Parijat Desai

Lester Horton Award-winning dance maker / educator Parijat Desai made her off-Broadway debut as choreographer for Elyria at Atlantic Theater. Drawn to dance as an interdisciplinary medium, Desai has been creating hybrids of contemporary dance, Indian neoclassical and folk dance, and experimental theater since 2000. Parijat also leads Dance In The Round, sharing circle dances from Gujarat, India, reframing them to be inclusive across age, ability, gender, and caste and to support community activation. Concerned with the constant play between our emotional landscape, political realities, and the natural world, Parijat has been developing How Do I Become WE, a participatory performance ritual via residencies with Gibney Dance Center, BRICArts, and Soham Dance Space (Chicago). She was an Artist-in-Residence with Movement Research, CUNY Dance Initiative, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, and Stanford’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts. She has received commissions from Danspace Project, Harlem Stage, Grand Performances/LA, and NYSCA. Her work has been presented at: La MaMa, Asia Society, Queens Museum; (LA) Skirball Cultural Center, California Plaza, The Getty Center; (SF) Asian Art Museum, ODC Theater; The Denver Art Museum; (Vancouver) The Dance Centre; and (Mumbai) National Centre for the Performing Arts.