Chitresh Das Dance to Take INVOKING THE RIVER On 3 City India Tour

For the first time since the Covid pandemic, Chitresh Das Institute (CDI) will take Artistic Director Charlotte Moraga's new work, Invoking the River on tour to Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata. Invoking the River, a deeply moving collaboration of dance, music, poetry and story-telling that weaves each dancers' personal connections to chosen waterways in India with the effects of climate change will perform at LTG Auditorium in Delhi on Jan 31 at 7:00pm, at the G5A Foundation in Mumbai on Feb 2nd at 7:30pm and at the GD Birla Sabhagar Auditorium in Kolkata on Feb 4th at 6:00pm.

Invoking the River, part of CDI's Art for the Planet program, brings attention to climate change through art and performance. Collaborating with filmmaker, poet and media artist Alka Raghuram and Indian pianist/composer Utsav Lal, noted for his innovative handling of Indian classical music on a Western instrument. Moraga's choreography reflects the movement of water and situates each dancer as a musician with 5 pounds of bells wrapped around the ankles. Moraga worked with each dancer to develop their own story through abhinaya (expression or acting). The result is a deeply personal multimedia storytelling of the dancers' connections to different rivers in India. The tour has deep personal implications for Moraga and all the dancers as this is the first time the company is touring to India since the passing of Guru Pandit Chitresh Das, who was born and raised in Kolkata, India.

"Invoking the River is our way of telling our inter-related stories, Water flows. Water moves through every living thing and connects us all. It is powerful. It both creates and destroys. It holds memories. The same water that flows today through our rivers and our veins was probably in the blood of ancient beings," explains Moraga. "Invoking the River is about this journey through life and time told through movement, music and our common bonds in the face of urgently needed change to preserve the sacredness of life that is embodied in water."

The dancers of the Chitresh Das Dance are Vanita Mundhra, Shruti Pai, Mayuka Sarukkai, Kritika Sharma.

ABOUT CHARLOTTE MORAGA

Charlotte Moraga began dancing in childhood, began studying with Pandit Chitresh Das in 1992, and joined his Chitresh Das Dance Company in 1996. She was a principal dancer in his original works from 1996 to 2016. In 2002 she had her Ganda Bandhan ceremony, initiating her as a disciple of Pandit Chitresh Das in Kolkata and performed her first two-hour solo concert. Since then, she has toured as a solo artist throughout the US and India. She has performed in many prestigious venues and festivals around the world. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote of her performance at the International Kathak Festival at YBCA: "Thursday night's triumph belonged to Charlotte Moraga...She has technical virtuosity, but more importantly she has intention, and an intelligence that shapes every step." Also in 2002, she became the inaugural director of the Chitresh Das Youth Company. She is committed to developing and nurturing the next generation of kathak artists. She has created choreography for the CDYC for almost two decades. In 2018, in her Guru's birthplace of Kolkata, India, Moraga received the "Anugami" for her dedication to her Guru and his legacy.

In 2007, she received a Shensen Performing Arts Fellowship which helped her to create original work Sangam, in collaboration with tap dancer Chloe Arnold at Das' India Jazz Progressions. She created Conference in Nine as part of her Performing Diaspora residency at CounterPulse in 2009 with composer and carnatic saxophonist Prasant Radhakrishnan, based on a 12th century Sufi poem. This same work was restaged for the San Francisco Trolley Dances in 2016. In 2018, her choreography to music composed by Ritesh Das, premiered at the War Memorial Opera House for the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival to critical acclaim, and in 2019, her work Aranya Devi premiered at the S.F. Ethnic Dance Festival at Zellerbach Hall. The short film, Agni directed by Alka Raghuram with music composed by Alam Khan was conceived and choreographed by Moraga and recently won the award for the Best Mini Arts and Fashion Film at the iHollywood Film Festival, June 2021 Her work Mantram in collaboration with musician and composer Alam Khan premiered at ODC Theater October 2021, was named in the S.F. Chronicle as one of 10 highlighted companies in the 2021 review of dance. Charlotte Moraga is training the next generation in the legacy of Pandit Chitresh Das, while creating new work in kathak both rooted in tradition and reflecting the moment and urgency of our times.

ABOUT THE COLLABORATORS

Indian pianist/composer Utsav Lal, often known as the 'Raga Pianist' is recognized as the rarest of pianists. Stunning the world with his innovative handling of Indian classical music on a Western instrument, The Irish Times describes Utsav Lal as "a fleet-fingered performer whose best moments can be both highly evocative and dazzling." Lal's ground-breaking work has garnered an impressive career spanning two decades, with solo performances at world famous venues like Carnegie Hall (New York), Southbank Centre (London), Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Steinway Hall (New York), Asia Society (Hong Kong), and Arts Center (Melbourne). Treading the careful line between an ancient tradition and the innate desire for innovation with utmost respect, Lal's music is acclaimed for its sincerity, depth and powerful intensity.

With unfailing clarity of technique and rhythmic virtuosity, his work is deeply influenced by Dhrupad and gains inspiration from a vast array of sources such as The Necks, Thelonious Monk, Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou and Cecil Taylor. Lal has challenged commonly understood ways of improvisation to develop his own unique voice for the piano, taking stage at leading festivals including Novara Jazz (Italy), San Francisco Silent Film (USA), AsiaTopa Festival (Australia), and Masters of Tradition (Ireland). Endorsed as Young Steinway Artist, TiE Aspire Young Indian Achiever, Yamaha Jazz Scholar, Lal has been recognized for his extensive collaborative work with Irish, Scottish, Jazz and Experimental artists including leading names like Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, Winifred Horan, Australian Contemporary Circus Theatre CIRCA, Talvin Singh, George Brooks, Rajna Swaminathan. Lal has seven solo record releases which include a historic world's first album on the microtonal Fluid Piano (2016). Lal holds a Masters in Contemporary Improvisation (New England Conservatory of Music), Bachelor's in Jazz (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and is a disciple of Dhrupad vocalist Ustad F. Wasifuddin Dagar.

Alka Raghuram is an award-winning filmmaker and a multidisciplinary artist. She was awarded the L'Oreal Woman of Worth Filmmaker Award for her script The Conqueror at Tribeca All Access, and Director of The Year at the IDF Forum, Westlake International Documentary Festival for her feature documentary Burqa Boxers, about Muslim women boxers in Kolkata. Burqa Boxers also won the top prize, Grant Open Doors, at the Locarno Film Festival co-production market. She frequently collaborates with other artists to create narrative performances and installations. Some of her collaborations include Yatra with Kathak and Flamenco Dancers Pandit Chitresh Das, and Antonio Hidalgo Paz, and Agni with choreographer Charlotte Moraga and musician Alam Khan. Alka is currently developing a documentary called Blueprint of Love about serious mental health and a sci-fi fantasy series Krishna 2020. Her feature In The Ring, a psychological thriller, is slated to be shot in February 2023.

Subhan Ahmed Khan Zuheb Ahmed Khan is one of the leading torchbearers of the famous Ajrada gharana, and a rising star of Hindustani classical music. Born into a family of musicians, he received extensive training from his father Ustad Naushad Ahmed Khan, his maternal uncle Ustad Akram Khan, and his grandfather Ustad Hashmat Ali Khan, who are all notable exponents of the gharana. The Ajrada gharana, categorized as playing in the kinar baj, was founded in the nineteenth century. The gharana includes bol-patterns that are rather complicated with barabar and ari laya. Clarity of sound is the hallmark of the gharana's playing style, and Zuheb is arguably one the finest contemporary performers of this style.

ABOUT CHITRESH DAS INSTITUTE (CDI)

Chitresh Das Institute (CDI) is led by Artistic Director Charlotte Moraga presents traditional and innovative works in kathak dance and Indian classical arts that ignite the imagination. Ranging from traditional to innovative to collaborative, we ground our work in community, legacy, and seva (service). CDI trains dancers from beginning level to professional with classes in North Indian classical kathak dance and tabla with locations in San Francisco, San Mateo, Cupertino, and San Ramon.

Performances of Chitresh Das Dance are made possible with the generous support of the Creative Work Fund, San Francisco Arts Commission, Grants for the Arts Hotel Tax Fund, and California Arts Council.

COMPANY WEBSITE: https://www.chitreshdasinstitute.org

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