06.20
Interdisciplinary dance and theater artists Shyamala Moorty and Sheetal Gandhi collaborate on a theater and dance portrait of a quirky 62 year-old South Asian woman whose fantastical world full of Kings and Queens, coconuts, and a fear of corn chips, transforms as she peers through a soda bottle into a Bollywood style re-imagining of her own past. Visual art by Yatin Parkhani.
Shyamala Moorty
Shyamala Moorty is an interdisciplinary artist and activist with a background in contemporary Indian and western dance forms and theater. Shyamala has been a company artist with TeAda Productions since 2003, where she has created two interdisclinary solo shows. Her first show, RISE, was acclaimed as a “tour de force” by the LA Times (1/17/04). Her second solo show, Carrie’s Web, recently premiered in Los Angeles, and was made in partnership with a community organization for Muslim women and families, NISWA.
Shyamala is also co-founder of the Post Natyam Collective, a multinational community of dance artists critically and creatively investigating contemporary approaches to South Asian dance forms and aesthetic concepts. Shyamala has performed her collaborative work with Post Natyam in the UK, Germany, the Czech Republic, and India.
Shyamala holds an MFA in dance from UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures. She danced with Iyengar’s Rangoli Dance Company from 1994-2004, and was a soloist and principal dancer with the Aman International Music and Dance Ensemble from 1997 to 2004. When she’s not creating and performing, she’s sharing yoga and dance and interdisciplinary approaches with college students. She also designed Artwallah’s summer arts development program, YouthWallah, and served as the first Executive Director of WYSE.
ArtWallah 2010: Afterlife
North America’s decade-old, internationally renowned arts festival of the South Asian diaspora will present the freshest Cultural-Art-Collision on June 18th to 20th 2010 at the venerable Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica.
Co-presented by The South Asian Artists Collective and Highways, the tenth anniversary festival celebrates the theme of “Afterlife” with a presentation of original artist collaborations and multi-disciplinary performance – and an engaging children’s program for families.
Tickets are now available online at www.highwaysperformance.org or via the Highways box office at 310-315-1459.
EVENT GUIDE
Festival date: June 18-20, 2010
Venue: Highways Performance Space
Location: 1651 18th Street, Santa Monica (at 18th Street Art Center one block North of Olympic)
Box Office Reservations: 310-315-1459
Purchase Tickets Online: www.highwaysperformance.org
Show Times: Fri. + Sat. 8:30pm, Sun. 7:00pm
Children’s Program: Sun. 1-4pm
Program: music, film, dance, theater, stand-up comedy, readings, exhibit gallery, childrens’ workshops
Tickets: $20 evening show ($15 students/seniors); $10 children’s program (ages 6+)
Official Website: artwallah.southasianartists.org