Choreographer is usually how I define my profession if forced to choose. I choreograph and dance, and am a co-founder of the Post Natyam Collective (see my Top Friends)- though honestly, i spend a lot more time on the computer than moving. Self-managing as an independent artist takes over your life! So- choreographer is really only a tiny aspect of all that comes with the trade. But I also have an academic hat that I wear sometimes - for example an article that I have written on D'Lo was recently published in the journal Women and Performance. And right now, I am teaching for a short while at UCLA.
Creatively I am currently working on a new solo piece called Waiting for Rasika. In Mumbai I had the opportunity to collaborate with an awesome photographer- Anjali Bhargava (www.anjalib.net, or see my top friends- we shot in Mumbai, but she is actually based in New York) on that project.
The process of creating waiting for Rasika can be tracked at
http://waitingforrasika.blogspot.com/
These are some of her photographs...
In my choreography I draw primarily on my training in classical Indian dance (Kuchipudi and Bharata Natyam), as well as in modern/postmodern dance, polynesian dance, and yoga.
Check out a sample of my choreographic work-the music is by Oliver Rajamani, see my Top Friends:
lajja
Add to My Profile | More Videos
Other than that, I like to facilitate forums for presenting the work of emerging artists, and create situations in which artists can meet. A contribution, I hope, toward community building among like-minded artists. And also toward cultivating an audience. In that spirit, I was one of the co-organizers of the ArtSensAsian Project, the first day-long festival for diasporic South Asian artists in Munich, last year.
