Open Stage #3

Featuring works by:

Lili Flamenco/Liat Har Lev
Kiruthika Rathanaswami & Malavika Santhosh
Shilpa Shankar
Voirelia Dance Hub

Lili Flamenco features two solos choreographed and performed by Liat Har Lev. The first solo We Shall Not Forget is dedicated to the six million Jewish men, women, and children who perished in the Holocaust. The second solo Lemons is in the flamenco dance style Alegrias, which means ‘happiness’ in Spanish, performed with guitarist Peter Mole and singer Pat Keith. Liat Har Lev is an emerging flamenco dance performer, choreographer and teacher. She has trained in BC and in Spain, and performs frequently at festivals and events across the Lower Mainland.

Kiruthika Rathanaswami and Malavika Santhosh present Samadhi - two duets in the classical Indian dance style of bharata natyam. They will open with a Pushpanjali (‘an offering of flowers’) followed by a sloka (prayer) describing the Blue God, Krishna; the second, Nadi Chol, shows the god Shiva dancing as Nandi the bull plays the drum. Both artists trained with the Jai Govinda Dance Academy and have performed and taught across Canada.

Shilpa Shankar performs Kalyana Sundareshwari – a solo in praise of Shakti, the divine feminine. Woven into the composition are verses of poetry describing the many attributes of Meenakshi, the goddess of the temple town of Madurai. Originally from India, Shankar is an emerging bharata natyam dance artist currently training with Jai Govinda of Mandala Arts and Culture, who choreographed this solo for her.

Voirelia Dance Hub presents excerpts from De/Formed Revival, which blends Renaissance sculpture and painting imagery with contemporary dance. Choreographed by Artistic Director Alina Sotskova for three dancers, the work explores the struggle to emerge from being stuck in the past, and break the moulds that others have shaped us into. Sotskova also holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology, and in 2017 she founded Voirelia Hub as a platform for contemporary dance creation and interdisciplinary collaboration. 

Open Stage is a program initiated by The Dance Centre, offering the opportunity for dance artists to present short works in an uncurated, shared performance.

Photos L to R: Shilpa Shankar/Chris Randle, Voirelia Dance Hub/Alina Sotskova, Lili Flamenco/Catalina Torres, Kiruthika Rathanaswami & Malavika Santhosh/Mark Enns & Ruchi Pasricha.