“Call it postmodern dance, diaspora dance theatre, or just a darn good show if you willl—Shyamala Moorty’s style defies categorization.”
-Nirmala Nataraj, India Currents, August 2009
“ ‘Carrie’s Web’ by South Asian performance artist Shyamala Moorty, manages to strike a delicate balance between her parody of a pop cultural icon from Sex and the City and her exploration of a grave, yet taboo subject: domestic violence.”
-Melisa Acoba, India Post, July 24, 2009
“I…was mesmerized by how a one person play was able to interweave issues of South Asian culture, sexuality, domestic violence and dance expression so eloquently.”
-Taz, Sepia Mutiny, July 3, 2009
“Shyamala Moorty’s dance piece, “Emblem,” was billed as an interpretation of the American bald eagle, but I saw in her fitful, jarring expressiveness — played out with an American flag — a far more topical and tortured critique of American militarism.” - Deborah Klugman, LA Weekly, March 31, 2008
“Shyamala executes each style with incredible grace (an especially beautiful hallmark of all her movements), intensity and passion.” - Ketu Katrak, South Asian Popular Culture Journal, October 2004
"Shyamala's performance drew not just a few tears from the audience, and frankly, awed me with the depth of storytelling and the way she wove all these lives together through human tragedy.” - Helene Chu, UNBOUND, Spring 2004
“It was Moorty’s “Rise,” however, that astonished. In this 30 minute tour de force, she morphed into several characters…Reciting her own poetic text, with video by Leilani Chan, she used toilet and a plunger to create a metaphor for the loss of life caused by 2002’s riots in Gujarat, India.”
-Victoria Looseleaf, LA Times, January 17, 2004
“Imagine a Goddess challenging religion-feuled genocide in India armed only with a toilet plunger…” -Martín Hernández on RISE, LA Weekly, August 22-28, 2003
