Areas of Specialty & Interest

Dance of the Indian and African diaspora, Caribbean dance, Classical Odissi dance, Bollywood dance, Bhangra, Yoga, Choreography, Dance Ethnology,  Dance documentary, Dance for Film, Somatics

 

Skills

Qualified to teach Bollywood and Bhangra dance, Caribbean dance, or Diaspora Dance Practices. Some production experience including costuming and lighting design

 

Education

University of California, Berkeley/ B.A. Anthropology and B.S. Cultural Ecology

2006-2010, Berkeley

Focus on Cultural Anthropology with global research interests. Assistant researcher in the Bolivian Amazon Rainforest as well as Archaeology of Honduras research assistant. Created double major focusing on humans relationship with natural environment

 

University of the West Indies/ Coursework

2013, Trinidad and Tobago

Horton and Graham Modern Dance Technique, Performative Traditions and Kathak Classical Indian Dance with Satnarine Balkaransingh

 

Dance Training

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Dances of the Orixas/ with Vera Passos and Rosangela Silvestre

Brazil, the Bay Area, and throughout LA, ongoing since 2012

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Intermediate Classical Odissi/ with master Nandita Behera from Orissa of Odissi Dance Circle

Los Angeles, ongoing since 2017

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Yoga Therapy Teacher Training/ 200 hours with Michelle Mazur

Pacific Palisades, 2015

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Ananya Dance Theatre Summer Dance Intensive/ with Ananya Chatterjea

University of Minnesota, July 2014

Indian contemporary Yorchha technique (Odissi+ yoga+ Martial arts)
 

Beginning Classical Odissi/ with Master Mondira Balkaransingh of Nartanjali Dance Theatre

Trinidad, ongoing since 2012

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Silvestre Technique Intensive Training & Certification/ with Rosangela Silvestre

Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 2012

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Afro-Modern dance training/ with Jacinta Vlach of Liberation Dance Theatre

Dance Mission Theatre and Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, Bay Area, 2010-2012

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Somatic Movement Studies

Bay Area, Ongoing since 2010

Personal study in Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen’s Body-Mind Centering, Feldenkrais, Authentic Movement.

 

Coursework at UC Berkeley

Berkeley, 2009-2010

• Performance Workshop, performing “ReggaetonERA” by guest choreographer Jacinta Vlach

• Somatics for Performers, Laban and Bartenieff Fundamentals with Peggy Hackney

• Ballet/Modern Dance Technique

 

Choreographies

 

“SumanGoesHolm” Wedding Bridemaids and Groomsmen dance/ Alysha Higgins

San Diego, CA and remote

• Bollywood Bhangra 8 minute dance  

• Organized dance remotely (through instructional videos) on 16 dancers, all non- dancers

 

“My resistance/my protection”/ Alysha Higgins

Long Beach

• Explores dancehall/reggae performance and personal spirituality

 

“Paradise Lies at her feet”/ Alysha Higgins with filmmaker Galina Chen

Palos Verdes, Ongoing

• Choreographic project about a mother’s love, loss, the hidden side of a mother, her freedom and passion.

• Experimenting with mixed-media performance (ie. poetry, film, and sound).

• Includes a collaboration with filmmaker Galina Chen filmed at various sites throughout LA (by ocean and at various residences)

 

“Shringara: Shine of the Water”/ Alysha Higgins

Palos Verdes, 2018

• Exploring deities Oshun and Yemanja while weaving African and Indian dance vocabularies

• Use of music recomposition

• Costume design

 

"Performing Diaspora: Red Saffron and Green”/ Collaborative choreography under Master Artist

Counterpulse, San Fransisco, 2013

• Week-long project building a performance that tells the story of the Gadar Party (1913) founded by Punjabi activists to fight for India’s independence from Britain

• Choreographer Joti Singh

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“Runnin”/ Atlantic Center for the Arts Dance Residency

New Smyrna Beach Florida, Fall 2012

• Produced new choreography with advisory by master artist, Liz Lerman.

• We learned various choreographic techniques through workshops and exercises in Liz’s choreographic toolkit.

 

“Kehna Hi Kya”/Restaging my mother’s choreography

Los Angeles, June 2015

• Restaging a piece of choreography my mother performed to a classic Indian film song for her “40 days” anniversary celebration after her passing.

• I set piece on my sisters and cousins and we performed it in backyard of residence against mural backdrop my mother painted.

 

“Abandon”/ Dance for film with filmmaker Marlon Torres

San Francisco, 2011

 

“Reflections”/ Dance for film with filmmaker Marlon Torres

San Francisco, 2011

 

Dance Studies and Scholarly Work

 

Fulbright Scholarship Program/ Dance Ethnology

Trinidad and Tobago, 2012- 2013

• Dance ethnology and performing arts research project in Trinidad

• Indian and African culture in the Caribbean, embodied practice, interview, and documentary

 

New Waves! Institute participant/ Caribbean dance and Caribbean-futurism

Trinidad, 2018

• A week-long program curated by Makeda Thomas with intensive dance classes, workshops, discussion, and speakers centered on  “Caribbean-futurism,” “Caribbean Dance,” and theories and practice of “Performance Art.”

• Master classes by Sheron Ama Wray (“Embodiology”), Andre Zachary (Renegade Performance Group), and Jean-Sebastian Duvilaire (Haitian dance) among many others.

 

Presenter at Duke University Conference/ Walking with the Ancestors

North Carolina, February 2014  

• Presented my documentary film, Walking with the Ancestors: Innovating Orisha Dance Theater for Empowerment and Education at the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance Inaugural Conference, “Dancing the African Diaspora: Theories of Black Performance”

Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival/ Walking with the Ancestors

Trinidad, September 2014

• Presentation and premiere of my documentary at  film festival

 

“The Diaspora Coming Home”/ research paper

2013

• ongoing writing project documenting experience and perspectives from studies in Trinidad, including syncretization of Indian and African culture and dance

 

“Dancing Spirit”/ research paper

2013

• ongoing documentation and research on Orisha Tradition in Trinidad

 

Urban Bush Women Summer Leadership Institute Participant/ “Deepening our Roots”

New Orleans, 2011

• Entering and Exiting Community Workshop, Community Engagement in Art-making and in Social Justice, Undoing Racism Workshop, and Culminating Performance.

 

Dance Documentary

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“All Ah We Is One”/ Alysha Higgins

2013

• Short documentary on dance of the Indian and African diaspora, traditional and contemporary forms, historical evolution

• Video link: https://vimeo.com/63093865

 

“Walking with the Ancestors”/ Alysha Higgins

2013

• Walking with the Ancestors: Innovating Orisha Dance for Empowerment and Education” takes a look at Orisha dance in Trinidad, the history of oppression, and the current day re-empowerment of the tradition through dance and theatre.

• The film introduces a new generation of dancers who are reclaiming their own cultural heritage by defining Orisha dance for theatre, and making Orisha accessible to mainstream Trinidad by articulating the dance technique in a contemporary context.

• Through the film, we learn how this reclaiming is healing for a young, evolving nation, imbuing a strong sense of pride, cultural ownership, and a deeper self-knowing.

• Video link: https://vimeo.com/85614936

 

Film Ethnography project on “Hosay” Muslim festival in Trinidad/ Alysha Higgins

ongoing

• Interviews and film ethnography of the Muslim festival “Hosay.”

• I am a descendent of the carriers of this tradition in Trinidad. My ancestors brought this religious festival of drumming and art from India, and it is now preserved in its original form, as it was practiced before indentureship brought them to the island.

• I interviewed my family (cousins, great Uncles, and great Aunts, etc) and participated in the preparation of the festival including drumming.

 

Employment

Chadwick School/ Guest Choreographer

Palos Verdes Peninsula, Fall 2018

• Guest artist teaching “Dance of Diaspora” class series, technique and historical context

• Setting new piece, “Shringara: Shine of the Water,” for the Every Drop of Water Fall dance concert

 

Rio De Los Angeles Park/ Yoga Instructor

Highland Park, Summer 2016

• Providing therapeutic yoga classes to community in Los Angeles

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Guest dance Instructor/ Bollywood, Bhangra, and Caribbean Contemporary dance Instructor

Locations throughout L.A., 2014 to 2018

• Teaching at Boogiezone Utopia in Torrance, Dance Street West and Vertical Art Dance in Inland Empire, and Chadwick School as substitute dance teacher

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Duniya Drum and Dance Company/ Performing Company Member

San Fransisco, 2011-2013

• Studied, performed, and taught in Bollywood, Bhangra, and West African performing arts company.

 

Sanchez  Elementary School / Dance Instructor

San Francisco, 2012

• Dance Instructor (world dance, hip hop, brain dance, ballet, etc) for kids ages 3 to 6.

• Designed movement curriculum.

 

Community Outreach

Integrated Center of Education and Culture, Movement Expressions Workshop/ Volunteer

Itagiba, Bahia, Brazil, 2012

• volunteer at community after-school arts program with elementary school age kids in rural Brazilian town while living in Brazil for the summer and studying Silvestre Technique.

• Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjzfc9qwEvg&t=112s

• This video was taken during my summer working with Dance Professor Gilson Régo de Brito during a workshop influenced by my classes in the U.S: Hip hop, Creative Movement (or choreography), and Freestyle Expression. All dance is choreographed by the kids and some of it is also on-the-spot freestyle. We only provided a framework for them to discover and explore.

 

Awards

Fulbright Scholarship

2012

• A year stipend to complete proposed research project internationally, performing arts, dance ethnology, dance documentary

 

Ministry of Culture, Trinidad and Tobago Culture Grant

2013  

• Monetary Grant from the government to complete “Dancing Diaspora Across Borders” project.

 

Alumni Leadership Scholarship

2006- 2010

• Yearly U.C. Berkeley Alumni grant for leadership

• Granted all 4 years of college after reapplication

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