inDANCE's ROWDIES IN LOVE World Premiere Set for Wesleyan University Center For The Arts

The US debut of choreographer Hari Krishnan's inDANCE company's World Premiere of ROWDIES IN LOVE will take place on Dec 6 & 7 at the Center For the Arts Theater at Wesleyan University. Hari Krishnan is an award-winning Conneticut-based (via Canada and Singapore) choreographer, the Artistic Director of inDANCE, and Professor of Dance, Global South Asian Studies, and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Wesleyan University. He has been awarded the prestigious Guggenheim and National Dance Project awards and a residency at Jacob’s Pillow for the creation of ROWDIES IN LOVE. 

ROWDIES IN LOVE is a queer intervention into Bharatanatyam and international contemporary dance forms. It is a transformative political act in response to the prevailing homophobia and anti-gay legislation that continues around the world, especially in India and Singapore, where the choreographer has roots. Eight NYC-based male dancers blaze through an inspired and inventive movement vocabulary, queering Bharatanatyam and contemporary dance from intercontinental perspectives. 

The work culminates decades of efforts to create an original choreographic voice integrating Hari's dance training and outside-the-box vision: “ROWDIES IN LOVE is the result of a lifetime of dreaming! I’ve always wanted to make a dance work that combines my 30-year deep training in Bharatanatyam, my identity as an out-and-loud proud gay man and my passionate interest in relocating contemporary dance as a global possibility. In ROWDIES IN LOVE, I can finally bring all my worlds together in a singular world.”

ROWDIES IN LOVE is set to an innovative soundscape by UK-based award-winning composer Niraj Chag. Performers include Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Eury German, Spenser Stroud, Claudio Caverni, Demetris Charalambous, Robert Ciszak, Henry Leef, Elijah Mack, and William Pettigrew.

The creative and Production Team includes Choreographer, Conceiver and Director: Hari Krishnan; Company/Stage Manager: Anna Adams Stark; Rehearsal Director: Jennifer Kjos; Tour Producer: Cindy Sibilsky; Costume/Visual Design: Rex; Lighting Design: Chelsie McPhilimy; Music Composed: Niraj Chag.

ROWDIES IN LOVE

Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University (271 Washington Terrace, Middletown, CT 06459)

Friday, December 6 and Saturday, December 7, at 7pm

Tickets: $8 for the general public; $6 for senior citizens; Wesleyan students/faculty/staff/alumni; non-wesleyan students, youth under 18.

About the Choreographer:

Hari Krishnan’s choreographic work explores postcolonial complexities in Indian dance as well as queer themes from a global perspective. He is among the pioneering generation of choreographers of South Asian origin who began to explore the intersections between traditional and contemporary South Asian dance forms from within the North American diaspora. With a specialty in Bharatanatyam, his body of work arises from a critical awareness of this particular form’s capacity to fuse with other dance styles to unfold postmodern, queer, anti-racist, and anti-caste social critique. He is also the Artistic Director of inDANCE (indance.ca), founded in 1999, and has been on faculty at Wesleyan University since 2001.

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