Usiloquy Dance Designs Celebrates A Decade Of Creation

After a decade of creating traditional and cross-cultural productions of Indian Classical dance Bharatanatyam, Usiloquy Dance Designs will commemorate their anniversary with a celebration at Asian Arts Initiative on October 13 featuring performances with past collaborators, a silent auction, and a dance party.

Founder and Artistic Director Shaily Dadiala originally created Usiloquy to "serve as a conduit between the ancient dance form that originated in the temples of Southern India to schools and concert halls of the 21st century. To explore the lesser known cultural aspects of diasporas and contribute towards social equity. Through cross genre collaborations, our choreography invests in development of a classical style as an applied form going beyond tradition and placing Bharatanatyam in mainstream American context".

The evening will feature performances from Gabrielle Revlock, experimental hooper; The Lady Hoofers, a rhythm tap ensemble; Thomas Wave, an acclaimed Sitar player; and, of course, Usiloquy Dance Designs.

When asked, "how do you feel about celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Usiloquy?" Shaily responded with a memory:

"An audience member came up to me backstage after the premiere of Indo-Caribbean culture based production 'Chandroutie'. Tearing up ever so slightly, she held my hands and said "Thank you for dancing the history of my ancestors". Years later, on a hot afternoon on site at the Irish Memorial in Historic Penn's Landing District, a woman from the crowd greeted me post the showing of 'Ragas and Airs'; an homage to lesser known aspects of Irish Culture with " Your dancers energized the stone figures of the monument, it's as if they came to life!"

The only thing common in between these two humbling observations was the fact that both the women were writers-custodians of their respective cultures. If I had to single out one thing that I love most about my work is that with my choreography I get to apply a traditional dance style I learnt in India in new ways while centering the narratives of vividly diverse communities."

Since 2008, Usiloquy has created 4 full length and 18 solo works and regularly conducts easily accessible education programs. They are the only contemporary Bharatanatyam organization of its kind in the region and work tireless to utilize the Indian dance form to build cross-cultural bridges.

The dancers of Usiloquy Dance Designs include Aney Abraham, Mira Sophia Adornetto, Paramita Datta ,and Sruthi Murlidaran. Usiloquy is led by Artistic Director Shaily Dadiala.

Tickets Ticket prices are $30 online and $40 at the door. Tickets are available through usiloquydance.org/opus/upcoming-performances/; e-mailing Shaily Dadiala at shaily@usiloquydance.org; or arriving at the Box Office 30 minutes prior to the event located at Asian Arts Initiative at 1219 N. Vine Street

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