Kathak (pronounced “Kah-tahk”) is an Indian classical dance tradition native to North India. It enhances the local community by bridging diverse cultures and audiences to contribute to life’s infinite artistic expressions. Rooted in Kathak, the classical dance style of Northern India, KDT is dedicated to making dance accessible, inclusive and relevant. Katha Dance Theatre (KDT) creates, performs and educates through the art forms of dance, music, poetry and storytelling. November 21: 2 pm | American sign language (ASL) post-show discussion *Please note that anyone who enters the Park Square is asked to be masked at all times, and all audience members are required to either show proof of vaccination or a negative test result within 72 hours of the performance to be admitted.*
November 19 – 21, $16-30, 80 minutes, Park Square Theatre, Historic Hamm Building, 20 W. The premiere comes following a 2020 work-in-progress showing at Minneapolis’s Southern Theater. Incorporating cross-cultural artistic and narrative elements within a classical Indian dance performance is in keeping with Rita Mustaphi’s mission to expand upon the Kathak tradition while preserving its authenticity and cultural integrity.
#Onstage dance how to
Mansour is perhaps best known for her autobiographical play How to Have Fun in a Civil War, which details her memories of her childhood in war-torn Somalia.Ĭontributions from dancers of multiethnic backgrounds will fill out the show, including ballet, flamenco, tap, and hip-hop. Photo courtesy of the artistĮquality will also include written contributions by Somali poet and playwright Ifrah Mansour, who will perform the poem “I am a Refugee” onstage alongside Mustaphi and Steele. His intent as composer is for all of these elements to unify in support of the dancers’ performance. They were also inspired by taals, which are rhythm cycles used in North Indian classical music and dance. Steele’s compositions include elements of North Indian, East African and African American musical styles. Steele, an accomplished musician who has performed with Prince, Mavis Staples, and others, will be accompanied by pianist Billy Steele and vocalist Jevetta Steele, as well as drum artist Abhinav Sharma. Steele, with whom KDT previously collaborated back in 2013 on the critically acclaimed Karna – The Abandoned Hero. Her work’s quality speaks for itself, having won her three McKnight Fellowships for choreography, a 2011 Lifetime Achievement award from the India Association of Minnesota, a 2012 Education award from the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, and a 2021 Nari Shakti Award for Women’s Empowerment from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.Įquality will be set to a live rendition of original compositions by Twin Cities musical legend J.D. Of Equality is just one in a long line of original works choreographed by Rita over the course of KDT’s three-decade history. With her choreography, Rita Mustaphi aims to seamlessly blend the various cultural and thematic ideas at play into a cohesive dance piece incorporating traditional Kathak idioms. By enacting his ideas decades after his death, Of Equality demonstrates that this great writer’s work is relevant to today’s artistic and political climates, transcending time and place. Through his writing and activism, Nazrul Islam shared his anger about and attempted to find solutions to various forms of oppression. Using a mixture of dance, music, and spoken word poetry, it juxtaposes past and present fights for racial, cultural and gender equity. Inspired by the poetry of writer and activist Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976), Of Equality attempts to draw parallels between the experiences of today’s communities of color and those expressed by Nazrul Islam back in the early 20th century. It is choreographed by Rita Mustaphi, KDT’s Artistic Director, and features original poetic contributions from artist and playwright Ifrah Mansour.
The event will take place at the Park Square Theatre in St. Read about the Park Square’s health and safety policies.Ĭrystal, MN – Katha Dance Theatre (KDT) has announced the world premiere of Shaamya – Of Equality, their latest collaboration with composer J.D. Photo credits L to R: Erik Saulitis, Kalyan Mustaphi, John Wagner Center, Equality performers Amanda Dlouhy, Kortland Jeray Jackson, and Madhulika Srikanth.
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