Dec 9 and 10 at 7:30pm; Dec 11 at 2pm
Nava Dance Theatre presents the world premiere of "Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies" using the South Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam and experimental movement to examine the labor of South Asian immigrant women who came to the US after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act.
Inspired by the oral histories of Indian nurses who immigrated to the US due to labor shortages, Artistic Director Nadhi Thekkek and her collaborators, including composers Roopa Mahadevan and Kalaisan Kalaichelvan, explore the heavy and enduring work of brown women and the worlds they traverse between. They ask, "Who puts a price on this labor? What is the cost of opportunity? Who gets to decide how foreign we are?" Through community interviews, historical texts, and poetry, "Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies," an ensemble work for eight dancers, negotiates these questions and examines what it means to belong in America.
From the mid-1960s, after the passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the US saw waves of immigration from Asian and other countries whose natives had until then been excluded from the list of those welcome to build new lives in the New World. In "Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies," the artists of Nava Dance Theater recreate the stories of some who came from India. These are stories passed down to them through a generation or more, anecdotes and memoirs of their parents, grandparents, or the numerous adopted 'Aunties' and 'Uncles' who take the place of blood relations for children of immigrants.
"These stories belong as much to the US-born first- and second-generation Americans as to their elders, because loss and loneliness, struggle and adjustment, achievement and belonging - these experiences become a part of the cultural memory of an entire community," explains Thekkek.
$20-$42.
Presented by Nava Dance Theatre.
show less
Nava Dance Theatre presents the world premiere of "Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies" using the South Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam and experimental movement to examine the labor of South Asian immigrant women who came to the US after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act.
Inspired by the oral histories of Indian nurses who immigrated to the US due to labor shortages, Artistic Director Nadhi Thekkek and her collaborators, including composers Roopa Mahadevan and Kalaisan Kalaichelvan, explore the heavy and enduring work of brown women and the worlds they traverse between. They ask, "Who puts a price on this labor? What is the cost of opportunity? Who gets to decide how foreign we are?" Through community interviews, historical texts, and poetry, "Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies," an ensemble work for eight dancers, negotiates these questions and examines what it means to belong in America.
From the mid-1960s, after the passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the US saw waves of immigration from Asian and other countries whose natives had until then been excluded from the list of those welcome to build new lives in the New World. In "Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies," the artists of Nava Dance Theater recreate the stories of some who came from India. These are stories passed down to them through a generation or more, anecdotes and memoirs of their parents, grandparents, or the numerous adopted 'Aunties' and 'Uncles' who take the place of blood relations for children of immigrants.
"These stories belong as much to the US-born first- and second-generation Americans as to their elders, because loss and loneliness, struggle and adjustment, achievement and belonging - these experiences become a part of the cultural memory of an entire community," explains Thekkek.
$20-$42.
Presented by Nava Dance Theatre.
Dec 9 and 10 at 7:30pm; Dec 11 at 2pm
Nava Dance Theatre presents the world premiere of "Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies" using the South Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam and experimental movement to examine the labor of South Asian immigrant women who came to the US after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act.
Inspired by the oral histories of Indian nurses who immigrated to the US due to labor shortages, Artistic Director Nadhi Thekkek and her collaborators, including composers Roopa Mahadevan and Kalaisan Kalaichelvan, explore the heavy and enduring work of brown women and the worlds they traverse between. They ask, "Who puts a price on this labor? What is the cost of opportunity? Who gets to decide how foreign we are?" Through community interviews, historical texts, and poetry, "Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies," an ensemble work for eight dancers, negotiates these questions and examines what it means to belong in America.
From the mid-1960s, after the passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the US saw waves of immigration from Asian and other countries whose natives had until then been excluded from the list of those welcome to build new lives in the New World. In "Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies," the artists of Nava Dance Theater recreate the stories of some who came from India. These are stories passed down to them through a generation or more, anecdotes and memoirs of their parents, grandparents, or the numerous adopted 'Aunties' and 'Uncles' who take the place of blood relations for children of immigrants.
"These stories belong as much to the US-born first- and second-generation Americans as to their elders, because loss and loneliness, struggle and adjustment, achievement and belonging - these experiences become a part of the cultural memory of an entire community," explains Thekkek.
$20-$42.
Presented by Nava Dance Theatre.
read more
Nava Dance Theatre presents the world premiere of "Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies" using the South Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam and experimental movement to examine the labor of South Asian immigrant women who came to the US after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act.
Inspired by the oral histories of Indian nurses who immigrated to the US due to labor shortages, Artistic Director Nadhi Thekkek and her collaborators, including composers Roopa Mahadevan and Kalaisan Kalaichelvan, explore the heavy and enduring work of brown women and the worlds they traverse between. They ask, "Who puts a price on this labor? What is the cost of opportunity? Who gets to decide how foreign we are?" Through community interviews, historical texts, and poetry, "Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies," an ensemble work for eight dancers, negotiates these questions and examines what it means to belong in America.
From the mid-1960s, after the passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the US saw waves of immigration from Asian and other countries whose natives had until then been excluded from the list of those welcome to build new lives in the New World. In "Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies," the artists of Nava Dance Theater recreate the stories of some who came from India. These are stories passed down to them through a generation or more, anecdotes and memoirs of their parents, grandparents, or the numerous adopted 'Aunties' and 'Uncles' who take the place of blood relations for children of immigrants.
"These stories belong as much to the US-born first- and second-generation Americans as to their elders, because loss and loneliness, struggle and adjustment, achievement and belonging - these experiences become a part of the cultural memory of an entire community," explains Thekkek.
$20-$42.
Presented by Nava Dance Theatre.
show less
Date/Times:
3153 17th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
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