MISSION

Parijata Performance, led by choreographer Parijat Desai, creates and performs hybrid dance performance that draws on Gujarati folk, Indian neoclassical, contemporary and other dances, martial art, and theater to articulate a South Asian American experience, and challenge dangerous notions of cultural purity and authenticity that underlie nationalism and xenophobia. Alongside PP’s performance work, Artistic Director Parijat Desai leads Dance In The Round, a program to share garba and raas, circle dances from Gujarat, India, with people of all ages, levels, cultures, and gender identities. She aspires to develop inclusive spaces across caste and ability as well. Parijat acknowledges that she comeS from a Nagar Brahmin family and has therefore moved through the world with caste privilege. She strives to support movements for Dalit/Bahujan liberation to work with fellow artists and organizers to dismantle caste apartheid. Parijat lives and works on the ancestral lands of the Munsee Lenape people (Manhattan).

Justice, Equity, and Inclusion

Parijata Performance and Parijat Desai value equity and inclusion across race, caste, class, gender identity, age, and ability, as we believe our society and our dance ecologies are stronger with multiple voices and experiences. PP believes migration, cultural blending, and evolution are fundamental to human existence. We stand against nationalist ideas of cultural purity and returning to a past glory, for we believe this has been used to justify violence against marginalized peoples around the world. Parijata Performance also stands for justice. Our efforts are primarily in the areas of immigrants’ rights and caste abolition, but PPP also stands in support of justice for Black and Indigenous people and of climate justice, as the needs and goals of these movements are deeply intertwined.

Artist Statement (video 5 min)