SWAPNŌ JHNĀP: DREAM JUMPING Will Be Performed By Ananya Dance Theatre

Ananya Dance Theatre, an ensemble of transnational feminist professional dance artists, marks the climax of its 20th season of disruptive, powerful, and urgent Contemporary Dance with the world premiere of SWAPNŌ JHNĀP: Dream Jumping. [SHAWP-no ZHOMP]. Conceived and choreographed by Ananya Chatterjea, this transformative work will premiere at The O’Shaughnessy at St. Catherine University on Friday, September 19, and Saturday, September 20 at 7:30pm. SWAPNŌ JHNĀP: Dream Jumping was honored with a National Dance Project award, which supports the creation, development, and national touring of the work.

SWAPNŌ JHNĀP: Dream Jumping faces the ongoing chaos and escalating destruction of our Common Life by bringing connectivity and liberation out of the dream world and into reality. The dancers travel through portals that cross time cycles and spacescapes, integrating vital medicine, and patchwork a methodology of dreaming that literally brings the desired world closer. They discover wisdom and connectivities inside the depths of oceanic grief, in the shared rhythms of a dance club, in the hatching of mythical creatures, in the rubble of war-torn landscapes, and inside quantum entanglements of movement and breath. Dancing together opens portals to the future, drawing on the feminist spiritual practice of quantum jumping. 5 journeys, 5 portals, and 5 medicines birth the miracle of a deeply connected universe. 

Artistic Director/Choreographer Chatterjea says:  “At this time of great division, I am committed to dreaming and embodying experiences that connect us, that bring us close to each other, again and again. By offering experiences of expansive time and space, where we can renew our senses of self and of community, Swapnō Jhnāp: Dream Jumping reminds us that we can weather deep injustices when we engage collectively.”

ABOUT THE SHOW

ADT’s ensemble of transnational feminist dance artists, in creative alliance with stage director k.t. shorb, dramaturg Dr. Nia O. Witherspoon, composer/sound designer Greg Schutte, Costume Designer Annie Cady, scenic designer Mina Kinukawa, video designer Darren Johnson, and lighting designer Kevin Jones.

There are multiple opportunities for audiences to engage with the work, even before the performance. On June 27th, we hosted the first of three Global Feminist Funk Underground Club (GloFFUC) convenings: the GloFFUC is an imagined location where feminists from across the world retreat to dance off their grief and frustration before emerging renewed. Participants experience intimacy and solidarity through intentional and meditative dance. (Additional dates: August 23rd and Nov 1.) Audiences who want to engage with the metaphors of dreaming can join our Dream Workshop on August 9th, to move, meditate, and experience the collective power of our dreams for a just world. More details at https://www.ananyadancetheatre.org/events

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3. CHURCH BASEMENT LADIES (Rags to Rags Productions)

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