ALBANY — The performing arts centers at the University at Albany and The Egg present Ashwini Ramaswamy’s Let the Crows Come as part of the Dance in Albany series. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 27, at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on the uptown University at Albany campus located at 1400 Washington Ave.
Evoking mythography and ancestry, Let the Crows Come uses the metaphor of crows as messengers for the living and guides for the departed. The work explores how memory and homeland channel guidance and dislocation. Featuring Ashwini Ramaswamy (Bharatanatyam technique), Alanna Morris-Van Tassel (Afro-Modern technique) and Berit Ahlgren (Gaga technique), the choreographer’s South Indian classical dance form is deconstructed and recontextualized to recall a memory that has a shared origin but is remembered differently from person to person. The original score for Let the Crows Come was composed by Jace Clayton, Prema Ramamurthy and Brent Arnold. Its narrative framework is derived from the Hindu epic poem Ramayama, Tamil Sangam literature and two ancient Sanskrit texts: Brihatsamhita and Kakajarita.
Ramaswamy has spent over 30 years studying Bharatanatyam from her gurus: mother Ranee Ramaswamy, sister Aparna Ramaswamy and the legendary Smt. Alarmél Valli of Chennai, India. As a founding member of Ragamala Dance Company, she has toured extensively, performing throughout the U.S. and in Russia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, United Kingdom and India.
Advance tickets are $15 for the general public and $10 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty-staff. Tickets purchased on the day of the show are $20 for the general public and $15 for students, seniors and UAlbany faculty-staff. For reservations and further information, contact the Box Office at 518-442-3997 or visit the UAlbany Performing Arts Center website at www.albany.edu/pac. Individual tickets are also available through The Egg Box Office or on-line at www.theegg.org.
Upcoming performances in the Dance in Albany series include Garth Fagan Dance on April 22, 2022 and Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company on May 14, 2022, both at The Egg.
