No, its not the Skokie Thanksgiving Football classic. the work of visual artist Siona Benjamin, whose Jewish roots are in the Bene Israel community of India, is the subject of a dance presentation put on by Genesis at the Crossroads. Benjamin’s artwork explores Jewish identity in the world of the Indian subcontinent through traditional Hindi-style illustrations. The results in an interesting blending of the two cultures. Anyways, the event is part of GATC’s “Peace It Together Festival.” Benjamin collaborated with Ishrat Hoque (Rakhi), a dancer and choreographer from Bangladesh, and Pranita Jain, the artistic director of Chicago’s Kalapriya Dance Company to create this piece that brings charachters from Siona’s paintings to the stage. Its choreographed to Bollywood music, so who wouldn’t want to check it out? Presented with sponsorship from Spertus.Saturday, March 11 from 8–9:30 pmat Film Row Cinema1104 S. Wabash, 8th floor
$20 for adults | $10 for students and seniors
[…] Benjamin is doing a multimedia program at the same museum this Saturday (via 3rd I). Given which painting caught my eye, the punny title is apropos: “Rang de Nila” (Color Me Blue). The visual artist SIONA BENJAMIN and dancer ISHRAT HOQUE have created a special program combining dance and video projection in which the dancers will assume the roles of characters in Benjamin’s work. Benjamin will speak about her work and the dancer will perform an original dance based on the shared experiences of the self-described hybrid/transcultural artists set Indian/jazz/Hip-hop/Bollywood music. […]