URVASI PRESENTS

CONTACT NUMBERS:
CJ Hanekamp: 360-866-4811 for Urvasi Dance Company
Melissa Lilly 206-227-5729 for Raqs Halim

ORISSI: DANCE OF THE YOGINI
Also featuring Raqs Halim, Middle Eastern Dancers

The Urvasi Dance Company is the residential Indian Dance company at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. The performance will begin with Middle Eastern dance, which will be followed by Orissi classical dance from Central Eastern India.

Orissi classical dance is characterized by extremely lyrical torso movements and fast rhythmic footwork. Orissi incorporates both pure dance and storytelling dances. The performance will include a solo dance drama in Orissi, portraying multiple characters in a fast paced action sequence.

Orissi dance at Evergreen has gained international fame, featured in the Doordarshan TV news, "Good Morning India," broadcast nationally from New Delhi, India, on June 3, 2000, and in several newspapers: the New Indian Express, Orissa, India, the Asian Age, the Indian Express (both national newspapers in India), India West (US), and the Vancouver Sun, Canada. Urvasi dancers have been invited to perform at the International Odissi Dance Festival, "Sraddhanjali," at the Habitat Center in New Delhi, December 17-19, 2001.

New choreography includes an expressional dance to a song by Orissa’s own Muslim poet, Salabega, as well as two new pure pallavi dances. The Panchakanya item in this performance will be "Kunti", from the epic, Mahabharata.

This performance will also feature Evergreen’s own Indian music ensemble: John Merrell on mardala, John Abrahams on tabla, Forrest Stone on sitar, Jamie Lynn Colley and C. J. Hanekamp as vocalists, and Ana Aguinaga on manjira.

Raqs Halim is a Neo-Tribal bellydance troupe that has gained a following throughout the Pacific Northwest. The group has performed at Folklife, the Seattle Rhythm Festival, and the Fremont Solstice Festival and regularly performs at festivals and venues in Washington and Oregon.

DATES: Friday, Nov. 30 and Saturday, Dec. 1

SHOWTIME: 8:00 pm

PLACE: Theatre 4 in the Center House Pavilion of the Seattle Center

ADMISSION: $8 student, $12 general available at the door
and at ticketwindowonline.com (206) 325-6500

INFORMATION:
Performance: 360-867-6469
Box office: 360-867-6833
E-mail: royr@evergreen.edu

Web Sites:
For Orissi: http://www.olywa.net/ratna-david
For Raqs Halim: http://www.geocities.com/raqshalim/

Special thanks for this performance to Jennifer Kuhns