Samuels Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation (COMPACT)

Raka Maitra: Contemporary Indian Dance

An artist visit
Open dance class hosted by Adagio Dance Club: Sunday, November 17, 4:00 pm, location TBD
Class visit: Monday, November 18

Dancer and choreographer Raka Maitra is the founder and artistic director of Chowk Productions, based in Singapore. Defying the conventional dichotomy of 'classical' and 'contemporary,' the basis of her movement is in both the martial arts (Chhau) and Odissi, a classical Indian dance.

Raka Maitra founded Chowk Productions in 2014. Her works have been regularly commissioned by The Esplanade, in Singapore, and have traveled extensively, including to Amsterdam, Avignon, and Washington D.C.

The word Chowk, in Hindi, refers to a plaza -- a square where people gather; an intersection where cultures cross. In Odissi, Chowk is also one of the two basic stances of the dance form. “To us, CHOWK is all of that and more,” they say on their ensemble’s website. “It is a home, a place to encounter new people; a base to explore new cultures and ideas, and a foundation to always return.”

At Brandeis, Raka will teach a dance class on Sunday, November 17, hosted by Adagio Dance Club, and give a guest lecture-presentation on Monday, November 18, in the anthropology class, “Contemporary South Asia,” taught by Professor Brian Horton.