[nyfoil-l] 3/26-27 @ QMA: South Asian Dance & Music Festival

[Prerana Reddy]

Queens Museum of Art presents

South Asian Dance & Theater Festival
Saturday- Sunday, March 26th - 27th, 2005

The Queens Museum of Art (QMA) is pleased to present a weekend-long
festival showcasing some of the most celebrated South Asian dancers and
theater companies in New York City. The event complements QMA's "South
Asian Spring" which includes two visual art exhibits: Edge of Desire:
Recent Art in India, co-presented with Asia Society, and Fatal Love:
South Asian American Art Now, both on view through June 5th, 2005.

Four internationally touring dancers and dance companies will be
performing or conducting lecture demonstrations - Rajika Puri, Nayikas
Dance Theater Company, Parul Shah, and Preeti Vasudevan's Thresh Dance
Company. These performers represent the highest level of accomplishment
in various forms of South Asian traditional, fusion, and contemporary
dance including: Bharatnatyam, Odissi, and Kathak.

Three New York-based South Asian theater companies, Rasa Theater, Alter
Ego, and Desipina & Company will present original dramatic readings, and
all the presented works are either written or directed by South Asians.
In a more experimental genre of performance that blends movement,
poetry, hip hop and theater are provocative Sri Lankan performers, D'lo,
and Mango Tribe's Marian Thambynayagam and Varuni Teruchelvam.

All performances are free with museum admission and take place in the
Unisphere Gallery or in the museum's auditorium, both on the second
floor. Complimentary refreshments will be served during intermission on
both days.  See below for Schedule:
_____________________________________________________________
Saturday, March 26th 4-8pm

4:00-4:30 Nayikas Dance Theater presenting a lecture/demonstration on
Odissi dance

4:30-5:00 Mango Tribe's Marian Yalini Thambynayagam and Varuni
Teruchelvam use movement, music, recorded interviews, invocation, and
spoken word to explore the legacy of war, diaspora, and the recent
Tsunami disaster on Sri Lankan Tamil communities.

5:00-5:30 Rajika Puri presenting "Flamenco Natyam" fusion dance
performance

5:30-6:00 Parul Shah performing Kathak dance with live musical
accompaniment

6:00-6:30 Intermission

6:30-7:00 Desipina & Company present a sneak preview of Seven.11. 2005 -
seven stories, eleven minutes, and a convenience store

7:00-8:00 Alter Ego Productions staged reading of "Out of Fashion" by
Anuvab Pal - an historical comedy set in a Saville Rowe suit shop.

__________________________________________________________________
Sunday, March 27th 3 - 5pm

3:00-3:30 D'lo - Sri Lankan American comedienne, poet, and performer

3:30-4:00 Preeti Vasudevan's Thresh Dance Co. presenting "Tablet #2"
inspired by circular strokes of calligraphy on the board and the body
language of Sufi women's praying rituals

4:00- 4:15 Intermission

4:15-5:00 Rasa Theater presents a staged reading of Deepa Purohit's
"Exile," a story of a South Asian woman's journey through memory which
spans two continents in search of lost loves.

_________________________________________________________

Directions

Subway: Via # 7 Flushing IRT, exit Shea Stadium/Willets Point stop.
Follow signs to the Museum, which is located next to the Unisphere. A
ten-minute walk through the park to the museum.

Car: Via the Grand Central Parkway, exit at US Tennis Ctr and follow
signs to the Museum. Free parking.

Public Events at the Queens Museum of Art are supported by funds from
The Independence Community Foundation, The Institute of Museum & Library
Services, and the Ford Foundation.

For more information visit www.queensmuseum.org or call 718-592-9700
x222