Bodies.Physique.Mind.Soul.Flesh.Love. at Studio 909

Jhalak Dance Company presents "Bodies.Physique.Mind.Soul.Flesh.Love." Saturday April 20, 2024 at 7pm at Studio 909. The live performance features world premiere contemporary dance choreography.

Featured Collaborators, Artists, and Performers

The contemporary dance performance is directed and choreographed by Kara Jhalak Miller with Jhalak Dance Company performers. Featured performers include Sami L.A. Akuna, Hannah Archer, Tina Chan, Leialoha Fernandez, Cy Higashi, Nani Marcos, Kara Jhalak Miller, Julian Myrland, Lance Sabado, Ariana Smith, and Katelyn Wyatt. Additional works include a dance documentary short about the company by Larry Asakawa, live music with with Maya Sypert, mezzo-soprano, & Thomas Yee, piano, and poetry by Sai Bhatawadekar.

About the Development of the Dance Performance

"Bodies.Physique.Mind.Soul.Flesh.Love." explores temporality, embodied perception, and the physical form of presence in the natural and modern world in Honolulu. The performances raises questions about what it means to be human today and how we see, feel, and think about the body. The performers share devised choreographic inspirations and creative expressions with a focus on themes of physique, alter ego, mind and soul, flesh, and love.

The project originated as a conceptual dance theater exploration and in spring 2023 the first excerpt was shown at the Honolulu Museum of Art’s “Avant Garden.” The project culminates in a live performance at Studio 909 in Honolulu on Saturday April 20, 2024 at 7pm.

Highlighted within the production are several new dances. “Enmesh” explores connection, a sense of place, and collective experiences through athletic contemporary dance in motion. “Filter”, probes how we each may uniquely see and experience the body through the images that we make. “Self/ie” focuses on societal standards of beauty. “Spiral: Journey of the Soul” is a deeply investigative movement play about love, the energy of flow, and the language of bodies that touch. The performance embraces the body as a source of wisdom past and present and explores how dance shapes our view of the human form.

Jhalak Dance Company specializes in dance performance, choreography, and improvisational collaborative art-making processes. With a background in contemporary dance and movement media art, Jhalak Dance draws from other forms of art, including live, digital, and network performance, installation, music, and more. www.jhalakdance.org

What audiences have been saying about Jhalak Dance Company performances:

"powerful", "captivating", "deeply moving", and “fresh”