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Cleveland Arts Prize
2006 Awardee
Kathryn Karipides Scholarship in Modern Dance     

 

Sheetal Gandhi


biography

Sheetal graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1995, with a B.A cum laude in both dance and psychology. In her 4 years of learning, she had the wonderful opportunity to study with and perform for world-renowned modern dance choreographer, Donald McKayle. McKayle encouraged Sheetal's innate playfulness, and nurtured her love for rhythm. In 1993, her passion for rhythm led her to Ghana, West Africa where she spent a year studying the traditional music and dance of this region. She performed as a guest artist with the National Ghana Dance Ensemble and traveled throughout villages of Ghana performing traditional dances with the Novisi Cultural Troupe. Within her own culture, Sheetal grew up folk dancing and in 1995 moved to India to further study the north Indian classical dance form Kathak. As a percussionist, Sheetal plays the Calabash, or dried gourd, and the West African Xylophone.

"Gandhi speaks a little French, Spanish, Hindi, English and Mandarin. She has traveled around the world picking up ideas and techniques from different dance traditions."

Thayil, Jeet; Face to Face, "Dancing to a dream": India Abroad, May 2004

In 1996, she moved to New York City where, over the next three years, she performed in a variety of plays and musicals including: Fables, presented at the Denver Center for Performing Arts, Stephen Schwartz's Children of Eden at Paper Mill Playhouse, and the revival of Hair. She sang with the all women's a cappella group Anam Cara, Angels of A cappella. As a consultant workshop leader for New York public schools, Sheetal brought her love of the arts to students throughout the five boroughs. Her classes encouraged young people to embrace their own heritage while learning about the culture of India through its music and dance.

In 1999, Sheetal moved to Montreal and began working on the new Cirque du Soleil production, Dralion. She was hired to create a character, Oceane Goddess of Water, using elements of Indian classical dance blended with a more contemporary style.

"She is her own choreographer, giving her a lot of freedom in her Cirque du Soleil role."

Oyan, Katie, "Circus life is her dream come true": Contra Costa Times, March 2000.

With a company of over 53 performers from eight countries, Sheetal was one of only two Americans. She performed the leading role for two years on tour; doing ten shows a week throughout Canada and the United States. Sheetal has appeared twice on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as well as The Donny and Marie Show. She can be heard singing on the original American Cast Recording of Children of Eden and dancing in the DVD/VHS released and Emmy award-winning movie, Dralion.

From 2001 to 2004, Sheetal was Co-Artistic Director of the California Contemporary Dancers. Originally founded by Yasmen Sorab Mehta, the company was based in San Francisco, and had its roots in Mehta's native Indian heritage. For three years, Sheetal set choreography on the company, imbibing it with a fresh energy. The work is moving and humorous, inventive in its movement vocabulary, and reflective of a life that embraces diversity, observes human experience, and yearns to tell a story.

Most recently, Sheetal made her Broadway debut as an original cast member of Bombay Dreams, which opened in New York on April 29th, 2004. In the popular style of Bollywood dance, Sheetal was a standout member of the dance ensemble. She also had the honor and privilege to be cast as the first understudy to the leading role, Priya. Sheetal performed the leading role over 12 times. Today, Sheetal continues to perform and choreograph both for professional concert dance and theater.

 

 

Sheetal Gandhi

essay

This summer, my plan is to study Balinese music and dance at the Cudamani School in southern Ubud, Bali. Cudamani is a professional company with a working philosophy much like a family temple or sanggar. Members see themselves as a community of leaders who, through their music and dance, positively contribute to the artistic, cultural, and political life of their village. Cudamani maintains that the vitality of Balinese arts relies on the connection of performance to the religious and social life of the village. Members of Cudamani work to achieve a balance of being active creative artists while also preserving ancient and rare forms of Balinese music and dance.

As a modern dancer and choreographer, my work is informed by the traditions that I was brought up in, as well as the traditions that I feel a close kinship with. As a 2nd generation Indian American, raised by parents who came to this country as immigrants in the 1960's, I have been blessed with the opportunity to explore the best of two worlds. One world offered me a history and practice of ritual. The other offered me freedom of thought and action. The combined strengths of these two worlds has allowed me to create dance that evokes ancient and modern ritual while it also provokes; questioning ways of thinking, societal norms and human behavior. Dance is a language that carries a vocabulary unique to the culture that it represents. When this language is truthfully and artfully incorporated into ones own movement vocabulary, it tells the story of a people's way of life. In many ways, ritual defines and describes the heart of a culture, society or community. Ritual is most commonly seen as a part of a religious or spiritual ceremony, but this is only where it begins. How we use and hold our bodies - our gestural language - speaks volumes about how we live, and what we believe.

For the past 13 years, I have been creating and performing work that integrates ritual gesture with modern dance. In 1993, on an instinct inspired by a deep love for rhythm, I boarded a plane for Ghana, West Africa to study their traditional music and dance for one year. I performed as a guest artist with the National Ghana Dance Ensemble and traveled throughout villages of Ghana performing traditional dances with the Novisi Cultural Troupe. In 1999, I was hired by Cirque du Soleil to create a role - Oceane, Goddess of Water - by fusing elements of Indian classical dance with my own modern choreography. I performed the role on the North American tour of Dralion for two years, performing for over 5000 people per day. As an entering Graduate fellow in UCLA's World Arts and Cultures Department I look forward to continue developing my own unique vision as a choreographer in a culturally rich, interdisciplinary environment. Emiko Susilo, program coordinator for the UCLA Center for Intercultural Performance is also the Assistant Director of the Cudamani School in Ubud, Bali. This is a perfect opportunity for me to build a bridge between my studies in Bali over the summer with my studies at UCLA in the fall.