PARIJAT DESAI (Choreographer & Music Consultant) is thrilled to be part of Elyria‘s original creative team, and to be making her Off-Broadway and Atlantic debuts. Drawn to dance as an interdisciplinary medium, Desai has been creating hybrids of contemporary dance, Indian neoclassical and folk dance, and experimental theater since 2000. A Lester Horton Award-winning dance maker and educator, Parijat also leads Dance In The Round, sharing circle dances from Gujarat, India, reframing them to be inclusive across age, ability, gender, and caste and to support community activation. Concerned with the constant play between our emotional landscape, political realities, and the natural world, Parijat has been developing How Do I Become WE, a participatory performance ritual via residencies with Gibney Dance Center, BRICArts, and Soham Dance Space (Chicago). She was an Artist-in-Residence with Movement Research, CUNY Dance Initiative, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, and Stanford’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts. She has received commissions from Danspace Project, Harlem Stage, Grand Performances/LA, and NYSCA. Her work has been presented at La MaMa, Asia Society, Queens Museum; (LA) Skirball Cultural Center, California Plaza, The Getty Center; (SF) Asian Art Museum, ODC Theater; The Denver Art Museum; (Vancouver) The Dance Centre; and (Mumbai) National Centre for the Performing Arts.
