June 17 – 18

Dance

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The Edge Theater – Studio Space
1133 W. Catalpa Street, Chicago

Beaten Path is an innovative dance-music performance that merges Carnatic (associated with southern India) and Black American jazz influences, creating a passionate fusion of contemporary music and dance styles. Choreographed and performed by Mandala Arts’ Ashwaty Chennat, with music composition and performance by jazz musician, Alvin Cobb Jr. Running time: 25 minutes on Friday night at 7:30pm. On Saturday night at 7pm, this piece will be presented along with Bangali Meye, with a total running time of 50 minutes for both shows. See complete info below!!

COMBINED OFFERS!!!
On Saturday night, this piece will be shown with Bangali Meye, an innovative dance/sound collaboration and means to hold on and remember a cultural past that is slipping away. Choreographed by Tuli Bera, sound by Scott Rubin! Both shows are included in your ticket, click for tickets above. Complete description below.

Then, on either Friday OR Saturday night, you can ALSO see Rosina: Remixed for a 2 show discount! Take advantage of this special festival offer. Rosina: Remixed is a joyful hip h’opera based on the Barber of Seville! Running time 60-80 minutes. Just $35 to see both shows!!

Info about Rosina: Remixed!

Special Offer tickets for Beaten Path + Rosina: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/338554053287

Bangali Meye
Choreographed by Tuli Bera, Sound by Scott Rubin
An innovative dance/sound collaboration and means to hold on and remember a cultural past that is slipping away. As a first-generation, American, the artist acknowledges and explores their experience of inhabiting the body of a South-Asian / Indian descendant living in the United States. How does one preserve fleeting memories? How do we honor passed down traditions knowing that we may some day erase them?

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Ashwaty Chennat is a dancer, choreographer and teaching artist, based in Chicago and a company member of Mandala Arts. Ashwaty began her Bharatanatyam training with Smt. Sudha Chandrasekhar in Detroit, Michigan. As soon as she could hold her aramandalam, Ashwaty joined the classroom learning the graceful, preserved Thanjavur tradition of Sri Rajarajeshwari School in Bombay, with the guidance of the late Mahalingam Pillai and Kalyanasundaram Pillai. Following years of rigorous training, Ashwaty completed her Arangetram in 2008. Currently, Ashwaty continues her understanding and love for Bharatanatyam with Pranita Nayar. While she persevered in the style of Bharatanatyam, Ashwaty trained intensively in ballet (Cecchetti method), jazz, and tap with Deena Fournier and Lisa Holland (Ann Arbor, MI). She also spent summers learning Mohiniyattam in Cochin, Bangalore, and in Detroit, and has learned South Asian forms including Sri Lankan dance, folk, and Bollywood. Ashwaty is trained in vocal music (Carnatic and Classica/Choral), acting, improvisational theatre, and consistently performs whenever she gets the opportunity! Ashwaty holds a BA in film from the University of Michigan). Ashwaty is honored to share the joy of endlessly shaping tradition.

Alvin Cobb, Jr., is a musician, producer, composer, photographer, and educator currently based in Chicago. Alvin studied percussion under Leon Anderson, Jr., and Willie Jones III, at Florida State University and Northwestern University respectively. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Florida State University (B.A. in Music Performance and Jazz Studies, 2013) and Northwestern University (M.M. in Jazz Studies, 2015). Alvin first gained national attention, in 2013, when he directed and performed in a multi-media tribute to legendary percussionist Max Roach and his 1960 album, We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite. National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Master Jason Marsalis, who was in attendance, published a review of the concert, stating, “A lot of hard work went into putting on one of the greatest recitals I’ve ever seen.” As a result of this rave review, Alvin’s first post-collegiate professional opportunity was with trumpeter and veteran Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra member Marcus Printup and his quartet. In addition to occasionally leading his own ensembles, he has worked with countless artists, including Victor Goines, Sherman Irby, Patricia Barber, Sarah Marie Young, and Dee Alexander. He has dazzled audiences at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Chicago Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, and has performed on many other notable stages across the country. He also had the opportunity to work on Nico Segal & The Social Experiment’s critically acclaimed 2015 album, SURF, featuring Grammy-Award winning artist Chance the Rapper. He is the leader of the Alvin Cobb, Jr. Trio with bassist/vocalist Katie Ernst and pianist Julius Tucker. The trio was featured at the DuSable Museum, as part of the 2021 Hyde Park Jazz Festival on Chicago’s South Side. In 2020, he and Chennat were selected as artists-in-residence at Loyola University through The Pivot Arts Incubator Program. During the program’s virtual festival, the two premiered their original short film, In Place, which explores the mental effects of navigating isolation and social unrest in the midst of a global pandemic. In 2021, the duo also received artist grants from the Walder Foundation to present excerpts from their 2019 original dance suite, Beaten Path, as part of ‘Chicago Takes 10,‘ a virtual performance series to support performing artists and arts organizations negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tuli Bera (she/her) is a Bengali American movement artist. She draws from various styles of dance: Indian folk and classical forms, classical and contemporary ballet, modern, aerial dance and improvisation. Tuli holds a BFA in dance and has performed across Chicago’s stages. She is currently a part of Ishti Collective and is a collaborator with Ayako Kato. Beyond performance, Tuli has supported independent artists as a producer and curator for dance and teaches ballet and aerial dance for all ages.

Scott Rubin (he/him) is an interdisciplinary artist and improvising violist whose work interrogates relationships between sound and movement through analog and digital means. His projects have involved collaborations with musicians, dancers, and visual artists, often incorporating interactive acoustic/electronic improvisation, expanded performance practices, motion-sensors, and video. In these projects, he engages themes of intimacy, control, and the sublime.