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In “By the Light…”, the late Eric Hampton visualized Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” as a woman’s solo of sorrow. She looks up into the light of the moon, she leans back in the moonbeams as if to remember, she grieves and, briefly, succeeds in conjuring up her lost love. This is a solo more than it is a duo, one of intensity and utter simplicity. Natalia Pinzon honed it to perfection. As her ghostly partner, Black was present for an instant and then not. George Jackson’s review in DanceViewTimes.com. December 13, 2011.

The legendary Bharatanatyam exponent Leela Samson and her Kalakshetra Repertory Company danced so well Saturday at the Lincoln Theatre — in the concluding performance of the Fall Festival of Indian Arts — that the ultimate standing ovation was richly deserved. Pamela Kidron Review in the Washington Post, October 10, 2011.

Her [Leela Samson's] dancing has been an alloy of flesh, velvet and willpower since I’ve known it and this time she had to will her body to obey more emphatically than before. Obey it did and her marvelous balances lasted untremored. With one leg raised at an angle in front and the clearly articulated arms floating, Samson’s right index finger was poised in expectation as the light on her faded – undoubtedly it was eternity for which she was waiting. George Jackson’s review of the Fall Festival in Danceviewtimes.com, October 8, 2011.

Daniel Phoenix Singh was featured on National Public Radio’s Tell Me More program, with host Michel Martin on Wednesday October 5th. You can download and listen to the podcast to get an inside look into the curating process of our signature Fall Festival of Indian Arts.

With a cast of just 9 (and sometimes fewer), Sokolow is able to launch an irresistible pulse, an effect for which other choreographers require massive forces. She is equally adept in using the dancers as individuals…No question that Singh, as Dakshina’s artistic director, makes daring choices across the technical and stylistic divides of modern dance, India dance and ballet…That his gambles often pay off is likely due to his meticulous rehearsal staff – Karen Bernstein and Harriet Moncure Williams. If only the directors of our big dance companies had a bit more Diaghilev in their drawers. George Jackson review in Danceviewtimes July 9, 2011.

The dancers then take a breath and plunge into “reconstructions” of Sokolow’s Frida, that moved me to tears, based on Kahlo’s paintings, followed by a premiere of the terrifyingly stoical Homage to the surrealist painter David Alfaro Sigueiros. FootlightsDC July 8, 2011

In Singh’s “Vasanth”, a mythological “Rite of Spring”, I think I see most clearly his intentional and his instinctive use of Western movement within an Indian context. George Jackson in Danceviewtimes March 11, 2011

Dakshina is looking good as a company. Its ensembles cohere. It can convey the Mexican sizzle of “Frida” and it triggered the Ausdruckstanz chill of “Dreams”. danceviewtimes November 7, 2010

Only in America: Where else could a young man who grew up in an impoverished, low-caste fundamentalist Christian family in India get a degree in computer science and discover dance? Not just any dance, but …Barata Natyam, which is Hindu-based classical Indian dance — at once a discovery of his cultural heritage and a departure from his Methodist upbringing. By day, University of Maryland grad Daniel Phoenix Singh, whose passport is stamped “backward class,” is a computer consultant. By night, he runs Dakshina, a company devoted to Indian dance as well as — here’s the newest twist — the dark social commentary of mid-20th-century choreographer Anna Sokolow. Her works are little performed nowadays; Singh fell in love with her style at a concert years ago and will present a full program of rarely seen Sokolow dances Nov. 4 through 5 at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland. He’ll also present his annual fall festival of Indian Dance, Oct. 8 and 9 at the Lincoln Theatre, with Mallika Sarabhai and Anita Ratnam. Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post Chief Dance Critic’s Pick for Fall 2010. Washington Post, September 12, 2010.

Anna Sokolow was an unflinching choreographer of human pain and alienation. Not exactly popular stuff but unforgettably piercing. Her works are not seen much anymore (she died in 2000), which is why the Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company’s reconstruction of her 1955 piece about urban isolation, “Rooms,” is so fascinating. Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post Chief Dance Critic’s Pick for Spring 2010. Washington Post, January 31, 2010.

Taste and clarity of expression within parameters of high aesthetic standards set Dakshina from Washington DC apart as a dance company…Its gifted young director Daniel anchors talents of varying cultural origin and, himself a Bharatanatyam dancer, absorbs influences in his work. Times of India, January 3, 2010.

…impassioned and provocative … Almost 50 years after its debut, Anna Sokolow’s “Dreams” looks as fresh as ever. An intense work that reflects on the atrocities of the Holocaust, it was presented at Dance Place by Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company…Washington Post May 11, 2009

…Shiva represents a dichotomy, and the dancers surely drew his pleasure for the work to come—both light and profound…Cheryl Palonis Adams Facebook Review May 11, 2009

…I was left with a number of lingering images. A woman, her face contorted in terror, opens her mouth to scream, but no noise comes. A man clenches his outstretched fist repeatedly with his other hand as if to pull himself away from something, his pace quickening to a frenzy that leads to a breakdown. A group of individuals pull their own necks and bodies down to the ground as they struggle against the force. “Dreams,” inspired by images of the Holocaust, is a powerful piece….Chris Wingert’s Preview in theNewGay.net, May 7 2009