The Kennedy Center Presents Ragamala Dance Company And Malavika Sarukkai

Acclaimed classical Indian dance artists Ragamala Dance Company and preeminent dancer choreographer Malavika Sarukkai return to the Kennedy Center over two weekends in November with premieres of vibrant collaborative works. While deeply rooted in the South Indian dance style Bharatanatyam, from which the artists are committed to preserve, each company uses unique contemporary approaches in their work to bridge the boundaries between ancient and modern cultures.

Last seen at the Center's 2011 maximum INDIA Festival, Ragamala Dance Company will perform one of their newest productions, Written in Water, November 2-3. Mother/daughter team and Artistic Directors Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy take inspiration from the Indian board game Paramapadam-a 2nd-century precursor to Snakes and Ladders-and the rich 12th-century Sufi poem, The Conference of the Birds. A large-scale, multi-disciplinary work with dance, music, text, and painting, Written in Water is an allegory for humanity's ongoing search for transcendence. an An original score, performed live, interweaves South Indian Carnatic music composed by Prema Ramamurthy with Iraqi American jazz artist Amir ElSaffar's distinctive blend of Western music and Iraqi Maqam (highly -structured, semi-improvised compositions that are often rhythmically free and meditative). The work also features lush paintings by Chennai-based artist V. Keshav projected onto the stage to create a mythic, mystical dance landscape. Prior to each performance, a free interactive game-playing experience of Paramapadam will be available in the Kennedy Center Atrium.

In its U.S. premiere, November 9-10, preeminent dancer choreographer and one of India's living masters, Malavika Sarukkai's newest ensemble production, Thari - The Loom, traces the history and legacy of the handwoven Indian "unstitched garment," the sari. The distinguished Bharatanatyam interpreter's choreography explores the fundamental concepts that are shared between two seemingly different but essentially connected disciplines of dance and weaving: space, structure, motif, symmetry proportion, relationship, and alignment with a refreshed movement vocabulary. Unique to this production, is the dance narrative which rests on the authentic sound of the handlooms recorded from homes of master weavers in the legendary temple town of Kancheepuram, South India. Through inventive dance design, the narrative unfolds the design and play of thread. Dancers spin, stretch, and intertwine to weave the sari in all its splendor. With specially commissioned music by C.V. Chandrasekhar, Sai Shravanam, and Aditya Prakash, and creative elements from filmmaker Sumantra Ghosal, the work also features lighting design by GyanDev Singh. Symbolizing the warp and the weft, the work delves into the interplay between the eternal and the changing, assuming mythic and philosophical dimensions as the sari becomes a metaphor for life itself.

In addition, the Center's Education Division will host a film screening of Ghosal's The Unseen Sequence on November 8 in the Family Theater. The film examines the art form through Sarukkai, showcasing her work with the hallowed, and often unforgiving, tradition. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the artist herself. Malavika Sarukkai: Film Screening of The Unseen Sequence is part of The Human Journey, the Kennedy Center's season-long investigation of who we are as a people, examining art and creativity through the lenses of migration, identity, exploration, and resilience.

ABOUT RAGAMALA DANCE COMPANY

Ragamala Dance Company was founded in 1992 by Ranee Ramaswamy. Under the leadership of Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy (mother and daughter), Ragamala creates work that conveys a sense of reverence, of unfolding mystery, and of universal celebration. As protégés and senior disciples of legendary dancer/choreographer Alarmél Valli, known as one of India's greatest living masters, their training in the South Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam is the bedrock of their creative aesthetic. Hailed by The New York Times as "soulful, imaginative and rhythmically contagious," Ragamala has toured extensively, highlighted by the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Joyce Theater (New York), Lincoln Center (New York), Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (Massachusetts), Bali Arts Festival (Indonesia), Sri Krishna Gana Sabha (Chennai, India), and National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai, India), among others. Among the many awards received by the Ramaswamys, most recently, they were awarded 2018 Guggenheim Fellowships and selected as 2017 Research Fellows by the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center (Italy).

ABOUT MALAVIKA SARUKKAI

Acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer choreographer Malavika Sarukkai is known for the intellectual depth and creative vision she brings to her choreographies. As a passionate path breaking dancer from India, over the last three decades she has contributed a significant and large body of work in solo and group choreographies. Committed to an internalized creative dance process, her productions reflect a well - developed concept, combined with a sophisticated and distilled dance technique making her dance speak in the present tense. She is celebrated globally for her creative dance choreographies, which transport the viewer to the heart beat of dance, taking dance beyond specific geographies. Her collaborative productions have synergized through dialogues with artists from different media-poets, musicians, painters, sculptors, and contemporary writers. These interactions bring to her choreographic interpretations the incandescent beauty of the classical language and the energized articulation of a contemporary mind. The New York Times observes, "She is the glorious Indian performer...one of the greatest dancers of our day."

She continues to blaze a trail with thought provoking productions in the dance firmament making her one of India's legendary dancers and living masters whose distinctive and meditative quality of dance continues to impact a generation of dancers and dance enthusiasts. Her choreographies Sthiti Gati and Krishna Nee are included in the core repertoire of the Juilliard Creative Classroom Resources, New York. Her work has been presented in major dance festivals in India and internationally including Jacob's Pillow, Theatre de la Ville, Edinburgh Festival, Kennedy Center's maximum INDIA Festival, and White Light Festival. Sarukkai is the recipient of several awards in recognition of her contribution to classical dance, which include the Padmashree and the Sangeet Natak Academy Award from the Government of India.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets start at $39 for Ragamala Dance Company and $49 for Malavika Sarukkai. Film Screening: The Unseen Sequence with Malavika Sarukkai on November 8 are $15. Tickets can be purchased on the Kennedy Center website, at the Kennedy Center box office or by calling Instant Charge at (202) 467-4600. Patrons living outside the Washington metropolitan area may dial toll-free at (800) 444-1324. For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.

Ragamala Dance Company

Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy, Artistic Directors

Washington, D.C. Premiere, Written in Water *

Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

Friday, November 2, 2018 - Saturday, November 3, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.

*Prior to each performance, a free interactive game-playing experience of Paramapadam will be available in the Kennedy Center Atrium.

Malavika Sarukkai:

U.S. Premiere, Thari-The Loom*

Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

Friday, November 9, 2018 - Saturday, November 10, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.

*Related Event on November 8, 2018, 7:00 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Family Theater. Ticketed Event ($15).

Film Screening: The Unseen Sequence with Malavika Sarukkai. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Malavika Sarukkai.

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