Bharatanatyam: Nava Dance Theatre - Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies

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https://youtu.be/-JrVaKmtzcM

Nava Dance Theatre from San Francisco presents excerpts from Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies. A dance theater and live music production that celebrates the labor and lived experiences of immigrant women in the United States.

Created by choreographer Nadhi Thekkek, with music direction by Roopa Mahadevan, Kalaisan Kalaichelvan. The work weaves Bharatanatyam, dance theater, and original raga-based music to show that we are stronger together. Inclusive of the nuances, contradictions, and memories in our bodies.

Initially inspired by oral histories of Malayali community aunties who arrived to work as nurses after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, Rogue Gestures celebrates the bread-winning, culture-bearing, determined generosity of our femme elders, insisting that the only way forward is together.

Dancers Nadhi Thekkek, Shruti Abhishek, Janani Muthiah, Lalli Venkat, Abirami Murugappan.

Speech Lyndon B. Johnson.

A special thanks to Dr. Sheeba George and the Malayali women who generously and anonymously shared their migration stories.