Celebrating 10 years!

The Dancing Storytellers have been performing our original show,

Indian Mythology and Me, for 10years!

  • Two dancers in Indian Mythology and Me
  • Two dancers jumping with a long blue cloth stretched between them overhead.
  • Two dancers in an animated jungle scene
  • Two dancers arms outstretched in a celebratory gesture

The Dancing Storytellers, have been touring this show to schools, libraries, museums and theaters all over Southern California for 10 years! Now the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts did a beautiful taping of it and it is available for booking through the Center, contact ArtsTeach@SCFTA.org. Get a taste in the teaser below!

https://share.scfta.org/watch/j8bhdLFb1SzYrpKX4gjio3

Indian Mythology and Me was created by Sheetal Gandhi, Shyamala Moorty and Ulka Simone Mohanty

BOOKING INFO HERE

Stories…on the MOVE! at the FORD

Thanks to all that joined us at the FORD!

Here are some memorable moments captured by Wendy Moorty:

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Sharing new choreography

 

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Dancing with musicians

 

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Interacting with the kids

 

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Dancing up a storm

 

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Making beautiful music

 

 

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Performing funny characters

 

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And finally, meeting families after the show!

The Big Elephant and the Little Mouse

One of the Panchantantra Tales we include in Stories…on the MOVE!, coming to the Ford Ampitheater Sat July 27,  is the tale of The Big Elephant and the Little Mouse:

Breaking the notions of big and small, powerful and weak, this is a story that teaches us never to under estimate anyone based on what they look like.

Here we are at Palisades Elementary, the big elephant towering over the little mouse….

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And here is a clip of the elephant rhythm we are working on in rehearsal…

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/70343368 w=500&h=281]

Stories Moving People

Yesterday we had an open rehearsal of the new version of Stories…on the MOVE!  We were told by our colleagues that came to give us feedback that the show is “joyful” and “clever”!  We hope you join us for the fun on July 27th at 10am at the Ford Amphitheater! Get tickets here.

Meantime here’s some photos of some of the funnest parts of the show where we interact with the audiences, thanks to Gemina Gowdy who took photos at one of our performances at Palisades Elementary School.

After we taught this poem to the kids, using hasta mudras (hand gestures) to tell a story,  a kindergartener told us he thought the story was about how we’re all connected with our hearts!

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Here we’ve chosen a kid who was able to use abhinaya (expression) to show and angry demon king, Mahishasura.

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And now the courageous Durga has come to challenge Mahishasura’s repressive regime!

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The audience has to guess what happens…

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A bunch of 3rd grade boys saw us after the show and told us we were “cool!”

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Photo by Chris Emerick, courtesy of the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts.

Making Music, Making Magic!

Check out what we’ve been up to with our new musical collaborators Jas and Kamaljeet Ahluwalia!

See us live  Saturday July 27, 2013 @10am at the FORD  Get your on-line tickets here!

In the meantime, here’s a tidbit from our musical rehearsals:

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/69760208 w=500&h=281]

A rhythm from Northern Ghana on the Calabash mixing with Hindustani music on the tabla and santoor.

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Making music in front of the altar at Khmer Arts Academy while Khmer Art’s Associate Artistic Director, Prumsodun Ok, works in the background.

Our rehearsals for the Ford’s BIG!WORLD!FUN! series have been generously supported with rehearsal space from West LA College (video above) and at the Khmer Arts Academy (pic above).