Z-2023 Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies by Nava Dance Theatre

Parsons Theatre, Northglenn

About the Show

Inspired by the oral histories of Indian nurses who immigrated to the US due to labor shortages, choreographer Nadhi Thekkek and her collaborators explore the heavy and enduring work of brown women and the worlds they traverse between. They ask, who puts a price on this labor? What is the cost of opportunity? Who gets to decide how foreign we are? Through community interviews, historical texts, and poetry, Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies negotiates these questions and examines what it means to belong in America.

Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies uses bharatanatyam and experimental movement to examine the labor of South Asian immigrant women who came to the US after the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act.

Rogue Gestures/Foreign bodies is created and produced by Nava Dance Theatre, a bharatanatyam dance company based in San Francisco, unceded territory of the Ohlone people. They use the South Indian dance form to navigate place, identity, and politics through the lens of lived experience.

Take a sneak peak at Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies

Nava Dance Theatre is a 501(c)3 registered non-profit organization. Based in San Francisco, Nava Dance Theatre is in a unique position to present bharatanatyam to audiences who may not be familiar with the art form. By exploring the art form through collaborations with other bharatanatyam dancers, visual artists, musicians, and local dance makers, the company is able to share the power of dance, music and storytelling throughout the diaspora and beyond.