Blue13 Dance Company, noted for rhythmic and charged performances that blend hip-hop, ballet, modern and traditional Indian dance, showcases its exuberant genre-bending artistry on Friday, February 21 and Saturday, February 22, 2020, at 7:30 pm, in the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts’ Bram Goldsmith Theater. The program includes the world premiere of Terpsichore In Ghungroos, which tackles issues of equality and feminism while celebrating joy and connection, and the West Coast premiere of F**k Fusion, both by Artistic Director and prolific choreographer Achinta S. McDaniel. These works, along with McDaniels’ Diya aur Toofan, highlight the L.A.-based company’s compelling, energetic and theatrical contemporary style that uses dance as a vehicle for storytelling while turning the cultural stereotype of Indian dance on its head. Describing McDaniels’ dynamic Bollywood dance style, LA Weekly states, “If (it) could be explained in an emoji sequence, it would be the red dancer girl, 80 exclamation points, and then the toothy, what-the-eff-is-going-on smiley face.”
Blue13 is a fiery confluence of new and old, quintessentially American in its diversity and rebellion. For more than 15 years, Blue13 has presented a highly energetic and theatrical modern dance style that is inspired by the classical and cultural art forms of the Indian subcontinent. The ensemble has performed its wildly spirited contemporary Indian and Bollywood-inspired dance on stages around the world, from Paris and Morocco to New York, North Carolina, Canada and beyond.