Master Class with Sujata Goel: Bollywood Dance—A Globalized Body

Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 11:00am
Bessie Schönberg Dance Studio, 247 Pine Street, Middletown

FREE!

This Master Class, led by Indian-American choreographer and dancer Sujata Goel, is an introduction to Bollywood dance. Originating in the 1930s, Bollywood dance is a hybrid form that fuses eastern and western dance styles. In this class, participants will look at the history of Bollywood through its different styles spanning the 1940s to present day. The class is open to all, no previous experience or training is required.

From the early vernacular fusion of Indian classical and folk forms, to the incorporation of European classical and folk dances, and then the adoption of MTV and other pop aesthetics in dance and music in the United States, participants will consider Bollywood dance through the lens of globalization. After a brief introduction to the class, participants will be led through a fun and vigorous warm up, and learn a short Bollywood dance medley that shifts from early to current Bollywood styles in order to embody this complex yet intriguing dance form and its history.

Currently based in Pennsylvania, Sujata Goel has a background in Bharatanatyam and graduated from Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts (Madras, India) in 2001. She went on to work with one of India's leading contemporary dance companies, Padmini Chettur Dance Company (2000-2004; 2009-2010). Goel trained in contemporary dance at the Performing Arts Research and Training Studios (Brussels, Belgium) from 2004 to 2006. Since 2010, her work has been performed at multiple festivals across Europe, Asia, and the United States. Her solo "Dancing Girl" (pictured) was considered a groundbreaking new work in contemporary Indian dance.

Sujata Goel is part of SAEDA (South Asian Experimental Dance Artists), a United States-based collective which explores shared and divergent artistic processes and disrupts representations of South Asian bodies in the diaspora. The group's exhibition Kinetic Visualities is on display from Thursday, September 29 through Sunday, October 2, 2022. Gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday, Noon to 7pm; Sunday Noon to 5pm. For more information please visit the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery website.

The master class and exhibition are part of the 46th annual Navarati Festival at Wesleyan, taking place from Wednesday, September 28 through Sunday, October 2, 2022.