Intertwining their personal narratives along with the story of their art form and philosophy, the Sattriya Dance Company will offer an afternoon of live music, movement, film and storytelling. Sattriya is a 600-year-old living dance tradition from the Hindu (Vaishnav) monasteries of Assam in Northeast India. The dance and music, preserved and practiced by celibate monks, remained confined to monastic rituals until the 1960s. In 2000, the Indian government inducted Sattriya into the pantheon of major Indian classical dances.
This program is in tandem with the exhibition Local Voices: Memories, Stories, and Portraits.
Sattriya Dance Company (SDC) is a labor of love for sisters-in-law Madhusmita Bora and Prerona Bhuyan. The company’s mission is to promote, archive and spread awareness about Sattriya. SDC has performed across the world. Some of the company’s notable performances include the World Music Institute’s Dancing the Gods, Battery Dance Company’s Erasing Borders, the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, and Kalaghoda in Mumbai. Their work is archived at The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and The Library of Performing Arts at Lincoln Center in New York City.