Erasing Borders Dance Festival 2024
Indo-American Arts Council
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Erasing Borders Dance Festival
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Curatorial Guidelines
We are only taking in applications via this form this year.
You can submit solos, duets, or larger groups.
Typically, each performer will be given 8-12 min. This includes any additional information or narration.
Your video is the most important part of your application. An impressive video can catch the eye of the curator and make your performance memorable. When submitting a video, make sure the video is well-lit and appropriately edited for maximum impact. Check out technical guidance. Below are some tips for editing your videos:
- The dancer should be clearly visible in the video.
- The video(s) you submit should be of the work that you propose to perform at the festival, and should submit a plan outlining exactly what you plan to perform. In case the video exceeds the timing, please indicate time markers in your application for the segments you are proposing.
- You may submit up to 2 additional alternative videos with your application. Each video should be 8-12 minutes long.
- Dance works are often better appreciated when placed in context. We suggest that you include a commentary/explanation of your process in the Details of the Proposed Work section of your application.
- Live explanations (i.e. spoken commentaries on your video) will be counted as part of the timing of the total presentation, so you may prefer to send in a written explanation.
- The video you submit should include the complete, continuous work you intend to perform, OR a work-in-progress with detailed explanation. It is imperative for the curators to see the entire work, because our decision making involves thinking through how all the selected works (by different artists) will collectively form a unique, cohesive experience for our audience. An excerpt put together with bits and pieces from different parts of a work or different works WILL NOT BE ACCEPTABLE for the application.
September 22: Sunday: In person in New York
September 23: Monday: Evening digital performance, and Barnard College panel in the day
TBD: Workshop and panel discussions
You need to submit a video of the work that you intend to perform. You should submit 2 videos. 1) Submit videos of past choreography. 2) Submit your concept proposal in 100-150 words and send a video (as a work-in-progress). You do not need to submit a video shot using a professional camera - you can submit a video shot using your phone, so long as the quality of the video is good and your dance can be seen well.
Indo-American Arts Council’s Erasing Borders Dance Festival is seeking dance submissions for 2024.
The dance festival will be presented tentative on Saturday, September 21, and Sunday 22, 2024 at a venue in the tri state and online on Monday September 23. In addition, the festival will partner with Barnard College for dance investigations and discussions on Monday September 23.
The festival will include two parts: live performances including applicant dancers from around US and an invited group from India on Saturday and Sunday. A few dance groups from the applicant pool will be selected to receive a grant towards producing a digital performance for IAAC’s streaming platform Facebook and Youtube for Monday September 23.
ED Dance has embraced the theme of "Then and Now" for the year 2024 across the platforms of dance, film, music, and literature. For an in-depth understanding of how the theme is understood and applied, please see this video from curator Srinidhi Raghavan. Pondering on these thoughts and prompts, we urge you to think of your own works and assess how this applies. Submit dance works of 8-12 minutes in length that showcase this theme. Also submit a 100-150 words description of how these themes connect to your work.
WE SEEK:
- IAAC seeks original works in multiple or new vocabularies and forms deriving from or relating to the traditions of Indian dance. Dancers are encouraged to apply with works they have learned from their gurus as well as works that are challenging or critically thinking on their own terms. For the digital grant applicants, we encourage shorter works. Professional works of up to 12 minutes duration (you can submit multiple works for us to consider).
- There is a non-refundable application fee of $15 and applications are due March 15, 2024. IAAC is dedicated to promoting, showcasing, and building an awareness of the arts and artists whose heritage lies in India in the performing arts, visual arts, literary arts and folk arts.
HOW TO SUBMIT:
We are only taking in digital applications this year.
- First, review the Curatorial Guidelines we have compiled. These guidelines will help you submit a strong application which catches the eye and interest of our professional curators.
- Selected artists are compensated with professional standard artistic fees for their work and time. Our fees are commensurate to other New York area professional companies.
- Additionally, if selected for the digital presentation, we will provide funds towards video production costs for which technical guidance will be provided. If selected for the live festival, we will take care of all theatre needs in New York. We will not be able to process visas. We ask that applicants have already taken care of this.
- Next, complete your 'application form'. Bear in mind that you will not be able to save your application and come back to it later. So, it is recommended that you first draft your answers in a separate document, and then enter them on this online form in one sitting.
- Pay your $15 application fee through PayPal
(using any credit card) Click here >>
- If you have any questions, check the Frequently Asked Question (FAQ). We keep updating this FAQ as new questions are received. If the FAQ does not address your questions, you can email us via this Inquiry form. Please note that we will only respond to questions that have not been addressed in the FAQ, so make sure to check the FAQ first!
- Application fees are $15.
Technical Suggestions
- Artist would film themselves at home/studio.
- Make sure sound quality of the music is clear. It could be played on a different device close to the recording camera.
- Have lighting from the front and avoid lighting at back (unless it is part of your aesthetic)
- Shoot in daytime conditions. Night time indoor shoots do not look good.
Requirements:
- Completed Application Form, which will include a place for you to send us a link to the performance piece you want to showcase at the festival.
- Video: Applicants need to submit the entire video recording of the proposed works (not excerpts or sampling of past works). Since this is a hybrid festival, we ask that you not apply with a work that is already published in video format with other platforms.
- We plan on leaving the work accessible online for an agreed upon time after the last day of the festival, so make sure you secure rights from your gurus, musicians, and collaborators. Please also make sure you own the rights to publish the music and other elements that you are using. This permission can be sent to you by other producers through emails, social media messages etc. so it can be documented if the need arises. If you submit work that we select, we assume you have done the due diligence.
- *Special note for virtual festival applicants only: This is a work that would be choreographed for camera, so we need to get a sense from your application as to how you would accomplish this.
- Only professional-level performances will be considered for the festival. Typically, we receive about 80 applications each year that our curators go through very carefully. Due to limited time, we do not email all applicants back and prioritize writing to applicants we seriously consider for the festival.
- Selected artists for the virtual festival will receive grants ranging between $1500-2500 for achieving a professional-grade production value in addition to the performance fee. Please submit a sample budget plan of up to $2500 for the final production to account for videography and editing. For the usage of this work, you will need to include a credit line “This project was created as part of the Erasing Borders Dance Festival 2024 and is supported by funds from the Indo-American Arts Council.
- Non-refundable application fee of $15.
Artists Bios
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Indo-American Arts Council
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Erasing Borders Dance Festival
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Indo-American Arts Council
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Erasing Borders Dance Festival
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Committee and Curators
Deepsikha Chatterjee: Dance Director
Deepsikha Chatterjee is a tenured faculty of Theatre at Hunter College CUNY where she enjoys teaching a diverse student body. She received her undergraduate degrees from University of Madras and National Institute of Fashion Technology before moving to the US for her MFA in Costume Design from Florida State University.Currently she is pursuing her PhD in Theatre and Performance from CUNY Graduate Center.Her costume design for Butoh Medea and Hide Your Fires received the Best Costume Design award at United Solo in 2014 and 2017 respectively. Her designs have been seen recently at Barnard College, Mabou Mines, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Women’s Project, New York Musical Festival, Drive East, United Solo, Pan Asia Repertory, and Capital Fringe.
She researches costumes and masks for Indian performance and has received notable grants for this work. Her presentations have been seen at conferences including USITT, Costume Society of America, and the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. She has published articles on Indian and Asian theatre, and Indian fashion. Since 2017 she has served as the dance director for Indo-American Arts Council’s Erasing Borders Dance Festival bringing international dancers to the New York stage.
Uttara Asha Coorlawala: Curator
Uttara Asha Coorlawala currently teaches in the dance program at Barnard College/Columbia University and serves as Curator for Erasing Borders--the annual Festival Of Indian Dance. Had previously also taught at Alvin-Ailey- Fordham University Dance Program, Long Island University's C.W. Post Campus, and at Princeton University, NJ. Earlier as a dancer, her solo show, (1973-87) brought modern dance, BharataNatyam and yoga, to stages of India, Europe, East Europe, Japan and the United States. For her pioneering choreography she was recently awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi national award. (India) Uttara also served on various global dance research (CORD) and educational (IB) Committees, and as Performing Arts advisor to the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and at the National Center of Performing Arts, Mumbai.
Awards for writing include AHRB Fellowship for South Asian Dance Research, London, The Graduate Research Award from CORD, USA, the Homi Bhabha Fellowship, India, a Ford Foundation research project (USA) on changing demographies of cultures in the U.S. and an award to study choreography from the Asian Cultural Council.
Currently, she is even more invested in the ongoing global re-flows of body knowledges.
Sruthi Mohan: co-curator
Sruthi Mohan is the Founder and Creative Director of Tat Tvam Asi, a boutique art organization in Austin, Texas, created specifically to curate and present works of internationally acclaimed Indian classical dancers touring the US.
An active and passionate community organizer, with more than a decade of organizational experience, she currently serves as the Cultural Committee Chair of the Austin Hindu Temple and has been instrumental in creating various cultural outreach initiatives that aim to showcase the spiritual beauty of Indian classical dance and other temple arts.
An accomplished and well trained classical dancer who started training at the age of three, she continues to perform to a diverse international audience. She also shares her passion for dance by writing about dance, appearing on radio and TV talk shows to promote and educate a wide and diverse audience about Indian Classical Dance.
Apart from being a dancer and a dance presenter she is also a Co curator for the Erasing Borders Dance Festival, New York.
Dipashreya Sur
Dipashreya Sur is a rising sophomore at Barnard College of Columbia University majoring in Mathematical Sciences and History and Theory of Architecture. She has been learning Kathak, an Indian Classical Dance form, in the Lucknow Gharana for more than 14 years. On campus she dances with Columbia Taal, an Indian Classical Fusion Dance team. Though Dance originally started off as an extracurricular activity introduced by her parents, overtime it became her passion. Over the years she has also explored dance styles ranging from Contemporary to Afro Cuban. She is honored to be a part of this year’s Erasing Borders Festival.
Jin Won
Jin Won praised by the NY Times as “an exuberant dancer whose musicality transform[s] her dancing into something primal,” dancer and percussionist who explores the sonic and visual possibilities of rhythm through dance and music, Jin Won is a one-of-a-kind artist in the field of Indian performing arts. An accomplished Kathak dancer and tabla player of South Korean origin, she spent over 15 years in India training in Indian classical percussion and dance under Pandit Divyang Vakil and Shrimati Shubha Desai, respectively. Currently, she is under the mentorship of Shrimati Durga Arya to enhance the artistry of kathak.
As artistic director of Pradhanica Dance and Music Company and full-time faculty at Taalim School of Indian Music, Jin has created, choreographed, and starred in various ensembles that have performed in esteemed venues across North America, as well as taught master classes and workshops in many institutes.
Preya Patel
Preya Patel as Artistic and Executive Director of Vivarta Arts Inc. based out of NYC, Preya Patel a is committed to bringing classical South Asian arts to the US mainstream. She conducts regular classes out of her studios in Queens and Long Island, and also enhances cultural awareness via Indian dance residencies and workshops at numerous NYC and Nassau County public schools and universities. Working with interdisciplinary organizations within the NY metro, she participates in a variety of community outreach programs towards her mission of global connectivity.
With over 25 years of training in Kathak under the guidance of Guru Smt. Jamuna Mitcham and completion of her Kathak Rang Pravesh, Preya undertakes further training from the world-renowned Kathak Guru Smt. Vaishali Trivedi, the disciple of Kathak legend Padma Vibhushan Smt. Kumudini Lakhia. She has graced the stages at prestigious events and venues in the US, UK, Canada and India.
Srinidhi Raghavan
Srinidhi Raghavan started learning Bharatanatyam nearly thirty years ago and has performed globally over the decades. Born into a family of dancers, she was exposed to Bharatanatyam early on and formally started learning the art from her mother and guru, Usha Raghavan, and from guru, Malathy Thothadri at the tender age of four. She had her arangetram in Chennai in 1998 and her experiences with dance have spanned several cultures and countries, including those of the UK, Switzerland, France, Italy, Liechtenstein, Barbados, Canada, the US and of course India, during the prestigious December festivals in Chennai.
Known for her "precise nritta and apt abhinaya", she is also recognized for her innovative choreographies and original works, which often explore contemporary themes via traditional Bharatanatyam pieces. Srinidhi's wide and extended exposure has added an eclectic element to her delivery which, when combined with her traditional style, results in a unique reflection of elegance and experience.
Srinidhi is a graduate of Columbia University and The Wharton School. She lives and works in New York City and continues to produce and curate shows while also choreographing and performing in her own productions. She currently sits on the curatorial board of The Indo American Arts Council’s Erasing Borders Festival, and is also the co-curator of The Varnam Salon (NYC).