PERFORMANCE OFF CENTRE by Sujit Vaidya March 24 – 26 PERFORMANCE KISMET قسمت by Sashar Zarif March 30 – April 2 |
MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) Presents a Double Dance Offering this Spring with Montreal Premieres by Sujit Vaidya (Vancouver) and Sashar Zarif (Toronto) |
MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) will be hosting the Montreal premiere of two works by internationally-renowned, multicultural Canadian creators and dancers this Spring.
Performances mixing tradition and contemporaneity take the stage with Sujit Vaidya‘s OFF CENTRE (March 24 to 26) that questions how to express queer identity within traditional dance, and Sashar Zarif‘s Kismet قسمت (March 30 to April 2), an investigation of identity as a constructive negotiation of cultures, languages, and experiences told through music, dance, and storytelling.
PERFORMANCES
OFF CENTRE questions a sense of “the other” that dwells within each of us, creating parallel realities. These realms offer a delicious tension between conflict and convergence. How can one express a queer identity within a traditional dance form? Exploring the embodiment of gender and sexuality both in and out of dance, the work becomes a luscious celebration of all things sensual and erotic, a full-throttled defiance of heteronormative clichés, and a loving embrace of self.
Sujit Vaidya is an independent dancer and choreographer based in Vancouver, BC. His work reflects an urban sensibility juxtaposed seamlessly with an art form rooted in tradition. As a queer artist of colour, his choreographies and collaborations question the narrative and relevance of non-inclusive traditional texts. He aims to create space for queer expression within the context of Bharatanatyam and seeks collaborations with other queer artists of colour.
Kismet قسمت is a ritual of transforming fate to Destiny. What will you do with what is given to you? A thrumming auditory call reverberates among the quartet of dancers and singers whose breaths and bodies collaboratively create painterly images, spilling one into another. A river of dance and sound whose ebb and flow are as hypnotising and collective as any body of water. A self-study through memory which investigates the idea that identity is not the product but rather the process of an ongoing constructive negotiation amongst the cultures, languages, and experiences that we each carry with ourselves.
Kismet قسمت is presented in the contemporary style of Mugham which is an integrated practice Zarif has developed that blends dance, music, and storytelling inspired and informed by the Sufi and Shamanic rituals of Islamic societies. In it, words communicate the mental, music transmits the emotional, and dance conveys the physical. These influences on the work are deeply rooted in Sashar Zarif’s nomadic ancestry.
WHAT?
Off Centre
Sujit Vaidya
WHEN?
24 – 26 MAR
7:30 PM
WHERE?
MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels)
3680 Jeanne-Mance, Montreal
BOX OFFICE?
$28, or $36 package deal with Kismet
Full ticket info at:
www.m-a-i.qc.ca/en/boxoffice
514 982-3386
WHAT?
Kismet قسمت
Sashar Zarif
WHEN?
30 MAR – 2 APR
7:30 PM
WHERE?
MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels)
3680 Jeanne-Mance, Montreal
BOX OFFICE?
$28, or $36 package deal with Off Centre
Full ticket info at:
www.m-a-i.qc.ca/en/boxoffice
514 982-3386
OFF CENTRE
Choreography: Sujit Vaidya
Dancers: Sujit Vaidya & Arun Mathai
Music: Curtis Andrews, ParmelaAttariwala
Lighting Design: James Macleod
Kismet قسمت
Choreography: Sashar Zarif
Sound design: Sashar Zarif
Lighting design: Arun Srinivasan