Showcase 1 More about each performance below…
Mahalakshmi Rajaram & Nrithyadhara School of Dance, Image courtesy of artist
“Manobhojanam” — the feast of the mind is a thought-provoking Bharatanatyam production that blends philosophy and artistry. It portrays how our choices — in food, thought, and action — reflect the three energies of life: passion, inertia, and purity.
Inspired by the three gunas—Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas—from the Bhagavad Gita, the holy book of Hindus, the performance takes audiences on a sensory journey from chaos to clarity. Through movement, expression, and rhythm, “Manobhojanam” serves a feast not just for the eyes, but for the mind and soul.
I started Nrithyadhara School of Dance in 2020 online while taking live classes in Chennai, TamilNadu, India. After moving to Charlotte in 2022, I started taking classes and received a masters degree in Bharathanatyamhas, which allowed me to create unique concepts in Bharathanatyam.
The dance production that I am creating now is a sequential and named Manobhojanam, the feast of the mind. I have two masters degree in Nutrition, so food is something I connect with in all fields. This work connects food and cultural connection through dance, conveying how important eating the right food is for maintaining a good mood.
Lourdes del Mar Santiago Lebrón and Tess Angélica Losada-Tindall, Photo courtesy of artist
“Mangle” is an embodied exploration of the intersections between the environmental fragility of the Caribbean mangle (mangrove) and the diasporic grief that stems from migration. The mangle mirrors diasporic migration through the displacement of its seedlings, which drop from its branches, in a process akin to live birth, only to be swept away by the currents of the waters in which it grows.
In this work, these Caribbean artists explore the spectrum of physical connection, at times depending upon each other entirely, while asking what happens in moments of complete separation. This work is set to a sound score that was created by the artists deep in the mangroves of Puerto Rico.
Lourdes del Mar Santiago Lebrón and Tess Angelica Losada-Tindall began collaborating in graduate school as they worked towards their MFA degrees in Dance. Santiago Lebrón is a Puerto Rican movement artist who aims to create artistic explorations that heighten the senses, provoke inquisition, and demand attention. Losada-Tindall is a Cuban-American dancer and choreographer whose work considers exile, cultural straddling, and diasporic grief. This most recent collaboration highlights the artists’ Caribbean identities and considers what it means to be making art in the diaspora, far from our origins.
Lourdes del Mar Santiago Lebrón website »
Tess Angélica Losada-Tindall on Instagram »
Erin van Vuuren, Image courtesy of artist
For now we see through a mirror. So. Damn. Dimly. Join our performers as they explore the ways we humans try, and fail, and try again to truly see one another. Can they reach through the noise of their own egos/fears/assumptions/mental chatter?
There will be pain. Laughter. Dancing. Blunt force. Will the mirrors that stand between them hold strong?
In this 20-minute performance, individuals try to connect, but they just keep missing one another. Presented through dance, play, drama, song and comedy, these humans just can’t seem to hear one another through the noise of their own egos. Their fears. Their assumptions. Their mental chatter. The piece culminates in the performers attempting to shatter the mirrors that stand between them.
Erin van Vuuren is a writer and has been performing for decades—as an artist, but also as a wife, a corporate minion, a cancer survivor, and now as a single mom in the world of modern dating. Erin’s work explores the concept of human connection and the barriers to truly seeing one another.
Showing at: BOOM Fringe Dance Theater: Shoppes at University City Place
Showcase 1
Nrithyadhara School of Dance: “Manobhojanam”
Tess Losada-Tindall & Lourdes del Mar Santiago Lebrón: MANGLE
Erin van Vuuren: Through a mirror, dimly
Show Times:
Saturday 5/2 5:30pm – 6:30pm
Sunday 5/3 2:30pm – 3:30pm