South Asian International Performing Arts Festival (SAIPAF) is the annual celebration of the diverse perspectives, ideas, and imaginations of artists from the South Asian subcontinent and/or who belong to the South Asian diaspora.
Description
SWARALI KARULKAR Presents The Navrasas
A rasa denotes an essential mental state and is the dominant emotional theme of a work of art or the primary feeling that is evoked in the person. The Navras or 9 emotional states of the mind are used as driving forces for diverse forms of arts. These rasas can be entirely subjective and are interpreted differently depending on the experiences and the ability to sense different levels of intensity of emotions by an individual.
Swarali expresses her understanding of these emotions the way she has observed, learned and experienced through a series of 9 short stories and a wide range of dance styles
Swarali was one of the final contestants for India's biggest dance competition Dance Indian Dance Season 4. She became part of the Dance India Dance team later as a lead choreographer. Her dance style is a fusion of jazz, contemporary, folk, kathak, bollywood, and hip-hop.
Dil Se - A Journey of Emotions
Real life stories and issues that surround people expressed in the form of dance (contemporary movement)
SONALEE VYAS DANCE COMPANY (AUGUST 8 ONLY)
Sonalee Vyas Dance Company is the 1st Professional Bollywood Dance Troupe in North America. Over 1000 Performances completed to date. SVDC has professionally trained Bollywood Dancers & Performers. With a creative mixture of technique, energy and emotion, our ensembles are meant to grab your audience's attention and raise the beat!
Under the direction of Choreographer Sonalee Vyas the company provokes, inspires and entertains audiences with its unique blend of music, dance and narrative styles.
Atoms is a short story by Devashish Makhija and Kanya is a music piece created by Niraj Chag. Using both, Gayatri relates a story of existence about who or what we might have been at different points in eternity. Gayatri is the winner of Miss India Georgia and first runner up for Miss India USA. She has also received the Arch of Excellence Award at the All India Achiever's Convention. She was the lead actor in the Bollywood film Let's Dance.
BELLYDANCE AMERICA DREAM TEAM
Zeina performs with Nohora’s Dream Team in a rich fusion collaboration piece of bellydance, and Eastern folk styles. With diverse ethnic backgrounds from India to Colombia, the Dream Team will be showcasing a vibrant array of colors, costumes, and movement, set to a traveling musical experience from East to West.
MANHATTAN ANDAAZ (AUGUST 8 ONLY)
Thumka Lagado!
In Hindi, thumka means hip shake. The thumka is symbolic of the energy and creativity that we exhibit when we do this move along with many others, including leaps, jumps and turns. We aim to fuse a variety of styles that draw from the diverse backgrounds of our dancers, including classical Indian, ballet, hip-hop and modern.
AJNA DANCE (AUGUST 8 ONLY) Presents Nayi Kahaani – Love Lost, Love Found
Nayi Kahaani (“A New Story”) takes you through the journey of finding new love in the wake of a past relationship. The story starts with the expression of tangled emotions and longing for a love that has just ended. As the heart heals, it tentatively explore the possibility of new love. The piece culminates with a celebration of a new union and new beginning.
NIKITA CHAUDHRY Presents
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Embodying the Diaspora: an artistic study of identity & belonging
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By using dance and movement techniques, along with a background in performance studies, artist Nikita Chaudhry delves into an embodied journey to the soundtrack of her family's diasporic experiences.
ROHAN BHARGAVA (Contemporary)
Rohan Bhargava recently graduated from Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, with a B.F.A in Dance. Originally from New Delhi, India, Rohan aims to create a unique movement vocabulary that abstracts the Indian idenitity through contemporary art. At SAIPAF, Rohan is premiering a new trio set on three men which delves into themes of masculinity, individuality, and relationships.
SHIVALI BHAMMER Presents The Enlightened Lover
Shivali will be doing a modern contemporary dance based on classical movements and expression. Shivali is infamous for her ability to choreography on the spot and will showcase different emotions a lover must pass through until liberation in a freestyle dance which merges all different forms of dance into one, therefore her performances on Friday and Saturday will not be the same.
Shivali trained and received a distinction in ballet under the Royal Academy of Ballet in London, thereafter she received a First in her Kathak Diploma from the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan under the teaching and guidance of her Guru Abhay Shankar Mishra. She competed with DanceSport U.S.A in Competitive Latin and Argentinian Tango. By profession she is a devotional singer who released The Bhajan Project by Sony Music India and Urban Temple with Eros International.
Venue Details
Urban Stages
259 W 30th St, (Between 7th and 8th Ave), New York, New York, 10001, United States
