Member Profile #1: Achinta McDaniel

Hey there Fractured Atlas friends! Welcome to Week One of our new Wednesday blog of featured Fractured Atlas members!

Name: Achinta McDaniel, blue13 dance company
Website: www.blue13dance.org or www.myspace.com/blue13dance
Hometown: Venice, CA
Artistic Discipline: Dance
Fractured Atlas Member Since: October 2003
Fractured Atlas Services Used: Fiscal Sponsorship, Annual Liability Insurance, Health Insurance

Today, we’re featuring Achinta McDaniel, head of blue13 dance company, a contemporary Indian dance ensemble founded in 1999. The company performs live original dance productions throughout the country and abroad, as well as for TV and film. McDaniel’s signature Bollywood-Tech and Neo-Kathak styles use the traditions of Indian dance, music, and culture to inspire new works of contemporary dance. The company’s mission is “to advance experimental and non-traditional contemporary dance, while preserving and cultivating the cultural and classical forms of India. Passionately translating dance into enduring societal contributions, blue13 dance company dispels cultural stereotypes and connects diverse communities through cross-genre and multicultural classes, workshops, and live performances that inspire global unity and togetherness.”

We asked Achinta a few questions about her company and its work….

What/who are your biggest influences?
“The Hindi Language Film Industry, i.e. “Bollywood,” based in Mumbai, India has had a huge influence on blue13’s work, inspiring the company to produce large, bright, and vibrant dance performances, or “Bollywood Ballets,” as blue13 calls them. Of course, the company’s Bollywood-Tech signature style is rooted firmly in technical contemporary dance inspired by greats like Jose Limon, Martha Graham, Lester Horton, and more, along with influences from ballet, hip-hop, jazz, tap, and classical Indian Kathak and Bhartanatyam dance.”

What have been your greatest successes to date?
“blue13 dance company’s greatest successes have come in the past few years with sold out world premieres at Hollywood’s famous Ford Amphitheatre, including Karishma, a contemporary Bollywood Midsummer Night’s Dream, and 2007’s two-night sell out, Paheliyan: The Story of Alice.”

Finish this sentence: Art is important because….
“…. it unites diverse audiences with a shared experience of new forms, bridging the conventional gaps in artistic genres, societal divisions of class and ethnicity.”

How can we see, experience, or learn more about your work?
blue13 dance company’s website, listed above, is jam-packed with the company’s information. You can view videos and photos and check out their performance calendar, which includes upcoming blue13 classes and events in Los Angeles and beyond.

In 2008, the company will premiere Bollywood Cabaret! at Highways Performance Space, as well as KHEL, an original Bollywood Ballet at the Ford Amphitheatre. Through the blue school, the company teaches its Bollywood.Bhangra.Beats™ classes and workshops all over Los Angeles.