Baryshnikov Arts Center presents World Premiere of Sooraj Subramaniam's "Other Places of Being" (ON-DEMAND + FREE)
Company:
Baryshnikov Arts Center
BARYSHNIKOV ARTS CENTER PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF SOORAJ SUBRAMANIAM’S OTHER PLACES OF BEING, NOVEMBER 1–15, 2021
New York, NY — Baryshnikov Arts Center’s Fall 2021 Digital Season continues with the world premiere of Other Places of Being by Belgian-based dance artist Sooraj Subramaniam. The presentation is free and available to watch on demand from Monday, November 1, at 5pm ET, until Monday, November 15, at 5pm, at bacnyc.org.
This digital collaboration from Sooraj Subramaniam and Kuala Lumpur-based dance artist January Low explores their parallel experiences of the Odissi Indian classical dance form. The two artists have known each other since childhood. They lost touch for over a decade, journeying into adulthood separately, reconnecting only a few years ago. Created during global lockdown in an effort to overcome distance and despondency, Other Places of Being reveals the bridging power of social media and technology and the rekindling of a friendship made possible through dance. The artists write: “This work, one in a long journey of discovery, hopes to situate dance within everyday acts, by prioritizing relationships and reconciling the urge for spectacle with the greater desire to be invested in moments.”
Concept and direction by Sooraj Subramaniam. Screenplay, choreography, and performance by January Low and Sooraj Subramaniam. Music score (voice recordings, soundscape) by January Low and Sooraj Subramaniam. Video editing by Sooraj Subramaniam. Commissioned by the Baryshnikov Arts Center.
Running time: 25 minutes
Sooraj Subramaniam is an Australian-Belgian dance artist of Malaysian-Indian heritage. His training in Bharatanatyam and Odissi began at Sutra Dance Theatre, Malaysia. In Australia he studied classical ballet with Stella Johnson, and later graduated from the Western Australian Academy for Performing Arts. In the United Kingdom he worked primarily with SRISHTI, teaching and performing Bharatanatyam. He also toured internationally with Akademi, Balbir Singh Dance Company and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance. While in London he also trained in Kathak with Urja Desai Thakore, adding to his varied vocabulary. Since moving to Belgium in 2012 Subramaniam has worked with independent choreographers Nicole Kohler, Kalpana Raghuraman, Seeta Patel, and the Maghenta Collective. He continues to receive specialist training in Odissi with Madhavi Mudgal, Delhi, and since the global lockdown, virtually with Bijayini Satpathy, Bengaluru. Subramaniam’s first independent work, Nocturne (2011), showed at The Place Theatre, London. nimbus, his most recent solo premiered virtually at Sangam Festival, Melbourne, followed by screenings on online platforms by Maghenta Collective and the India Dans Festival, Korzo Theatre, The Hague. Subramaniam situates his work in hyphenated identities, drawing heavily on poetic styles and choreographic templates from Indian dance, hinting at magical realism. He is currently investigating the intersections between Odissi and contemporary techniques with the aim of arriving at something personal and hybrid. He currently lives in Ghent, Belgium.
January Low, born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, started dancing with classical ballet, and followed through with 25 years of Indian classical dance training at Sutra Dance Theatre, Malaysia, focusing on Odissi. Low returned to the stage a year after the birth of her twins, adding to her belt performances for the International Odissi Festival, Orissa (2014) and the Georgetown Festival, Malaysia (2015). In 2016 Low performed bloom while she was seven months pregnant. In 2017 she self-produced dedicated, her first independent solo. Low also choreographed and performed the opening performance for Festival Tokyo 2018, MI(X)G directed by Pichet Klunchun. Low spent most of 2019 questioning her identity, culture, and form, and how they have contributed to and affected her relationship with Odissi. Through this process she developed reclaim and presented it at the end of 2019. Low dedicates her practice to the power of process and uncovering newness in the familiar. She is currently under the virtual mentorship of Bijayini Satpathy.
Sooraj Subramaniam. Photo by Karolina Maruszak
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