School of Dance
Amount Awarded: $11,107.00
Awarded for 2017-18
Title: Ananya Dance Theatre Interdisciplinary Intensive
The proposed project, Ananya Dance Theater Interdisciplinary Intensive, is to fund a week-long interdisciplinary student workshop and series of public events to accompany Ananya Dance Theatre’s Shyamali, Sprouting Words. This project engages students from the School of Dance, BlockU Arts & Advocacy course, and Environmental and Sustainability Studies. The project intersects sustainability, social justice, and dance-making to foster resilient campus community and culture.
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In October 2017, thanks to the generous support of the Council of Dee Fellows, contemporary Indian dance company Ananya Dance Theatre (ADT), spent a week on campus leading workshops that explored how relationships between people, as well as the earth, transform the future. ADT’s residency culminated in a sold-out public performance of their evening-length work Shyamali: Sprouting Words at the Tanner Black Box Theatre.
The company led a four-day interdisciplinary workshop for 18 faculty, students and community members. The workshop drew students from Environmental & Sustainability Studies, School of Dance (ballet and modern dance), Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, Anthropology, and more. “Each workshop felt like in-depth meditation on what a socially, environmentally and economically just future looks like and what my role is in the creation of it,” said Ivis Garcia Zambrana, assistant professor in City & Metropolitan Planning and participant in the workshop.
Additional events supported during ADT’s residency included a high school workshop for 28 first and second-generation immigrant students from the Center for Math & Science Education’s REFUGES program, a public audience empowerment workshop attended by more than 30 community members, a lecture from company director Ananya Chatterjea as part of the Global Change & Sustainability Center’s Seminar Series, and a technique class in the Department of Modern Dance. In total, more than 250 people engaged with the company in some way while they were at the U.
In addition to the expansive reach of this residency, these events were deeply impactful for attendees. The workshops centered around the critical role that dissent plays in building sustainable communities. In the public audience empowerment workshop, community members were invited to first observe a performance and offer feedback, then sit close to the dancers and observe from a new angle, and finally to join the dancers in creating a dance of dissent. The workshop culminated with the entire group screaming at the top of their lungs, filling the UMFA Great Hall with the power that comes from speaking up and speaking back. Occurring as this workshop did one week after #metoo had begun, and on the heels of renowned scientist and social justice activist Dr. Vandana Shiva’s lecture on environmental justice, the timing of this work was uncanny. Audience members in this event and workshops were deeply moved, echoing the feedback offered by Dr. Zambrana about the power of ADT’s work.
It is with deepest gratitude that we acknowledge the essential contribution of the Council of Dee Fellows to this project. The council’s funds were matched by the Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund, UtahPresents, and the Global Change & Sustainability Center, as well as with in kind support from the Sustainability Office, UMFA, and participating academic programs. In addition to the initial support needed to secure the artists for this week of workshops, the council’s flexibility with transferring the funds to a new PI was crucial. Budgeted funds were spent on guest artists’ fees, airfare, and per diem. The entire granted amount of $11,107 was spent. An itemized budget is available upon request.
The collaborating partners are already beginning to plan future collaborations that bring together the spheres of performance, sustainability, and social justice. Without your investment, this and future uniquely interdisciplinary exchanges would not be possible.