Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies
Thurs, March 12 (PREVIEW)
Fri, March 13 (w/ ASL Interpretation)
Dance Mission Theatre
3316 24th Street, San Francisco
Produced by Nava Dance Theatre
“Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies” is a bharatanatyam, experimental movement, and live music production that explores the labor and lived experiences of South Asian immigrant women in the US. Inspired by the oral histories of Indian nurses who arrived as a result of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, choreographer Nadhi Thekkek, and her collaborators explore the heavy and enduring work of immigrant women and the worlds they traverse between. They ask, who puts a price on this labor? What is the cost of opportunity? Through community interviews, historical texts, and poetry, “Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies” negotiates these questions and examines what it means to belong in America.
”Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies” is an ensemble work of 6 dancers with a live original score by Roopa Mahadevan, Kalaisan Kalaichelvan, and others. Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies is created and produced by Nava Dance Theatre.
Credits:
Choreography | Nadhi Thekkek
Music Direction/Composition | Roopa Mahadevan and Kalaisan Kalaichelvan
Dancer Collaborators | Nadhi Thekkek, Shruti Abhishek, Janani Muthaiya, Abirami Murugappan, Aishwarya Subramanian, Priya Govindarajan, Anjali Shankar, Soundarya Dalipathy, Shikha Srinivas
Musician Collaborators | Roopa Mahadevan, Aditya Iswara, Matt Small,
Aarti Shankar, Preethi Ramaprasad, Conal Sathi
Lighting | Richard Board
Creative Co-investigators | Kamala Devam, Shruti Abhishek
Programs Manager/Production Manager | Ankita Sharma
Marketing Support | Krishnapriya Somashekharan
Past Collaborators/Contributors | GS Rajan, Sruti Sarathy, Sindhu Natarajan, Malavika Kumar,
Priyanka Raghuraman, Aarthi Ramesh, Surabhi Bharadwaj
“Composition” in Indian dance and music is not simply an act of commissioning an individual, but rather a collaborative process incorporating cultural and artistic knowledge, artistic instincts, and real-time improvisation. Each director, musician, and dancer has thus been essential to the creation of this work and its ongoing evolution.
A special thanks to Dr. Sheba George and the Malayalee women who generously and anonymously shared their migration stories.
Funders: Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies is supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission, California Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, East Bay Community Foundation, and New Music USA. Sections of this work have been supported by the MAP Fund, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.
***Program***
I. There is a Place
Dancers: Shruti, Abirami, Janani
Music composed by: Kalaisan Kalaichelvan, Roopa Mahadevan
How do we learn about and reflect on the experiences of our femme ancestors who immigrated to this country? How can we acknowledge their labor, their struggles, their joys. How do we understand what they have gained and what they have grieved? If we ask the questions, will they answer?
II. Negotiations
Dancers: Shruti, Abirami, Janani, Nadhi, Aishwarya
Music composed by: Kalaisan Kalaichelvan
With live music accompaniment
Being in the diaspora makes us feel like we are in an in-between space, with our feet not firmly planted in one land, like treading water. But what if this in between space felt freeing, what if it felt like we felt at home in this new body, an avatar of ourselves that combines elements of all the places we call home.
III. In This Together
Dancers: Nadhi, Shruti
Music directed by: Roopa Mahadevan, Improvised by music ensemble
In a new place where everything seems foreign, new connections become chosen families. The fun, the moments of play, the sharing of lives become the foundation for how we go through life’s ups and downs together.
IV. Visa
Dancers: Janani, Abirami, Nadhi, Aishwarya
Music: Speech by Lyndon B. Johnson; Patriotic Americana Mash-Up and Arrangement by Kalaisan Kalaichelvan; waltz and violin solo performed by Róza Lachegyi with vocal by Roopa Mahadevan, composed by Kalaisan Kalaichelvan
A common thread between all the stories seemed to be about waiting. Waiting for an opportunity, waiting for someone in a higher power to decide your fate and the fate of your family. The waiting room of a consulate office can carry so many stories.
V. Bootstraps
Dancers: Shruti, Janani, Abirami, Aishwarya, Priya
Music arranged by: Roopa Mahadevan, Created with the entire music ensemble
The pressure to build a life has always felt like a huge part of our story. But pride and ego often get in the way of this. But when things fall apart, we have a choice, we can start again, or we can reach out for help. Which do people choose and why?
VI. This is Work, Too
Dancer: Nadhi
Music composed by: Roopa Mahadevan
Culture bearer, bollywood star, homemaker? Builder, breadwinner, boss? What are the expectations we work to meet? In the US, there are these roles that women find themselves filling, and it gets exhausting.
VII. Foreign Bodies
Dancers: Nadhi, Shruti, Janani followed by Janani, Shruti, Abirami, Aishwarya, Priya
Recording composed + produced by: Kalaisan Kalaichelvan
Additional music composed by: Kalaisan Kalaichelvan, Roopa Mahadevan + Musician Collaborators
Inspired by the witness statements of women who came to the US to work after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. We think about decades of work, losing old connections, making new ones, obligations, and the very physical toll our work over a lifetime takes on the body. The words narrated by Nadhi and Shruti are inspired by interviews, conversations, and hearing ourselves and our families talk about the work it takes to make a home.
There is also something about the power of work, what it empowers us to do, and how it makes us feel independent and strong. There are times when the exhaustion takes over, but there are times when the work is what fuels us.
***INTERMISSION***
VIII. Two Mothers, Two Daughters
Dancers: Nadhi, Janani, Lalli
Music composed by: Kalaisan Kalaichelvan, Roopa Mahadevan
IX. Lullaby
Dancers: Nadhi, Janani, Lalli, Shelley, Shruti
Music composed by: Roopa Mahadevan
Lyrics by: Nadhi Thekkek, Thampy Antony Thekkek
“Omanakunje, don't cry,
Your mom will come running!
She'll save you like a beautiful goddess, before you suffer any pain.
And she will go far to keep you safe and secure.”
Many women spoke about having to go to the US for work, but having to leave their children behind for sometime to make the world better for themselves and their kids. Many talk about the combination of regret and necessity in this decision and continue to grapple with that choice today. This experience is common across so many communities. But in a way I see these women as heroes - making these choices are not easy. This bedtime story pays tribute to the Malayalee aunties in my life. Wouldn’t it be amazing for us to tell these stories of our elders to our kids in a way that makes them the complex heroines that they are?
X. Sneaking Out
Dancers: Nadhi, Abirami
Music composed by: GS Rajan
Conflicts between generations are so nuanced. Kids want to live the typical American life, and immigrant parents are still figuring it all out.
XI. Grief
Dancers: Nadhi, Janani, Abirami, Aishwarya, Priya, Anjali
Music composed by: GS Rajan
Words by: Nadhi Thekkek
Being so far away, always meant a lack of closure when it comes to grief. Not everyone is able to say goodbye, or attend funerals when losing loved ones back in India. How does the community support each other in times of grief? During the pandemic, this took another turn as the level of loss everyone faced was unprecedented in many ways. Being in a different country, travel restrictions, illness, all of this made saying goodbye even more difficult.
XII. Bootstraps Reprise
Dancers: Shruti, Janani, Abirami, Aishwarya, Priya
Music arranged by: Roopa Mahadevan, Improvised by music ensemble
Is there a way to get over all the struggle with needing to make a life for yourself without any help at all? What can it mean if we aren’t afraid to reach out to each other for help? Could we get over our pride and our egos and actually receive help from our communities? Could this set an example for the next generation?
XIII. Humor Saves Us All
Dancers: Janani, Abirami, Aishwarya, Priya, Anjali
Music: Mashup of work by the dancers and musicians with a composition in Hamsanadham by Sruti Sarathy, Jathi by Malavika Walia and additional phrases by Roopa Mahadevan
We have to find joy at the end of it all. We play games, jam together, and make some dance and music. Immigrant experiences also mean forming new communities and enjoying the new cultural worlds we find ourselves in.
XIV. Ancestors
Dancers: Janani, Abirami, Aishwarya, Priya, Anjali
Music composed by: Kalaisan Kalaichelvan and Roopa Mahadevan
Created with entire music ensemble
Stories of women are not often at the forefront in the media or in our history books, however they are present in our bodies and inform how we move about in the world.
NAVA DANCE THEATRE IS A 501(C)3 REGISTERED NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION.
Nava Dance Theatre is a bharatanatyam dance company based in San Francisco, unceded territory of the Ohlone people. They use the South Indian dance form to navigate place, identity, and politics through the lens of lived experience.
You can make a donation here.
About the Artists
Nadhi Thekkek | Artistic Director | Choreographer | Performer
Nadhi Thekkek is the Artistic Director of Nava Dance Theatre, a bharatanatyam dance company. She uses the south Indian dance form to navigate place, identity, and politics through the lens of her lived experience as a South Asian and hyphenated-American woman.
Past work includes: “Broken Seeds Still Grow,” created and directed by Nadhi and visual artist Rupy C. Tut, was an exploration of their ancestry and an examination of cultural othering during the 1947 Partition of British India; “Unfiltered,” a bharatanatyam work exploring the #metoo movement in collaboration with Rasika Kumar and Sahasra Sambamoorthi; and “Passage” a bharatanatyam and modern dance exploration choreographed on Randee Paufve and Shruti Abhishek. Her choreography has been supported through: National Endowment for the Arts, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Dancers’ Group, California Arts Council, CounterPulse, East Bay Community Foundation and others.
She created the Unrehearsed (Virtual) Artist Residency Program, directed by Tanu Sreedharan to support South Asian dance makers across the globe. She also serves on the board of the Western Arts Alliance and co-chairs the WAA Hyphen + Asian Affinity Group.
Nadhi Thekkek learned from Guru Smt. Sundara Swaminathan (Kala Vandana Dance Company, San Jose, CA) and Guru Smt. Padmini Chari (Nritya School of Dance, Houston, TX). Since 2012, she has continued training under Guru Sri. A. Lakshmanaswamy (Chennai, India).
Kamala Devam | Creative Co-Investigator
Kamala Devam is an international and multilingual dance artist, performing, teaching and choreographing in the UK and US. Her 13-year training in bharatanatyam with K.P. and Katherine Kunhiraman, and later contemporary dance at San Francisco State University, has led her to perform in a wide range of companies including Akram Khan Company, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance and California Contemporary Dancers. Kamala formed Kamala Devam Company in 2016 to further explore the continuum between western and Indian aesthetics, themes and movement forms. Her company shows and education work tour the UK, supported by Arts Council England, UK dance organisations and theatre and university residencies. www.kamaladevamcompany.com
Shruti Abhishek | Creative Co-Investigator | Rehearsal Director | Dance Collaborator
Shruti Abhishek joined Nava in 2016. She received her strong foundation from Guru Smt Rohini M. Singhi. She also received her bachelor's degree in performing arts from Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyala (by Dr. Kanak Rele) in Mumbai. Currently, Shruti is training with Sri. Vaibhav Arekar, Mumbai, and has been touring with his company, Sankhya for the last 4 years.
Roopa Mahadevan | Music Director | Vocalist
Roopa Mahadevan is a leading second-generation Indian classical and crossover vocalist in the American diaspora known for her powerful, emotive voice and collaborative versatility. She leads Roopa in Flux, an ensemble featuring musicians in jazz, soul/R&B, and various global traditions, directs the innovative choir Navatman Music Collective, and sings for leading Bharathanatyam/contemporary dancers. Trained in Carnatic music under Asha Ramesh and later Suguna Varadachari as a Fulbright scholar, she has performed at diverse venues like Chennai's Music Academy, Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, Lincoln Center, MET Museum, Hollywood Bowl, Joe’s Pub and many more. She is a soloist on Grammy Award-winning Calling All Dawns, and been in residence at Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, Hedgebrook, MASS MOCA, and Ryder Farm.
Kalaisan Kalaichelvan | Music Director | Musician Collaborator
Kalaisan Kalaichelvan is a composer and classically trained pianist based in Toronto, Canada. His compositional practice spans multiple disciplines, drawing from film, dance, theatre, installation and deals with themes of translation and transference. Kalaisan’s music is defined by its genre-bending boldness, its refined classicism and musical ingenuity. Having worked across various disciplines and communities of thought, Kalaisan seeks to bring together incongruous institutions to build novel structures that reflect his artistic upbringing.
Richard Board | Light Designer
Richard Board has been designing lighting for dance, theater, music, multimedia performance, and film for the past 30 years. He toured internationally with jazz composer and musician Bob Ostertag. His video lighting for The Visitor Owl directed by D.L. A;varez was featured at SF MOMA. The magical relationship between dance, lighting, and music is his greatest passion. He is excited to be working with Nava Dance Theatre for the third collaboration.
Janani Muthaiya | Dance Collaborator
Janani Muthaiya Janani Muthaiya began her Bharatanatyam tutelage with Guru Viji Prakash and the Shakti School of Bharatanatyam at the age of 11 and has performed with the Shakti Dance Company in many events and festivals around the world. She’s also choreographed group performances for various venues including the Davis Dheem Tana Showcase and the Festival of Chariots. She joined Nava Dance Theatre in 2019.
Abirami Murugappan | Company Dancer
Abirami Murugappan has been learning at the Sankalpa School of Dance under Nirupama Vaidyanathan since the age of 5, and performed her arangetram in 2012. Since then, she’s been part of several Sankalpa productions. She was also part of Natya at UC Berkeley, a collegiate Bharathanatyam team, had the chance to compete nationally with them.
Anjali Shankar | Company Dancer
Anjali began learning Bharatanatyam at the age of six under Smt. Indra Krishnamoorthy and continued her training with Smt. Uma Maheswari in Bangalore. She later trained and performed with GT Pulse, gaining extensive stage and group choreography experience. Anjali has since studied with Smt. Vidya Subramanian, and most recently continues her advanced training under Smt. Sudha Krishnan and Shri Pavithra Bhat.
Priya Govindarajan | Company Dancer
Priyadharshini Govindarajan began her Bharatanatyam training at the age of four under Guru J. Suryanarayana Murthy of Kalakshetra and has continued her artistic journey with Guru Sri A. Lakshmanaswamy since 2013. She has performed at major venues in India such as the Music Academy Madras, Narada Gana Sabha, Krishna Gana Sabha, and more, and is currently active as a performer in both India and the Bay Area. A graded Doordarshan artist, she has received several accolades and has presented her work across India and Australia. Priyadharshini hopes to continue sharing her passion for the art form while engaging with and contributing to the Bay Area dance community.
Soundarya Dalipathy | Company Dancer
Soundarya began her Bharatanatyam journey under Guru Smt. Vani Iswara, completing her Arangetram in 2016. She has since performed in numerous solo and group works, and taught at her Guru's institute, the Ellora Center for Performing Arts. For her, Bharatanatyam is not only a discipline of movement and endurance, but also a vital link to culture, community, and shared expression. Her work as a speech-language pathologist informs her interest in communication, culture, and embodiment, which are threads she continues to explore through dance. Soundarya joined Nava Dance Theatre in 2025, and looks forward to deepening and expanding her artistic practice.
Shikha Srinivas | Company Dancer
Shikha Srinivas has studied and practiced Bharata Natyam under Guru Viji Prakash since age seven. Now based in the Bay Area, she has performed at the SF Marghazi Festival in 2023 and looks forward to performing with Nava. Beyond Bharata Natyam, she is a full-time sustainability consultant.
Aarti Shankar | Musician Collaborator | Violin
Aarti Shankar is a renowned Carnatic violinist who is based in Austin. She is currently training under Lalgudi GJR Krishnan, son and disciple of legendary violinist Padmabhushan Lalgudi G Jayaraman. She has been performing solo and accompaniment concerts across India and North America and has had the fortune to accompany eminent vocalists like Bombay Jayashri. Aarti has also trained in Western violin, has served as a vocal instructor at the Shankar Mahadevan Academy of music, and teaches violin to dedicated students across the US. She holds a degree in MSc. Neuroscience from the University of Calgary in Canada.
Aditya Iswara | Musician Collaborator | Mridangam
Aditya is trained in Mridangam, Carnatic Music and Bharatanatyam with an abundant sense of rhythm. He is a disciple of Sri Poovalur Sriji, for Mridangam and Kanjira, Sri Vittal Ramamurthy for Carnatic Violin, and a disciple of his mother, Smt. Vani Iswara for Bharatanatyam. Aditya has been a regular performer as an accompanist for both music and dance across the country. He graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelors and a Masters in Computer Science and is working as a software engineer at a silicon valley startup company.
Matt Small | Musician Collaborator | Bass
Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a gifted San Francisco bassist and composer whose alluringly original music draws on a rich range of classical, jazz and indigenous music,” Matt Small has performed at, and had his music presented by, Carnegie Hall, SF Jazz, Tanglewood Music Center, National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing, China), Kala Mandir (Calcutta, India), Harvard University Sanders Theatre, Banff Centre (Canada), Joe’s Pub (NYC), The Stone (NYC), Angel City Jazz Fest (LA), and has performed with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, Sandeep Das’ HUM Ensemble, Zeena Parkins, ROVA, Vinny Golia, among many others.
Preethi Ramaprasad | Musician Collaborator | Nattuvangam
Preethi Ramaprasad (she/her) is a dancer, curator, musician, and researcher. Her journey teaching and performing Bharatanatyam (South Indian dance) has led to artistic community-building endeavors across India, Europe, and the United States. She curates and co-runs three platforms for the arts: the Varnam Salon, When Eyes Speak Choreography Festival, and Performing Voices of Bhakti which aim to create safe spaces to share South Asian expression in the diaspora.
Ramaprasad’s work has been funded by and earned accolades through Bridge Live Arts, YoungArts, the San Francisco Arts Commission and Public Library Residency, Gluck Fellows Program, Zellerbach Family Foundation, American Conservatory Theater ArtShare Fellowship, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, SAFEhouse Arts Lead Resident Fellowship, and the All-Rounder Yuva Kala Bharati for Young Artists. A Bharatanatyam disciple of Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy, Ramaprasad has a doctorate in Critical Dance Studies from UC Riverside. Her research focuses on representation and the performance of myth among transnational Bharatanatyam practitioners. More at preethiramaprasad.com
Conal Sathi | Musician Collaborator | Piano
Conal is passionate about fusing Indian traditional music with Western and contemporary styles. From the age of 5, Conal studied Hindustani classical music from the sons of the legendary "King of Ghazal" Mehdi Hassan. He continued to develop his musical talent as the musical director of the Stanford a cappella group, Raagapella. He has performed all over the US as well as India and shared the stage with A.R. Rahman, Mehdi Hassan, Abhijit Pohankar, Padma Shri Penaz Masani, and grammy award winner Tanvi Shah. He performs frequently with his ensemble Raga and Blues where they fuse jazz and Indian classical music with ghazal, qawwali and contemporary music.
Ankita Sharma | Programs/Production Manager
Ankita is an experimental movement-based performance artist and writer invested in storytelling where content dictates genre and betrays expectations. They hold degrees in both Dance and Anthropology and have had performance work performed and presented (inter)nationally. To round out their artistic practice, Ankita is also a published author and academic, who dabbles in arts criticism. They also moonlight as an administrator for nationally-recognized arts organizations such as Nava Dance Theatre, Sleep No More, Queer|Art, and more. Ankita is so grateful to be a part of Nava Dance Theater, working to uplift South-Asian artists making real change in the arts industry!
Krishnapriya Somasekharan | Marketing Manager