Varnam Salon 2.0
Jan
26
8:00 PM20:00

Varnam Salon 2.0

This salon series explores the power of the traditional solo bharatanatyam repertoire. By way of discussion, performance, and food, we learn about and explore what classical repertoire still gives us today.

Also, we just love varnams. The varnam is often the “main” piece in a solo bharatanatyam performance. It allows a dancer to go deep into content and explore his or her connection to the timeless characters in these pieces. It often lasts between 20-40 minutes, with some varnams by senior masters lasting over 50 minutes to packed halls.

This salon features Roopa Suresh, Vertika Srivastava, and Lalli Venkat.

Roopa will present a full varnam, while Vertika and Lalli will be presenting other pieces from the bharatanatyam solo repertoire.

Suggested donation: $15

View Event →
Broken Seeds (Still Grow)
Mar
29
to Mar 31

Broken Seeds (Still Grow)

Exploring our shared struggle with displacement through dance and visual art

Created by Nadhi Thekkek and Rupy C. Tut, Broken Seeds (Still Grow)  is a bharatanatyam dance and visual art production inspired by the real-life stories from the 1947 Partition Archive and recent South Asian American history. This creative inquiry sources poetry, eyewitness accounts, and current events to understand the current political climate while reflecting on what it means to belong somewhere. This work includes original music by GS Rajan.

The show is titled “Broken Seeds Still Grow” as a tribute to stories of ancestors who have faced displacement either through Partition or immigration but continued to be resilient and grow wherever they found home. These stories of displacement are crucial to preserve, understand, and share; they give us a glimpse into our individual pasts, while helping us understand our collective future.

This creation of this work was supported by the East Bay Fund for Artists through the East Bay Community Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Dancers' Group CA$H Grants, and crowd funders. This project is fiscally-sponsored by CounterPulse.

For more info, box office, and press kit, visit Broken Seeds. 

View Event →
Performance for Oakland Ballet
May
30
to Jun 2

Performance for Oakland Ballet

Nadhi Thekkek collaborates with Graham Lustig, Artistic Director of the Oakland Ballet to create work that appeals to children and families. Last year, Lustig commissioned, The Little Elephant in the Room, a piece on environmentalism.

Thekkek also performs in Lustig’s production Jangala, as Messua, Mowgli’s human mother.

View Event →
Nadhi Thekkek - Solo Performance with Live Music
Jan
13
2:00 PM14:00

Nadhi Thekkek - Solo Performance with Live Music

Join Navatman NYC for their first studio showing of 2019 featuring Nadhi Thekkek, artistic director of Nava Dance Theatre. Her fluid motions, sweet yet profound abhinaya and incredibly thought out work make her someone whose solo work can be quite entrancing. She will be presenting new choreographies alongside old ones. Guest musicians include senior composer/flautist GS Rajan, and wonderful musicians Akshaya Rajkumar (vocal), Bala Skandan (mridangam), and Sri Thina Subramaniam (nattuvangam.) Tickets are $20 online and $25 at the door.

View Event →
Merging
Dec
1
to Dec 2

Merging

ODC’s Pilot Program presents Merging, a cutting-edge amalgamation of world premiers by six Bay Area female choreographers. From definitive concepts such as the meaning of intelligence and the British India Partition, to abstract works investigating dreams, strength, and nature, these women contribute their voices and perspectives in an effort to find meaningful ways to reconcile both the past and present.

In her new work, Defining Intelligence, Alyssa Mitchel examines what it means to be intelligent. The work features five dancers and integrates the recorded interview responses of twenty-six Bay Area K-8 students, school teachers, principals and professors. Nadhi Thekkek presents Reminisce, a Bharatanatyam piece inspired by witness statements from the British India Partition of 1947. Molly Matutat premieres Residue, based on a reoccurring dream of unease. The work serves to unravel the source of the dream and find means of resolve while exploring our level of viewership when dreaming. multiple ways to feel invincible, a solo work by Charlotte Carmichael, investigates how the concept of reclaiming can physically manifest itself. Tanya Chianese’s new work, Daybreak, is inspired by the sun rising over the waking rainforest surrounding the Mayan ruins of Tikal, Guatemala and explores morning rituals. Fuerza, choreographed by Marlene Garcia coalesces strength and unpredictability through the use of explosive and subtle movement.

View Event →