UPCOMING EVENTS
COMING: Listen Hold Believe Workshops in October
We completed our first 2 workshops as prototypes on July 19 and August 2. The reflections that followed using the Critical Response Process® gave us a lot of good feedback and we're taking some time to continue honing the workshop process to get ready to launch the project in full from October 2025-April 2026. We have so much to be grateful for and so many to whom we are grateful, including the participants and our collaborators: Rising Youth Theater, Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, Liz Lerman LLC, and ASU's Center for the Study of Race and Democracy. And if you're interested in hosting a workshop for your dancers or your organization supporting survivors, please reach out to us!
PAST EVENTS
|
RASA--layers of engagement
SUMMER 2024 Chennai, Kozhikode, Kolkata, Tokyo Workshopping the layers of engagement in the wisdom of the verse "yato hasta stato drishti..." in the personal and in community.
In collaboration with teachers and students of Kaatradi Trust-Chennai, Nrityalaya-Kozhikode, Bharata Nritya School-Kolkata, and Gei-Dai-Tokyo. 
|
|
JUNE 24, 2023 Work-in-Progress Showing w/CRP Dansense is working on an exciting new piece as part of its larger Prakriti production. Bring your lunch and join us for an informal showing followed by CRP® (Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process®) to share your thoughts. |
|
|
NAVARANG-a performance festival
April 1, 2023 Navarang, in many Indian languages, means colorful or beautiful and reflects the lens through which Dansense-Nrtyabodha works to invest in artists working and creating together without boundaries and to engage the community with new and immersive experiences in the arts. |
|
|
|
https://musicdancetheatre.asu.edu/news/dance-students-collaborate-faculty-members-guest-artists-original-work
Tillana Raga Kannada, Tala Adi, Composed by Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam Choreographer: Dr. Padma; re-produced for Fall Forward by Sumana & Pratyusha Lighting Designer: Carolyn Koch, Costume Designer: Manasi Tripathy Performers: Sai Pratyusha Gutti, Sumana Sen Mandala |
A traditional dance genre of Bharata-Nrityam, this tillana is composed and choreographed by Sumana’s guru Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam. Tillanas explore rhythm in fascinating combinations of footwork and body shapes and are meant to be the culminating piece in a Bharata-Nrityam performance. Dr. Padma has selected a couplet from the ancient treatise Natyashastra which says that even a little bit of dance is enough to please both the Goddess Devi and Lord Shiva--dance brings joy.
Pratyusha and i share many of the same questions when it comes to our dance form of Bharata-Natyam, which is often mired by notions of tradition that are imposed, both on the art form and on the practitioner. 25 years ago, i discovered a liberation in the pedagogy of Bharata-Nrityam when i went to learn that specific form from my guru Dr, Padma Subrahmanyam in Chennai, India. I'm fortunate to share this with my students at Dansense-Nrtyabodha and in the community. Pratyusha, too, has joined me in this work, not only to learn a choreography in the Bharata-Nrityam style but also to explore the range of possibilities it offers in using space and in performing as a communicating duet rather than as 2 dancers re-producing a dance side-by-side. There is at once a sense of holding important knowledge that has come down to us through generations and a sense of playfulness that is encouraged by my guru's own innovations within the structures that prevail in the dance form. All the while, it is rasa that anchors our performance with the call to be responsible to our audience and for our audience to respond through deep engagement. |
|
|
SEPTEMBER 18, 2022
|
|
D
I W A L I WEEKEND 2021 |
|
|
February 29 & March 1, 2020
Look into my Voice, Hear my Dance (LVHD) Hackett House, Tempe, AZ Read more about LVHD at:
|
|
|
September 22, 2019
Dansense Symposium 2019 ASU Kerr Cultural Center, Scottsdale, AZ 
Click for details.
September 15, 2018
Conversation & Creation Learning about the process of meaning & musicality in creating dance with Dr. Kaberi Sen (Odissi Dancer) & Sri Anjan Saha (Sitarist) Scottsdale, AZ September 14, 2018 Hindustani Jazz at the Nash Anjan Saha (Sitar), Adam Roberts (Sax), Stan Sorenson (Guitar) & Eric Rasmussen (Alto Sax) with Rajat Sen (Tabla) |
|
|
April 8, 2018 ~Event Production of N. Srikanth's & Aswathy Nair's SAMAVESHA followed by Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process® at ASU Kerr Cultural Center, Scottsdale, AZ ~Sponsorship/promotion of U.S. Samavesha Tour, April-May, 2018 October, 2017 Debut of solo work "Chakra" ~Arizona Dance Festival 2017 at Tempe Center for the Arts-October 7 ~Fall Dance Graduate Project Presentations at Margaret Gisolo Dance Studio, ASU-October 26-27 July 12-22, 2017 Workshop by Sumana Sen Mandala at Sapporo International Communication Plaza-July 20, Performance "Tsumugu" at Sunpiazza Theater (Shin-Sapporo) with Sharadha Dance Studio, Sapporo, Japan March 4-5, 2017 Tales of Tenali Stage Sanchaar production supporting Austin Scottish Rite Theater Scottish Rite Theater, Austin, TX December, 2016 Master study in Varnam choreography, with Guru N. Srikanth Supported in part by a grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, which receives support from the State of Arizona and the National Endowment for the Arts. Nrityalaya, Kozhikode, India October 4, 2016 Guest Lecturer, Art History Seminar by Dr. Claudia Brown Topic: Dance--Art Without Borders ASU, Tempe, AZ September 10, 2016 Sarod & Tabla Baithak (salon concert) Scottsdale, AZ September 2, 2016 Carnatic & Jazz Meet on First Friday Production for Asian Arts Council, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ April 30, 2016 “Embrace-a conversation about Change” with Nirmal Raja and others, benefitting SAMAR & Scottish Rite Theater's programming to provide affordable field trips for economically disadvantaged schools Conception, Production, Direction for Stage Sanchaar Scottish Rite Theater, Austin, TX December 5, 2015 "Pratikaryam Mahakaryam"--All Work is Great Work Using the street theater medium, this presentation of a well-known fable, The Elephants & The Mice, this half-hour presentation highlights that each of us has something to contribute no matter how small it is, and put together, it makes all the difference. Conception, Production, Direction for Stage Sanchaar Benefitting Austin Hindu Temple, Austin, TX 2015 Dansense moves to Scottsdale, AZ Incorporated as Dansense~Nrtyabodha, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable organization June 28, 2015 Dansense Arangetram, Madison, WI April 18, 2015 “Embrace-a conversation about Change” with Milwaukee visual artists, Dara Larson & Nirmal Raja, benefitting RedLine Milwaukee Conception, Production, Direction for Stage Sanchaar Theater Unchained, Milwaukee, WI August 23, 2014 Dansense Arangetram, Austin, TX October 26, 2013 “The Power of YOU” benefitting Sahara of South Florida Conception, Production, Direction for Stage Sanchaar Hollywood Central Performing Arts Center, Miami, FL 2012 Dansense moves to Mequon, WI August, 2012, 2010 N. Srikanth, Artist, Guru & Choreographer Sponsored Workshops & Performances Performance at Austin Waldorf School, Co-sponsored by Dance Umbrella, August 11, 2012, benefitting SAHELI for Asian Families Spring Semester, 2012 "Introduction to Bharata Natyam" Residency Program Developed by Sumana Sen Mandala McCallum High School Fine Arts Academy, Dance Department Austin, TX September 24, 2011 "Charukeshi"- Concept, Choreography, Production 10 Minutes Max 2011 sponsored by Dance Umbrella Austin Ventures Studio Theater, Austin, TX June 18, 2011 Oncology/Hematology Patients‘ Prom, Dell Children’s Medical Center April 2, 2011 SHIVA-Timeless Ideal, Endless Inspiration Conception, Production, Direction for Stage Sanchaar The Boyd Vance Theater, Austin, TX *50% of ticket proceeds benefitted the Arts & Fitness Program for Young Children. October 2, 2010 “The Power of YOU” benefitting Arizona South Asians For Safe Families Conception, Production, Direction for Stage Sanchaar Kerr Cultural Center, Scottsdale, AZ Ramanavami 2010 "Out of Maya" Conception, Production, Direction for Stage Sanchaar Annual program sponsored by Austin India Fine Arts (IFA) Austin, TX South Asian New Year Festival (2010, 2009) Zilker Park, Austin, TX First Night Austin "Final Curve" (inspired by Langston Hughes) 2009 "Natakam" 2008 Conception, Production, Direction for Stage Sanchaar City Hall Council Chambers, Austin, TX September 27, 2009 Pecan Street Festival, Austin, TX May 27, 2009 Bhagavata Mela Natya Natakam-Solo Performance Melattur, Tamil Nadu, India 2008 Dansense moves to Austin, TX "Stage Sanchaar" is formed. 2006-2007 Dansense moves to Surrey, England 2004-2005 Member, San Ramon Arts Council San Ramon, CA 2002 Dansense moves to San Ramon, CA May, 2001 Performance with students benefitting CRY-Phoenix for Earthquake Relief in India ASU, Tempe, AZ 2001 Brown Bag Lecture: Beyond Space, Time and Consciousness & Teacher In-Service Workshop Wolfgang Laib: A Retrospective Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ 2000 Dansense is founded. South Asian Studies Department, Religious Studies Course "Religion as an Experience of Rasa in Dance" ASU, Tempe, AZ |
|