Sannidha (Sacred Space) comes to The Cowles Center
For Immedidate Release
Dana Munson
Marketing Director
612.206.3630
Sannidhi (Sacred Space), featuring dancer/choreographer
Aparna Ramaswamy and an ensemble of musicians,
comes to The Cowles Center
(Minneapolis, MN- Sept. 19, 2013) Acclaimed Bharatanatyam dancer and choreographer
Aparna Ramaswamy will present Sannidhi (Sacred Space) on Saturday, October 19 at 7:30pm at The Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts.
Aparna has toured extensively, both as a soloist and as choreographer and principal dancer of Ragamala Dance, of which she is Co-Artistic Director with her mother, Ranee Ramaswamy.
Ramaswamys choreography and performance have been described as a marvel of buoyant agility and sculptural clarity (Dance Magazine), thrillingly three-dimensional, and an enchantingly beautiful dancer, (The New York Times). In 2010, Ramaswamy was the first Bharatanatyam dancer/choreographer to be named one of Dance Magazines 25 to Watch, in which was written, At once iconic and explosive, Aparna Ramaswamy infuses the formal rigor of Bharatanatyam with fluid spontaneity and rock star allure.
Highly stylized with sophisticated technique, Bharatanatyam blends two distinct components: nritta, or rhythmic dance, comprised of various complex body movements and rhythmic compositions, and nritya, or narrative dance, which utilizes the language of gesture and facial expression.
Although Bharatanatyam has a structured vocabulary, this vocabulary does not restrict, but instead offers the use of a multifaceted language from which the dancer can draw and expand. In this incredibly intricate percussive form, the choreographer not only creates the movement but also the rhythmic structures. This coupled with the beauty, vitality, and stunning physicality of the style, makes Bharatanatyam the perfect canvas on which to create timeless compositions.
Sannidhi brings together Indian-American artists of the next generation who retain roots in their collective history while bringing their own voices to the contemporary stage. In Sannidhi, the stage becomes the sacred ground upon which to celebrate the guru, the divine, the natural world and the richness of human relationships. The spiritual and the secular merge into one, forming the continuous pulse of our universe.
Sannidhi features four Carnatic musicians: Ranee Ramaswamy (nattuvangam), Roopa Mahadevan (vocals), Rajna Swaminathan (mridangam, the two headed south Indian drum), and Anjna Swaminathan (violin).
Tickets for the performance are $28 and can be purchased at www.thecowlescenter.org or by calling 612.206.3600.
Sannidhi (Sacred Space) is made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
