SAWCC Quinceanera: 15th Anniversary Party

Friday, March 23, 2012, 6-10pm

@ Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts
323 West 39th Street, 3rd Floor (btwn 8th and 9th Aves)
New York, NY

SAWCC invites you to celebrate 15 years of collective feminism, art, and organizing!

Music by DJ Ashu Rai of Sholay events
Dance by the Parul Shah Dance Company

Enjoy the refreshments and entertainment and feel free to bring your children. In true Quinceanera spirit, we encourage formal attire!

Tickets: $15 (Free for those under 12)





View Larger Map

Artist Biographies:

Ashu Rai is a resident DJ and co-founder of Sholay Events’ “Desilicious,” NYC’s monthly queer South Asian dance party since March 2002. She has performed at many of New York’s premiere venues, including Limelight, Pachita, Club Shelter, Pyramid, Highline Ballroom, BB King’s and Rebel. She has also taken the Desilicious party and her signature mix of Bollywood-House music to Amsterdam’s Paradiso for the city’s India Festival and around the East Coast.

Parul Shah is an internationally acclaimed Kathak dancer and choreographer whose work is expanding the classical medium beyond cultural boundaries. With a dedication to excellence, Parul preserves the form’s aesthetic integrity while developing a unique and powerful vocabulary within the Kathak tradition itself.

Parul’s New York studio is home to both the recently established Parul Shah Dance Company and her training facility. With an M.A. in dance education from Columbia University specializing in Indian classical movement, Parul has been teaching Kathak in the pure form for over 10 years in an effort to promote Kathak appreciation in the metro area. She has presented her solo and group works at major venues around the world, including City Center’s first Fall for Dance Festival in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Asia Society in New York, Jacobs Pillow in M.A and at the Japan Forum Foundation in Japan. She has collaborated on numerous international projects and presented in Asia, Europe, and North America. For more information or
performance schedule go to www.kathakdance.com.

Ammr Vandal has been a member of the Parul Shah Dance Company for the last eight years. She began learning Kathak in her home town of Lahore, Pakistan under the tutelage of the late Maharaj Ghulam Hussain and Nahid Siddiqui. After an extended break, in which she pursued her college education in Hong Kong and the US, she resumed her training in New York City under Parul Shah, a leading disciple of Padmashree Kumudini Lakhia. The repertoire of the company includes traditional Kathak solo and group pieces along with contemporary dance pieces. Ammr has been featured in numerous performances including Jacob’s Pillow: Inside/out series, the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts: EnGendered Arts festival, Solar One: Sun to Stars festival, City Center in New York: Fall for Dance Festival, Rosswell Cultural Center Atlanta: Parul Shah & Co., City Center in New York: Career Transitions for Dancers, Tribeca Performing Arts Center: Tradition Unbound , Brooklyn Museum of Art: Parul Shah & Co. as well several other educational and demonstrative performances.

Ammr is currently based in New York where she is continuing her training under Parul Shah as a member of the Parul Shah Dance Company. Along with pursuing her passion for Kathak, she works as an architect allowing for an undeniable influence of both spatial art forms on each other.