Event WebsiteAbout
Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies is a bharatanatyam, experimental movement, and live music production that explores the history, labor, and lived experiences of women and immigrants in the US, and how these fractured experiences inform our identities now. The work shows that together we are stronger, inclusive of the nuances and contradictions that we all hold in our bodies. Initially inspired by the oral histories of Indian nurses who arrived as a result of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, choreographer Nadhi Thekkek and her collaborators find universality in the heavy and enduring work of immigrant women and the worlds they traverse between. Rogue Gestures is an ensemble work of 6 dancers with a live original score by Roopa Mahadevan, Kalaisan Kalaichelvan, and others. Rogue Gestures is created and produced by Nava Dance Theatre.
Performed with live music.
SF/Arts Curator Insight
For one performance only, choreographer Nadhi Thekkek invites audiences to witness “Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies,” a multi-discipline work from Nava Dance Theatre that marries live music and urgent narrative themes with a 21st-century take on Bharatanatyam, an ancient Indian classical dance form. While the piece looks back in history to the immigrant women’s experience and the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, the parallels to the current immigration crisis are undeniable.
Heather Desaulniers
Contributing Writer
Nava Dance Theater
Nava Dance Theatre, uses bharatanatyam dance, experimental movement, and live music to navigate the complicated intersections of racism, feminism, and identity. Past work has delved into unheard refugee voices, the #metoo movement, and a number of other social justice issues.
Nava Dance Theatre, uses bharatanatyam dance, experimental movement, and live music to navigate the complicated intersections of racism, feminism, and identity. Past work has delved into unheard refugee voices, the #metoo movement, and a number of other social justice issues.