Journey through Genre” is a performance by principal dancer and choreographer Ramya Ramnarayan with the Nrithyanjali Dance Ensemble and dancer singer Lisa Botalico with the Alborada Spanish Dance Theater, accompanied by musicians from India and New York City. The event takes place on Saturday, September 11, at 5 p.m. at Crossroads Theater, 7 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick. Tickets are $20.
A unique innovative production will present two distinct dance forms, Bharathanatyam and Flamenco, with rich literary works giving emphasis on foot work and geometric precision. The music for this production will be a blend of classical Carnatic music and Spanish music. Vocal, string, wind, and percussion instrumentalists will be involved in developing the music.
“It is extremely demanding to stage a dance production that weaves around different dance styles, due to unavailability of music common to all dance styles so this production stands unique in many facets,” says Ramya Ramnarayan. “The program will open with a rich repertoire in the Bharathanatyam and Flamenco tradition and conclude with two sensational fusion numbers. The first fusion number explains the narrative aspect of the two styles and the second number will highlight the rhythmic intricacy of the two dance forms.”
More than 25 dancers and eight musicians are participating in the presentation. Five performers are from the West Windsor and Plainsboro area. They are Padmasri Ashish, an adult pursuing the art after many years; Aparna Shankar, a graduate of High School North, now a freshman at Rutgers University; Deepti Venkatraman, a senior at High School South; Priya Ashish, a sophomore at High School North; and Kritika Sukumar, a senior at High School South. They are all students of the Nrithyanjali Institute of Dance and senior disciples of Ramya Ramnarayan for more than a decade.
“We are confident that this traditional yet innovative work will add to the repertoire of original productions created and presented by the Nrithyanjali Institute of Dance,” says Ramnarayan.
— Lynn Miller
Journey Through Genre, Nrithyanjali Institute of Dance, Crossroads Theater, 7 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick. Saturday, September 11, 5 p.m. $10 to $20. 732-398-9895. www.nrithyanjali.org.
