THE NRITYAGRAM DANCE ENSEMBLE IN COLLABORATION WITH THE CHITRASENA

Dance Company

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2024 · 7:30 PM

THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2024 · 7:30 PM

THE BAKER-BAUM CONCERT HALL

The New York Times’

“Best Dance of the Year” Pick, 2015 & 2016

Ballets Jazz Montr Al Dance Me

MUSIC BY LEONARD COHEN

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15 2024 · 7:30 PM

CIVIC THEATRE

This is an ancient dance, joyously and sexily performed in the present tense… it is hypnotically lovely to watch. The flow and precision of their movement makes you think of water, of unravelling silk.”

— The Guardian

Prelude Interview hosted by Molly Puryear · 6:30 PM

“

Sensuous, sultry and stunning… This is a wonderfully accessible show that will nourish your spirit with a perfect marriage of music and dance.”

— London Unattached

One of the premier Indian dance ensembles performing today, the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble has the unprecedented distinction of making The New York Times’ “Best Dance of the Year” list two consecutive years in a row. More than a dance company, Nrityagram was founded as a Gurukula (school) devoted to Indian dance. The all-female ensemble’s daily life of intensive training and meditation brings to the stage compelling captivating performances that are at once sensual and lyrical, accompanied by live music.

Under Louis Robitaille’s artistic direction, in collaboration with stage director Eric Jean and 14 dazzling dancers, three international choreographers—Andonis Foniadakis, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and Ihsan Rustem—evoke in “five seasons” the grand cycles of existence, as captured in the music and poems of Leonard Cohen. The revered torch singer’s words find new expression through dance in this stylish, sexy, and innovative program, which received Cohen’s blessing before he passed.