sukanya rahman

The Portland Phoenix
March 29, 2002
“Stories of immigrants who forge a new American identity are commonplace, but it is more unusual to hear of Americans who reinvent themselves as members of another ethnic and cultural group.”

Outlook
February 11, 2002
“ Born Esther Luella Sherman in 1893 in suburban Michigan, and raised in Minneapolis, Ragini Devi, after an early start in silent movies and exotic oriental dancing, became convinced that she was a reincarnated Hindu whose sole mission in life was to spread the gospel of Indian dance to the world...

“Rahman’s mother was the famous Indrani Rahman, the half-Indian, half-American beauty crowned Miss India in 1952...But Indrani’s real contribution was as the dancer who put classical Indian dance on the world map from the early 1950s on.

“Sukanya has pored deep into her family history and into her own reservoir of childhood memory and tells the story with uncommon insight and vivid humour.”

Introduction to Indian Classical Dance

Lecture Demonstration/Workshop

Wednesdays, September 19 & 26
Barnard College, Columbia University
Minor Latham Playhouse, New York City

Tuesday, September 25
The Juilliard School,
Lincoln Centre, New York City

Arts Week/NFAA Miami, Florida
Mentor/Master Teacher
January 7 - January 13

Sukanya Rahman, author of Dancing in the Family, HarperCollins/India Publishers, takes her personal story on the road.
Critics describe the book as “... a remarkable three-in-one biography, chronicling the lives of three generations of women...It is also a chronicle of the individual struggle and enterprise that contributed to the revival of classical dance in India.
“Spanning a century, the story begins with the birth of Ragini Devi in 1893, and ends with the death of Indrani Rahman in 1999. In the background loom the momentous events of the last century, the World Wars, the freedom movement and the Partition of the country. The shifts are continental - from America to India to Europe.” The Book Review - Kumkum Lal.
Sukanya offers readings from her book and discussions on issues of
migration, cultural identity and emigres in the Indian diaspora. She has lectured widely on dance in colleges and universities including Barnard, Sarah Lawrence, the Juilliard School, Bates, and Bowdoin. She was also invited to address the National Council on the Arts in Washington, DC as guest speaker.

If you are interested in having Sukanya Rahman speak at your institution please contact her,
email: dancing@sukanyarahman.com

November 17, 1985
THE DANCE: CLASSICAL INDIAN FARE

By JENNIFER DUNNING
INDRANI and Sukanya are persuasive advocates of Indian classical dancing. On Thursday, at the Theater of the Riverside Church, the mother-and-daughter team of dancers presented a program in the Kuchipudi, Bharata Natyam and Orissi styles that was informative and charming.

In terms of sheer beauty, the highlight of the program was the delicately sensuous ''Orissi Suite,'' danced by Sukanya, which included a prayer danced to the god Ganesh, a love song from the Gita Govinda and Natangi, a pure-dance finale. Much of the excitement of Indian classical dancing comes from the sometimes almost impossibly intricate foot-beats and the tension of their relationship to the music's equally intricate rhythms. But the emphasis here was on movement that was nearly liquid in its flow and attack, with the dancer's body softening into S-curves and sinking into the ankles, at times in squats in second position.

Sukanya was also effective in two samples of Kuchipudi, where she played the arrogant Satyabhama, whom Krishna favors, in ''Bhama Kalapam,'' and the imperious goddess Durga, engaged in a battle with Mahishasura, the buffalo-headed demon, in ''Chamundeshwari Shabdam.''

Another highlight was the Bharata Natyam ''Tillana,'' a rhythmic pure-dance piece for Sukanya and Indrani, clad in bright pink saris and moving through fast-building rhythmic sets that ended in a finale that had the two traveling quickly in unison across the stage. The dance's fleeting, clear geometric shapes were appealing.

Indrani was amusing as Mandodari, the Frog Princess, in ''Manduka Shabdam,'' another solo in the Kuchipudi style.
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
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