BODY AND SOUL: Brinda Guha: melting down the wall

(photo: Darryl Padilla)

Brinda Guha on stage wearing black and gold with her hair in a top knot and her arms in the air mid movement. She is smiling, and there are mic stands behind her.

Official trailer for Can We Dance Here? 

 

I first saw Brinda Guha and her Soles of Duende collaborators--Arielle Rosales and Amanda Castro--perform their sensational Can We Dance Here? at Dixon Place in 2018, and I've been a fervent fan ever since. Three women with mad skills in Tap (Castro), Flamenco (Rosales), and Kathak (Guha), with their juxtaposed and blended dynamism, had the audience roaring with joy. I'm also deeply respectful of Guha's scholarship and outspoken activism in the arts and social justice. I knew she would be an powerful speaker for Body and Soul, but little did I know just how powerful!

Come along with Guha through rich memories of family, community, culture, the inner world, and performance.  

Listen to the podcast episode here.

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Now, scroll down for more about my special guest, Brinda Guha!

Eva Yaa Asantewaa

 

Kalamandir Dance Company in Boy With A Coin

See more work by Brinda Guha here.

(photo: Lori Lyon)

Brinda standing in a white room on a white platform in all white with a long shirt with black feminine divine drawings on it. Her hair is down, and she has a bold lip and large turquoise earrings. Her arms are in motion, and she is looking directly at the camera.

BIO: Brinda Guha identifies as a non-disabled, caste-privileged, cisgender and queer South-Asian American, and is a trained Indian Classical Kathak dancer for over 20 years and has traveled throughout USA and to India, England, and Spain to perform. During training and performing for years in the Kathak (Malabika Guha) and Manipuri (Kalavati Devi) dance disciplines, as well as Flamenco (Carmen de las Cuevas; Dionisia Garcia) and Contemporary Fusion vocabularies, she co-founded Kalamandir Dance Company in 2010 based in the vocabulary of #ContemporaryIndian. This name is currently under review. Through Kalamandir, Brinda choreographed for many national stages, the North American Bengali Conference at Madison Square Garden, and self-produced and choreographed original feature-length dance productions which earned her artist residencies at Dixon Place (2018) and Dancewave (2019) to continue to develop work. Now, she is represented by CESD Talent Agency and is pursuing artistic direction, performance and arts education. She continues to train in Kathak, Manipuri, Yorchha™ (est. Ananya Chatterjea), and Contemporary. Brinda also dances with dynamic percussive trio Soles of Duende, featuring Flamenco (Arielle Rosales), Tap (Amanda Castro), and Kathak. Her dream of having art meet activism was realized when she created WISE FRUIT NYC, a seasonal live arts installment (est. 2017) dedicated to the feminine divine and honoring select women-led organizations. Between live installments, Wise Fruit NYC functions as a community-led space for beginner tools in social justice. For her day job, she works as the Symposium Coordinator for dance service organization based in the values of justice, equity, and inclusion: Dance/NYC.

www.BrindaGuha.com

Transcendant Malini Srinivasan

Dancer Malini Srinivasan introduces a dance.
Winter Garden at Brookfield Place
(photos: Eva Yaa Asantewaa)

Musicians shown, l-r: Vocalist Taniya Panda,
violinist Arun Ramamurthy
and bansuri (flute) player Jay Gandhi
(photos: Eva Yaa Asantewaa)

Sitting on the amphitheatrical staircase at the Winter Garden atrium at Brookfield Place can make you feel like you've finally fallen into that elusive "lap of luxury" you've always heard so much about. Beyond the round staircase landing (used as a performance space), you gaze out at a stand of palm trees, the entrances to upscale shopping spots and eateries and, past tall windows, to a yacht marina gleaming in the setting sun. The Winter Garden sits near the Hudson River edge of a neighborhood that, especially since 9/11, has seemed evermore sterile in design and sealed off from the rest of New York.

But Malini Srinivasan's Bharatanatyam performance last night--part of arts Brookfield's Transcendant Arts of Tibet & India series--brought heart and warmth to these surroundings. Entitled Rasa in the Round, the generous, nearly two-hour program included several dance solos by Srinivasan and music by Taniya Panda (Carnatic vocal), Samarth Nagarkar (Hindustani vocal), Umesh Venkatesan (nattuvangam), Arun Ramamurthy (violin), Jay Gandhi (bansuri), Bala Skandan (mrdangam) and Suryaksha Deshpande (tabla). Ramamurthy and flutist Gandhi, in particular, created heavenly beauty.

Srinivasan, dressed in magenta and gold, ritually blessed the space with movement and the release of rose petals to the air. Her dancing drew us close to those lovers of Lord Krishna who pine for him and vie for his favor. Her mastery of dance and story showed in her integrity of line, her firmly grounded plasticity allowing her to maintain control even when stretched, lunged or twisted out from her axis, shaping refined gestures and minute flutters of her fingers. Always, she displayed follow-through from head to toe, crackling with energy. Her dancing breathed as one with the singers' vocal lines.

For each tale, she took time to introduce the narrative with bits of dialogue and some imagery we'd notice along the way. For example, for Night, she previewed carefully inscribed gestures for "moon" and "waves." However, nothing prepared us for how deeply affecting these same simple gestures would be in their danced context and, especially, in Srinivasan's full-out, shapely performance.

Of one piece, Navarasa, Srinivasan noted, "It is up to the audience to taste the emotions" of the Divine Mother. Throughout the evening, she inspired us to taste a bit of everything, easily winning the rapt focus of her huge audience. Everything artificial, beyond her sacred circle, simply disappeared.

Transcendant Arts of Tibet & India is now closed. For information on future artsBrookfield programs at Winter Garden and elsewhere, click here.

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Chitresh Das, 70

Chitresh Das, Influential Performer and Educator of Indian Dance, Dies at 70
by Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times, January 25, 2015

Chitresh Das, 70

Chitresh Das, influential Kathak dancer and educator, dies
by Allan Ulrich, SFGate, January 4, 2015