful to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center for presenting Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company as part of their season. Daniel graduated from UMD’s Dance Department in 2004, and was the first Graduate Student to be presented at the Center in 2004. His thesis concert “Songs of My Life” was sold out for every single performance at the center both in its first run at the dance department and in the return engagement when the Clarice Smith Center presented us. It is a wonderful homecoming for the company to be back this year at the center.

Daniel has nurtured a multi-year, multi-project partnership with the Sokolow Dance Foundation and has been working closely with Lorry May, former principal and assistant to Anna Sokolow on this show. Daniel was inspired when he was introduced to Sokolow’s Kaddish (performed by Risa Steinberg) at Dance Place over 14 years ago. He was fascinated with Sokolow’s stark and powerful movement style and resolved then to acquire rights to reconstruct and perform her works. The dream came true almost 10 years later, and the company has been working closely with Lorry May for the past four years to bring you this evening of rarely seen dances by Sokolow such as Frida, September Sonnet, Dreams and Rooms. For tickets and other information, please visit the Center’s website.

DAKSHINA/DANIEL PHOENIX SINGH DANCE COMPANY
Storytelling through Gesture and Movement

Dancer/choreographer Daniel Phoenix Singh leads this workshop on hand gestures and how they are used in Bharata Natyam and Modern dance to convey ideas and emotions.

These techniques are central to Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company’s performances of both the classical dance forms of Eastern India and modern choreography such as Anna Sokolow’s, presented at the Center this season.

This participatory workshop is open to everyone; no movement experience is necessary. More information is available at the Center’s website.

The festival will be held jointly with the bicentenary of the Argentine Independence and this year’s festival will cover the history of the Argentine Tango from its early roots up to the present forms and styles, in which diverse variations of expression coexist.

The festival will offer milongas, practicas every day of the week, the best shows, orchestras, performances and workshops with the most prestigious Argentinean teachers.

More information and program details will be available in August.

Richard Morgan explores when it stopped being an embarrassment to say you live in D.C. and interviews a group of the capital’s most influential gays to shine a light on Washington DC’s rise to hotness. Singh knew DC was cool long before OUT discovered this of course, that’s why we he chose the nation’s Capital for Dakshina’s home.

Read the full article here.

In Nube Blanco (white cloud), Ochoa takes up the theme of “zapateo” (rhythmic footwork) synonymous with Flamenco and creates an interesting juxtaposition by combining it with modern dance’s line, and use of space. The piece begins with a single male dancer on stage, clad in black with blood red shoes that draw your eyes to the feet even before the first percussive note is struck. As the opening solo develops, other dancers enter the stage, with the men and women in all black with red shoes. The women’s skirts have a white ruffle underskirt that is airy and shows off the movements beautifully. Diana Ruettiger costume design works wonderful with Ochoa’s movement, which is expansive, percussive and earthy, and the dancers own the work and space wonderfully.

Ochoa draws on the vibrant use of arms, hand gestures, clapping and stamping of flamenco for this piece and marries it to interesting group work, and theatrics. She uses the shoes, shirts, and skirts as clever props–dancers get in and out of their clothes and shoes throughout the piece offering us humor but often also portraying their beautiful vulnerability. The bare-chested men use their shirts as a matador’s cape while evoking scenes from a bull fight, and the women’s shiny red high-heeled shoes slice through the air glinting like horns. The dancers vocalize throughout the dance, sometimes speaking, sometimes creating sound scores using whistles, and abstract sounds. Towards the end, the dancers come in stripped down to their underwear with just one shoe on. The height difference caused by the missing shoe creates a loping walk that is labored, poignant and funny at the same time. The staccato sound of their clacking heels adds to the image of a group that is weighted down and staggering. Against this background, one of the dancers enters clad in layers and layers of the white ruffle underskirts, bouncing through the stage like a cloud—the counterpoint creates a stunning effect. The group shuffles through space and twitches and shakes, and in the ending image a wall of dancers slowly collapse and roll of the stage, leaving just the namesake white cloud visible on stage.

Ochoa has a strong vision and uses it effectively throughout the piece all the way till the dramatic ending. Unfortunately, instead of relying on her strong dance sections, she introduces several incongruous comic elements in between the dance sections as transitions. I found them mostly distracting and the fact that they occurred only as transitions and were never fully integrated into the piece reinforced that they were unnecessary to the already strong dance. But that is a tiny quibble in an otherwise strong dance.

The much talked about Danzon was the second dance of the evening, live music always creates new energy for the dancers to feed off of, and this was no exception. Vilaro’s program notes says that he created this piece from his memories of the Cuban Danzon, a formal social dance where couples follow a set of codes on when, how and what they do on the dance floor. Typical Cuban Danzons have built in musical preludes for the couples to walk through the dance floor and greet each other and talk to each other. There is a clear musical transition that signals the start of the dance when everyone pairs up and begins the formal dance portion and there is a harkening back to bygone days of grand old ballrooms. And often there is debate about whether the current version was a mockery of the colonists by the locals or if it is just took on its own form.

Vilaro is a master at blending different genres, and we see ballet, modern, and hints of Salsa and Son mixed in fluidly. The dancers eat up the space and riff off the musicians wonderfully. Paquito D‘Rivera’s playing is infectious and the way the music bubbles out of his saxophone makes you want to just giggle for no reason. But the idea that this was a collaboration beyond having the musicians on stage is a stretch to put it mildly. Abstraction is a slippery slope, particularly when the new version becomes an exercise unto itself. Vilaro’s version of the Danzon is so abstracted that it doesn’t bear any resemblance to the original social form in which people promenade, chat, and socialize on the dance floor as much as they dance.

The evening closed with Vilaro’s Quinceañera, his clever take on the popular Latin American custom of the birthday festivities of a girl turning 15. We see young women confused by the impending rush and doom of adulthood and all of its accompanying pleasures and trials. A section on girls trying to walk in high heels is side-splittingly funny, while it also draws attention to the fact that it is still a teenager who is trying to fill an adult’s shoes. We see snapshots of all the characters that make up your average teenage social. In one section, we see the young men at the party trying to impress the girls with their bravado and awkwardness all at once. There is the couple that has imbibed too freely of the wine, the girl who is left alone when everyone else pairs off for the dance and the life of the party who people can’t get enough of. In this quick and wonderful sketch, Vilaro takes us smoothly through the highs and lows of a young woman coming of age, of her joys, fears, awkwardness, and finally, to her transformation from a gawky teenager into a confident adult. And just as seamlessly, Vilaro’s vocabulary moves in and out of genres like ballet, jazz, modern and hints of Latin social dance forms. The focus though is primarily on modern dance, and less so on regional Latin American forms. Whether that approach is a loss or advantage is debatable but it is definitely a feather in Vilaro’s cap that he can make it all fit together so smoothly.

Daniel is a Finalist in the Innovation in the Arts Category for DC’s 25th Annual Mayor’s Arts Awards. As you may know Dakshina means “offering” in Sanskrit and in keeping with this spirit, Dakshina offers artists and communities the unique opportunity to experience dance as a movement that links the arts, cultures, and social causes. Finalists were chosen by the Mayor’s Arts Awards Advisory Jury comprised of prominent members of the District’s arts community with expertise in dance, music, theater, literary arts, visual arts and arts education.

The Mayor’s Arts Awards is the highest honor conferred by the District of Columbia in recognition of artistic excellence and service among artists, arts organizations, and arts patrons in the city. The 33 finalists for the 25th Annual Mayor’s Arts Awards demonstrate the wide range of talent the arts community offers in the District of Columbia.

Washington’s arts community is integral to the world-class city we call home. This year the panel received a record 102 nominations, reinforcing the fact that the Mayor’s Arts Awards represents its appreciation of the contributions made to the rich cultural vitality of Washington DC.

See the full list of Finalists here.

Here are some highlights of our awards in recent years

• Dakshina’s May 2010 Dance Place Show was selected as the critic’s pick by the Washington Post chief critic Sarah Kaufman. One of two local companies to make this distinguished roster. January 2010
• Dakshina’s May Dance Place Show was chosen as the Number One pick of five events by Arion Berger in the Express Daily. 2009
• Emerging Group, for Bell Song, Singh’s fusion work incorporating Bharata Natyam and Modern Dance. Dance Metro DC. 2008
• Excellence in Costume Design (shared with Roxann Morgan) for Bell Song, Singh’s fusion work incorporating Bharata Natyam and Modern Dance., Dance Metro DC. 2008
• Dakshina’s May Dance Place Show was chosen as the Best Pick by Nick Green in the Washington City Paper. 2008.
• Founder’s Award for Innovation in Dance, Dance Metro DC. 2007
• Singh was selected for the Asia-21 Young Leaders Forum. 2007
• Finalist, Emerging Artist–Mayor’s Arts Awards. 2007 and 2006
• Dakshina’s National Geographic Show was chosen as the Best Pick by the Express daily paper. 2005
• Finalist, Set Design for Songs of My Life, Dance Metro DC. 2005
• Songs of My Life selected as Best Pick by Sarah Godfrey in the Washington City Paper. 2004
• Singh became the first Alumnus to be invited to present a program at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland. 2004