Dance Series

Anindita Neogy Anaam
Wednesday, October 16, 2019, 7:00 p.m.,
Esch Studio, Warch Campus Center

Anindita Neogy Anaam is a leading exponent of Indian classical Dance Kathak. Anaam is a well-known instructor, performer and choreographer presently based in Wisconsin, USA. She is a recipient of many prestigious awards like the Shri Jayadev National award for excellence in Kathak dance by National Culture Mission (Bhubaneswar, India) and the State government of Odisha (India), Bidagdha Nartaki Samman and National Nritya Shiromani award 2019 from the International Dance Festival, Cuttack India. She is one of the few Kathak dancers from entire North America to be awarded the coveted Indian Raga Fellowship fall 2018 and was part of the repertoire in San Diego.  

Anindita trained for several years under award winning danseuse Uma Sharma. Later she started her advance training under the tutelage of Jaipur and Lucknow school of Kathak maestros Guru Rajendra Gangani and Guru Jai Kishan Maharaj. Her dance style is a blend of both the schools of Kathak, and she believes in the philosophy of incorporating feminine grace into technical recital of the style. She has also studied Indian ballet and Chau style for a brief period under Guru Shashidharan Nair in Shri Ram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, Delhi, and is a classically trained vocalist as well. Anindita was part of the Kendra’s famous ballet ‘Krishna’. Known for her delicate dance gestures yet powerful technical performances, Anindita is a dancer par excellence. She has always tried to tell stories through her dance about the subjects of contemporary times.

Anaam has given numerous dance presentations as a soloist in India, Germany and USA. She has been invited for solo Kathak performance by highly illustrious “12th Delhi International Arts Festival 2018” as an International performer of Indian Art in India Habitat Center Delhi. Anaam was the featured Kathak performer for New York Kathak Festival 2019 at the prestigious Alvin Ailey New York Theater and was also invited as a workshop artist for Kathak in the famous Miles of Music Festival. Anindita is one of the few dancers in USA to collaborate impromptu with Grammy Award winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on his compositions accompanied by Vineet Vyas on Tabla and has been appreciated for her performance by the maestro himself. Anindita is the first Indian classical Kathak dancer in the state of Wisconsin USA to be serving as the ‘Secretary’ of prestigious Wisconsin Dance Council, the state affiliate of National Dance Education Organization.

Set Go
Friday, January 17, 2020, 7:00p.m.,
Esch Studio, Warch Campus Center

Set Go is a Contact Improvisation Research and Performance ensemble founded in 2016 by dancers Shura Baryshnikov, Aaron Brando, Paul Singh, Bradley Teal Ellis, and Sarah Konner. Though all are interdisciplinary artists, each identifies Contact Improvisation as a primary practice and are lead researchers and educators in the field, both nationally and internationally.  International teaching credits include the Play Practice Residency in Bangalore, India, the Paris CI Gathering and 1001 Spirals Festival in France, and Contact Meets Contemporary and Contactfestival Freiburg in Germany.  Set Go members also teach regularly in the United States at New York University, Sarah Lawrence College, The Julliard School, SUNY Purchase, and Brown University, among others.   Collectively, Set Go has been practicing the form of Contact Improvisation for over 60 years, and they have developed pedagogy together as part of the CI Ground Research laboratory project since 2010.

In performance, Set Go ensemble shares a love for whimsical, whole-hearted, virtuosic improvisation and have been dance-making together since 2009. The group has performed at the Moving Arts Lab (Earthdance, MA), the RISD Museum Open Rehearsals, for the Institute for the Study of Environment and the Society at Brown University, the Providence Fringe Festival, Interlochen Arts Academy, the Everybody Moves Festival and the HUT series at the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought in Northampton, MA, and were recipients of a FITT Artists Residency grant through the Brown Arts Initiative at Brown University for the development of new work.

Michelle Ellsworth
Wednesday, April 8th, 2020, 8:00 p.m.,
Esch Studio, Warch Campus Center

Phone Homer: Clytemnestra's Guide to Surveillance-Free Living is a techno-feminist remix of the ancient epic poem, The Iliad and an investigation of what it is to be a “first lady.”  This so-called “work” demonstrates how to avoid exposure to: 1) unstable “watching” and 2) insecure humans.  With a completely offline internet and prerecorded replicas of her most frequent conversation, Clytemnestra demonstrates how to live free from surveillance and interpersonal drama.

Michelle Ellsworth
Though not a licensed scientist, technologist, or carpenter, Ellsworth nevertheless co-mingles these disciplines with dance to create solutions and/or demonstrations of peculiar geopolitical (and personal) phenomena. The pharmaceutical and political potential of dance interests her, as well as the value of broken and labor-intensive ideas. 

Among Ellsworth’s honors are a Doris Duke Artist Award (2019), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2016), a Doris Duke Impact Award (2015), a NEFA National Dance Project Grant (2014 and 2017), a Creative Capital Fellowship (2013), and a USA Artists Knight Fellowship in Dance (2012). She has received three National Performance Network Creation Fund Commissions (2004, 2007, and 2016).

Highlights in her performing career include presenting at On The Boards (2004, 2005, 2012, 2015, 2019), The Fusebox Festival  (2013, 2015, 2019), American Realness (2015, 2018), Bard’s Fisher Center (2017), Noorderzon Festival (Netherlands 2016), Made in the U.S.A Festival (Greece 2016), , The Chocolate Factory (2015),  Brown University (2011, 2015), Abandon Normal Devices Festival (Liverpool 2013), Danspace in New York City (2012), Diverseworks in Houston (1996, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009), and Dance Theatre Workshop in New York City (1992, 1993, 1996, 2007).

Ellsworth is a Professor in Dance and Interim Director for the Center for Media Arts and Performance in ATLAS at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Rythea Lee
Monday, April 27, 2020, 7:00 p.m.,
Esch Studio, Warch Campus Center

IMPERMANENCE IS EXHAUSTING is a fiery one woman show with special guests and (delightfully optional) audience participation.
Rythea Lee presents her humorous one woman show about the joyful practices required to deal with the undeniable reality of death. For her, it’s all about unabashed creativity, fearless self-expression, loving others passionately despite loss, and laughing at the absurdity of our humanity. Rythea shares monologues, choreography, poetry, and original songs, to create entertainment and artistic reflection.
“I KEEP FORGETTING THAT LIFE IS TEMPORARY. DO YOU? DURING LONG SPANS OF DENIAL ABOUT DEATH, HOW DO WE COPE? THIS IS HOW I DO IT. I MAKE ART THAT MAKES ME BELLY LAUGH, ASKS THE BIG, ANNOYING QUESTIONS, AND FORCES ME TO INTO RAW ALIVENESS…”
“LET ME ENTERTAIN, LECTURE, ENGAGE, INVOLVE, IGNORE, AND IGNITE YOU”

Rythea Lee is a multi-disciplinary artist who uses humor and risky content to inspire and transform both her audiences and herself. She sees performance as a heightened conversation with potential to shift consciousness for all involved. Rythea is the star and creator of a Youtube 20-episode, online show called "Advice from a Loving Bitch”, an instructional, therapeutic, performative, and funny series about healing self-hatred at Rythea.com/advice, and is soon to publish a curriculum that goes with the videos for groups and individuals who want to use the course as in-depth study for healing. She is a singer songwriter, visual artist, and author and writing a book on the benefits of having a creative practice called Art Makes Life Worth Living. She has a private practice as a trauma counselor for 23 years and teaches Peer Counseling classes, a practice of peer to peer emotional support. Rythea is the proud Mama of a 7 year old, who is also a regular creative collaborator. All things Rythea at Rythea.com