ALL-FESTIVAL PASS for $260, includes entry to all events, available until APRIL 4, 2008. Reservations can be made by calling (917) 582-4730 or by clicking here.

“EnGendered”, a 3-day South Asian Multidisciplinary Arts festival exploring Sex, Sexuality and Religion to come to NYC FESTIVAL HITS NYC’S LINCOLN CENTER APRIL 18-20, 2008 Event-packed schedule includes plethora of performance, art exhibition and panel discussions by LGBT activist Urvashi Vaid, author Bharati Mukherjee, and feminist performer Mallika Sarabhai, and screenings of films such as Mira Nair’s “India Cabaret” and Bollywood hit “Honeymoon Travels PVT. LTD.” with director Reema Kagti  NEW YORK, NY – March 11, 2008 - Nayikas Dance Theater Co. today announced that it will present a 3-day multi-disciplinary arts festival entitled “EnGendered" that will bring together the best in contemporary South Asian dance, cinema, and visual arts. A full weekend of events is planned to take place at various venues at Lincoln Center in New York City, April 18-20, 2008.  “EnGendered” is an unprecedented festival that brings together performance, dance, theater, film and the visual arts to explore the complex realities of gender and sexuality in modern South Asia. The festival features a wide array of artists, academicians and activists who span the words of South Asian popular culture as well as classical and folk arts. Featured in the festival are over 10 male classical temple dance artists from Orissa, contemporary and feminist dance theater work by the likes of Aditi Mangaldas, Aparna Sindhoor and Parul Shah, transgender and queer classical performances, indigenous folk art from India such as Mithila Paintings and panel discussions by academics and filmmakers such as Shohini Ghosh. Urvashi Vaid, Reema Kagti, Bharati Mukherjee, and Dr. Alka Pande among others.  All events and speakers are subject to change. For more information and a schedule visit http://www.nayikas.org/EnGendered/. Festival Director and Nayikas Artistic Director Myna Mukherjee says ‘EnGendered brings together many different levels of conversations that are part of new languages emerging around gender and sexuality both in South Asia and the diaspora. This is a critically needed conversation, especially in art, ritual and religion, which remain spaces largely unexamined from this lens.  I am thrilled to be able to celebrate the lives and struggles of these prolific performers -- their work is pushing the boundaries of how we understand gender and sexual diversity within communities of faith like Hinduism and Islam.” Partnering with Nayikas is the Indo American Arts Council, a Manhattan-based South Asian Arts organization. Events will take place at several of Lincoln Center’s venues, including the Allen Room and Atrium at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Bruno Walter Auditorium and Lobby and the Walter Reade Theater.  Tickets on sale as March 18, 2008.  PRESS/MEDIA CONTACT: Ashok Sinha 917 805-6586 (c) ashokvsinha@aol.com ABOUT NAYIKAS: Nayikas, a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit, is New York’s first resident classical Indian Odissi dance theater company.  Nayikas draws from feminist iconography present in the footnotes of Indian mythology, history and literature while preserving the essential spiritual core of the dance form.  The company is committed to finding new venues and the best professional opportunities for the dedicated, talented and socially conscious South Asian artist.  Inspired performances, high production values and outstanding performances are the aim of Nayikas presentations.  Established in 2000, Nayikas performance and production credits include sold out shows at Symphony Space, Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center,, Baruch Performing Arts Center, Brooklyn Museum of the Arts, Indian Consulate of New York, Rubin Museum, The MET, Chashama Theatre and Yale University. ABOUT IAAC: The Indo-American Arts Council is a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit, secular service and resource arts organization charged with the mission of promoting and building the awareness, creation, production, exhibition, publication and performance of Indian and cross-cultural art forms in North America.  Since 1999, the IAAC has become a recognized institution for South Asian art supporting major events held at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Asia Society, The Museum of Modern Art, Queens Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, Rubin Museum, Christie’s and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.