choreography, text & performance: Shyamala Moorty dramaturgy & direction: D'lo music: Derrick Spiva, Jr. video: Sangita Shresthova additional dance: Cynthia Lee aeriel coaching: Karen and Sarah Steben running time: 64 minutes
Performance made possible with support by TeAda Productions, the Long Beach Arts Council and the City of Long Beach
Spiders have often been a source of humans’ deepest nightmares. However, in “Carrie’s Web” they may actually save the day! A young South Asian woman struggles to untangle herself from cultural and familial webs. She looks for empowerment to stop cycle of violence only to find help from an extremely unlikely source. A fantastical tale is woven with contemporary Indian dance, theater, aeriels, and a high-heel wearing spider.
choreography, text & performance: Shyamala Moorty running time: 15 minutes
Mixing theater and faux-Bollywood, an ABCD (American Born Confused Desi) teenager arrives in India for the first time only to be shocked at the lack of toilet paper. Her bouyant personality ironically co-exists with an elderly cleaning woman who, while sweeping up after the teenager, serves up a poignant commentary about the caste system and the waste of the Western world.
The desire of the female materializes in the sweet meeting of Shiva and Shakti. The union of the sexes, each completing the other, and their existence as Aardanariishwara (half male and half female) bring harmony to the cosmos. Can this equilibrium last? How long before they are disrupted, only to leave her desiring once more?
RISE (2003)
choreography, text & performance: Shyamala Moorty music: Rob Leng direction: Leilani Chan running time: 25 minutes or 60 minutes
A love-sick heroine wields a plunger as her only weapon against riots, religious fundamentalism, and the breakdown of the toilet. Shyamala merges humorous and dramatic characterizations with classical Indian dance, contemporary dance, and a touch of Bollywood to create a unique hybrid dance-theatre that is a striking and powerful commentary on Hindu and Muslim conflicts in the 2002 “riots” of Gujarat, India.
photo: A. Menezes
Hybrid Hopes (2002)
choreography & performance: Shyamala Moorty (duet version with Sandra Chatterjee) music: Gurpreet Chana and Jugular running time: 5 minutes
Release and fluidity alter and transpose the strict lines and symbols of Bharata Natyam, blooming into an expressive fusion. The lively intermixing of tabla (north Indian percussion) and beat boxing compliment the use of Bharata Natyam and post-modern release technique.
Dividing her body down the center, the dancer practices ballet on one side of her body and Bharatanatyam on the other. As the piece progresses, the forms become more and more mixed up, transforming the artificial border that she starts with and moving beyond the East/West dichotomy into a sometimes conflicting, sometimes integrated vision of Aardanariishwara.
