S P A C E Pro Residency is designed specifically to support established San Diego-based dance-makers in their pursuit to deepen their practice, and explore new ideas and projects. S P A C E Pro offers an organized and mindful cohort-driven experience for creative inquiry, artistic development, as well as a platform to share work. This program aims to highlight movement artists who work in interdisciplinary practice with dance as the focus, and uplift projects that are research-based, justice-minded, and explore themes of social change and storytelling.
S P A C E Showcase
March 28th & 29th
Located at 1100 Kettner Blv.
MEET THE ARTISTS
Radhika Karandikar
About the Artist:
Radhika Karandikar (she/her) is a Bharatanatyam dancer based in San Diego with a deep passion for performing, teaching, and collaborating. She holds an MFA in Bharatanatyam and is an instructor at Abinaya Arts Academy, also teaching students online nationwide. For over 8 years, she has been a core dancer with Sankhya Dance Company in Mumbai, under the mentorship of founder Vaibhav Arekar. Trained in Indian classical music, her dance is enriched by its nuances. Radhika has performed at prestigious dance festivals across India and Europe and continues to create, collaborate, and perform innovative works in the United States.
About the Artist:
The song of Life – an exploration of Haiku and Tanka verses through Bharatanatyam:
This experimental work traces the story of a woman in her twilight years looking back at her life, marked by love and loss, trying hard to break the chain of generational trauma that the women in her family faced. Using Haiku and Tanka as the literary base, Radhika has endeavoured to manifest these beautiful verses through the audio-visual form of the Indian classical dance Bharatanatyam. Working dynamically with multiple art forms like, the western violin, the Indian tabla, spoken word(poetry) and projection(multimedia), ‘The Song of Life’ takes the audience on a journey through space and time, through the rich storytelling aspect of Bharatanatyam. This would be an immersive experience for the viewers owing to the use of multiple spaces in the showcase.Poetry – Kala Ramesh (@kalaramesh8)
Movement exploration and choreography – Radhika Karandikar (@radhikakarandikar27)
Sound design and percussion – Rohit Panchakshari (@anandi_tabla)
Music composition and violin – Jesus Cervantes (@jesuscervantesmusic)
Production support – Alyssa Rose and team DISCO RIOT
This experimental work traces the story of a woman in her twilight years looking back at her life, marked by love and loss, trying hard to break the chain of generational trauma that the women in her family faced. Using Haiku and Tanka as the literary base, Radhika has endeavoured to manifest these beautiful verses through the audio-visual form of the Indian classical dance Bharatanatyam. Working dynamically with multiple art forms like, the western violin, the Indian tabla, spoken word(poetry) and projection(multimedia), ‘The Song of Life’ takes the audience on a journey through space and time, through the rich storytelling aspect of Bharatanatyam. This would be an immersive experience for the viewers owing to the use of multiple spaces in the showcase.Poetry – Kala Ramesh (@kalaramesh8)
Movement exploration and choreography – Radhika Karandikar (@radhikakarandikar27)
Sound design and percussion – Rohit Panchakshari (@anandi_tabla)
Music composition and violin – Jesus Cervantes (@jesuscervantesmusic)
Production support – Alyssa Rose and team DISCO RIOT
Isabel Desmet
About the Artist:
Isabel Desmet (she/her) began her dance training at 13, focusing mainly on jazz and contemporary. She fell in love with modern dance during her time at San Diego Mesa and City Colleges. Isabel has a bachelor’s degree in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley. At Berkeley, she trained in the dance department with Latanya Tigner in Horton and Talawa techniques, and with James Graham in Gaga movement language. Now, in addition to choreographing, Isabel is also a dancer for San Diego Dance Theater and teaches contemporary, jazz, modern, ballet, tap and hip hop dance to teens and adults throughout San Diego.
Project Description:
During this residency, Isabel Desmet will explore how dance can help us reconnect with our bodies in a culture focused on productivity and efficiency. She aims to create movement driven by pleasure and curiosity. Isabel will contrast the physical routines of static workers with those of dancers and artists. She seeks to show how non-artists can reconnect with their bodies through art, while also examining the effects of technology addiction on our physicality. Isabel believes that prioritizing time spent with the body, community, and earth is essential. She will be working with dance, video, stage design, and costuming in Disco Riot’s space.