Sat April 27, 2019
Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose Presents I Have A Dream: Stories of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose, the Bay Area’s premier South Indian classical dance company, presents I Have A Dream: Stories of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., portrayed in Indian Classical Dance. I Have A Dream: Stories of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. is a restaging of excerpts from Abhinaya’s performance Stories of Justice, presented last November in San Jose, and features an opening number titled Gandhi’s Inspiration.
Directed by Artistic Director, Mythili Kumar, the performance depicts the non-violent resistance strategies of Martin Luther King, Jr. and seeks to demonstrate that the fight for social justice is ongoing and that past struggles provide lessons that enable us to confront our current problems. Abhinaya dancers will dramatically portray key protests in King’s life, where he emphasized the principle of non-violence deriving inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s resistance movement against the British in India. King’s messages on non-violence and love also resonate across the conflicts arising from several recent events of injustice such as the killing of black motorist, Philando Castile, the arrest of two black patrons at Starbucks, and the upsurge in the Ku Klux Klan and alt-right marches.
Acclaimed choreographer and dancer, Rasika Kumar (who is also the daughter of Abhinaya’s Founder and Artistic Director, Mythili Kumar) will be presenting her solo on the Life of Rosa Parks who became active in the civil rights movement at a young age. It was Parks’ courageous act of refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white male passenger in Montgomery, Alabama that inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to set in motion the Montgomery bus boycott, one of the largest social movements in the history of African Americans’ struggle for equality.
Abhinaya will tell these stories by employing the stylistic vocabulary of Bharatanatyam, a dance form that originated in the Hindu temples of India over 2000 years ago.
Glossary of Terms:
Abhinaya: Abhi is the prefix meaning towards and ni (naya) means to carry. Abhinaya thus means to carry towards, i.e. to carry the spectator towards the meaning and can therefore be translated as communicating to the audience.
Bharatanatyam is an ancient classical dance form that was performed and nurtured in the temples of South India as a part of the daily worship. It presents coordinated movements of the face, eyes, and hands along with intricate rhythmic footwork. It narrates stories from Indian mythology with mime, facial expressions, and a language of gestures. The dance is accompanied by classical South Indian (Carnatic) music.
Bharatanatyam: The syllables Bha-ra-ta denote the three components of all dancing. Bha denoting Bhaava, or expression; Ra denoting Raaga, or melody; and Ta denoting Taala, or rhythm. Naatyam is a general term for theatrical dance.
show less
Directed by Artistic Director, Mythili Kumar, the performance depicts the non-violent resistance strategies of Martin Luther King, Jr. and seeks to demonstrate that the fight for social justice is ongoing and that past struggles provide lessons that enable us to confront our current problems. Abhinaya dancers will dramatically portray key protests in King’s life, where he emphasized the principle of non-violence deriving inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s resistance movement against the British in India. King’s messages on non-violence and love also resonate across the conflicts arising from several recent events of injustice such as the killing of black motorist, Philando Castile, the arrest of two black patrons at Starbucks, and the upsurge in the Ku Klux Klan and alt-right marches.
Acclaimed choreographer and dancer, Rasika Kumar (who is also the daughter of Abhinaya’s Founder and Artistic Director, Mythili Kumar) will be presenting her solo on the Life of Rosa Parks who became active in the civil rights movement at a young age. It was Parks’ courageous act of refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white male passenger in Montgomery, Alabama that inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to set in motion the Montgomery bus boycott, one of the largest social movements in the history of African Americans’ struggle for equality.
Abhinaya will tell these stories by employing the stylistic vocabulary of Bharatanatyam, a dance form that originated in the Hindu temples of India over 2000 years ago.
Glossary of Terms:
Abhinaya: Abhi is the prefix meaning towards and ni (naya) means to carry. Abhinaya thus means to carry towards, i.e. to carry the spectator towards the meaning and can therefore be translated as communicating to the audience.
Bharatanatyam is an ancient classical dance form that was performed and nurtured in the temples of South India as a part of the daily worship. It presents coordinated movements of the face, eyes, and hands along with intricate rhythmic footwork. It narrates stories from Indian mythology with mime, facial expressions, and a language of gestures. The dance is accompanied by classical South Indian (Carnatic) music.
Bharatanatyam: The syllables Bha-ra-ta denote the three components of all dancing. Bha denoting Bhaava, or expression; Ra denoting Raaga, or melody; and Ta denoting Taala, or rhythm. Naatyam is a general term for theatrical dance.
Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose, the Bay Area’s premier South Indian classical dance company, presents I Have A Dream: Stories of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., portrayed in Indian Classical Dance. I Have A Dream: Stories of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. is a restaging of excerpts from Abhinaya’s performance Stories of Justice, presented last November in San Jose, and features an opening number titled Gandhi’s Inspiration.
Directed by Artistic Director, Mythili Kumar, the performance depicts the non-violent resistance strategies of Martin Luther King, Jr. and seeks to demonstrate that the fight for social justice is ongoing and that past struggles provide lessons that enable us to confront our current problems. Abhinaya dancers will dramatically portray key protests in King’s life, where he emphasized the principle of non-violence deriving inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s resistance movement against the British in India. King’s messages on non-violence and love also resonate across the conflicts arising from several recent events of injustice such as the killing of black motorist, Philando Castile, the arrest of two black patrons at Starbucks, and the upsurge in the Ku Klux Klan and alt-right marches.
Acclaimed choreographer and dancer, Rasika Kumar (who is also the daughter of Abhinaya’s Founder and Artistic Director, Mythili Kumar) will be presenting her solo on the Life of Rosa Parks who became active in the civil rights movement at a young age. It was Parks’ courageous act of refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white male passenger in Montgomery, Alabama that inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to set in motion the Montgomery bus boycott, one of the largest social movements in the history of African Americans’ struggle for equality.
Abhinaya will tell these stories by employing the stylistic vocabulary of Bharatanatyam, a dance form that originated in the Hindu temples of India over 2000 years ago.
Glossary of Terms:
Abhinaya: Abhi is the prefix meaning towards and ni (naya) means to carry. Abhinaya thus means to carry towards, i.e. to carry the spectator towards the meaning and can therefore be translated as communicating to the audience.
Bharatanatyam is an ancient classical dance form that was performed and nurtured in the temples of South India as a part of the daily worship. It presents coordinated movements of the face, eyes, and hands along with intricate rhythmic footwork. It narrates stories from Indian mythology with mime, facial expressions, and a language of gestures. The dance is accompanied by classical South Indian (Carnatic) music.
Bharatanatyam: The syllables Bha-ra-ta denote the three components of all dancing. Bha denoting Bhaava, or expression; Ra denoting Raaga, or melody; and Ta denoting Taala, or rhythm. Naatyam is a general term for theatrical dance.
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Directed by Artistic Director, Mythili Kumar, the performance depicts the non-violent resistance strategies of Martin Luther King, Jr. and seeks to demonstrate that the fight for social justice is ongoing and that past struggles provide lessons that enable us to confront our current problems. Abhinaya dancers will dramatically portray key protests in King’s life, where he emphasized the principle of non-violence deriving inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s resistance movement against the British in India. King’s messages on non-violence and love also resonate across the conflicts arising from several recent events of injustice such as the killing of black motorist, Philando Castile, the arrest of two black patrons at Starbucks, and the upsurge in the Ku Klux Klan and alt-right marches.
Acclaimed choreographer and dancer, Rasika Kumar (who is also the daughter of Abhinaya’s Founder and Artistic Director, Mythili Kumar) will be presenting her solo on the Life of Rosa Parks who became active in the civil rights movement at a young age. It was Parks’ courageous act of refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white male passenger in Montgomery, Alabama that inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to set in motion the Montgomery bus boycott, one of the largest social movements in the history of African Americans’ struggle for equality.
Abhinaya will tell these stories by employing the stylistic vocabulary of Bharatanatyam, a dance form that originated in the Hindu temples of India over 2000 years ago.
Glossary of Terms:
Abhinaya: Abhi is the prefix meaning towards and ni (naya) means to carry. Abhinaya thus means to carry towards, i.e. to carry the spectator towards the meaning and can therefore be translated as communicating to the audience.
Bharatanatyam is an ancient classical dance form that was performed and nurtured in the temples of South India as a part of the daily worship. It presents coordinated movements of the face, eyes, and hands along with intricate rhythmic footwork. It narrates stories from Indian mythology with mime, facial expressions, and a language of gestures. The dance is accompanied by classical South Indian (Carnatic) music.
Bharatanatyam: The syllables Bha-ra-ta denote the three components of all dancing. Bha denoting Bhaava, or expression; Ra denoting Raaga, or melody; and Ta denoting Taala, or rhythm. Naatyam is a general term for theatrical dance.
show less
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Oakland Asian Cultural Center
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388 9th Street, Oakland, CA 94607
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