The primary focus of my work is performance.  I am firmly rooted in my more than twenty years of experience in bharatanatyam, but no longer perform strict classical dance.  My movement has influences as diverse as flamenco, West African dance, t’ai chi, hip-hop and kathakali, but the defining characteristic is the use of spoken poetry and prose.  While some work is purely based on music, in others I translate poetry and prose into dance, and speak them and dance them simultaneously.  Some of my work has focused intensely on sociopolitical issues, such as Navashwaasam and Restless Natives, while other work is more contemplative in nature.

Current Project: Being Human

The performance currently being presented is Being Human.  For information about earlier works, see Past Projects.  The seed for the project was the poem of the same name, written by Naima Penniman of the New York based poetry duo Climbing Poetree.  To explore the idea of what it means to be human, the performance presents a spoken/danced interpretation of the original poem, as well as several musical pieces choreographed to both Carnatic (South Indian classical) music and Indian popular music.  Being Human was first presented in Washington DC in 2009.  Since then Malavika has presented it in California, India, and Singapore, and across many parts of Argentina where she has been performing it in Spanish.  See below for video excerpts. Click here to buy a DVD,

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[embed width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZJdVgO59Bc[/embed]

The following video includes the Spanish-language introduction to the Tulasidas Bhajan piece.  Fast-forward to 3:09 to skip ahead to where the choreography begins.

[embed width=”640″ height=”360″]http://youtu.be/ugzz_JGfl_0[/embed]