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.

Films and talks announced for EnGendered – multi-disciplinary arts festival exploring gender, sexuality and religion in South Asia ENGENDERED HITS NYC’S LINCOLN CENTER APRIL 18-20, 2008 Writer Bharati Mukherjee to speak on women’s issues and film screenings including Reema Kagti’s Bollywood hit “Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.” NEW YORK, NY – March 31, 2008– Nayikas today announced a schedule of film screenings, panel and roundtable discussions that are all part of EnGendered, a multi-disciplinary arts festival that provides a provocative look at the complex realities of gender, sexuality, ritual and religion in modern South Asia. The festival is planned for various venues at Lincoln Center, April 18-20, 2008. EnGendered is an unprecedented experience that brings together performance, dance, theatre, film, and the visual arts to raise awareness, break silences, and impact perceptions through a public dialogue around issues of gender identities, stereotyping, bias and sexual choice and exploring how those issues relate to human rights, health rights, and women's rights. 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 thinkers, writers, filmmakers and artists -- their work is pushing the boundaries of how we understand gender and sexual diversity in contemporary South Asia.” A highlight of the interactive events at the festival is a discussion titled "Vivaad ~ Phrasing Differences”, women-speak on geopolitics, identity, desire and power featuring acclaimed danseuse and activist Mallika Sarabhai, novelist Bharati Mukherjee (Desirable Daughters), theorist and academic Gayatri Gopinath from New York University, and Shamita DasGupta, founder of Manavi, one of the largest domestic violence groups in the US. Highlights of other panel presentations include Dr. Alka Pande, noted curator and author, who will speak on androgyny in Indian art. Films to be screened range from Mira Nair's India Cabaret, a lesser-seen offering from the well-known director on bar dancers in Bombay, to Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd., a mainstream exploration of different kinds of desire that typifies Bollywood's changing relationship with the portrayal of sexuality in commercial Indian cinema.  Director Reema Kagti will visit the United States for the first time to talk about this groundbreaking film. Alongside her are two very different attempts: Shohini Ghosh's Tales of the Night Fairies, an acclaimed documentary on sex workers, Priya Sen's experimental queer film, About Elsewhere, that recently featured in the Berlin Biennale 2008, and Harjant Gill's diasporic queer tale, Milind Soman Made Me Gay. A full schedule of films and discussions is below.  For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.nayikas.org/EnGendered. LingaSarita ~ Rivers of Gender – Keynote Plenary featuring Mallika Sarabhai, Taslima Nasrin, Shohini Ghosh, Bharati Mukherjee, Urvashi Vaid, Reema Kagti, Alka Pande, and Zila Khan. Date: FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008 7:00PM – 9:00PM Venue: Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street, New York, NY Prices: $75/$125 preferred/$60 students (limited) Tickets: Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office Broadway at 60th street, Ground Floor Mon.-Sat. 10am-6pm, Sunday 12pm-6pm. CenterCharge 212 721-6500 Dahleez – Beyond the Threshold – Film Screenings Date: SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2008 11:00 – 3:00PM Venue: Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street, New York, NY Prices: $30, $25 Students Tickets: Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office Broadway at 60th street, Ground Floor Mon.-Sat. 10am-6pm, Sunday 12pm-6pm. CenterCharge 212 721-6500 Films: Mira Nair’s India Cabaret Shohini Ghosh’s Tales of the Night Fairies Q&A with Shohini Ghosh Unveiling the Pardah – Androgyny and Gender Dialectic with Alka Pande. Visual Artists and Inter-disciplinary Improv Showcase Date: SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 2008 11:00 – 3:00PM Venue: Irene Diamond Recording Studio, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street, New York, NY Prices: $30, $25 Students Tickets: Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office Broadway at 60th street, Ground Floor Mon.-Sat. 10am-6pm, Sunday 12pm-6pm. CenterCharge 212 721-6500 Pehchaan ~ I Am Not Me –Film Screenings exploring “Queerness” and “Otherness” Date: SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 2008 1:00-4:30 PM Venue: Bruno Walter Auditorium, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY Prices: $30, $25 Students Tickets: Call 917-582-4730 or www.desiclub.com/engendered Films: Reema Kagti’s Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. Priya Sen’s About Elsewhere Harjant Gill’s Millind Soman Made Me Gay Q&A with Reema Kagti and Harjant Gill Vivaad ~ Phrasing Differences – Women speaking on geopolitics, identity, desire and power featuring Bharati Mukherjee, Taslima Nasrin, Mallika Sarabhai, Gayatri Gopinath, and Shamita Dasgupta. Date: SUNDAY APRIL 20, 2008 5:00-6:00 PM Venue: Bruno Walter Auditorium, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY Prices: $35, $30 Students Tickets: Call 917-582-4730 or www.desiclub.com/engendered Engendered has been made possible by esteemed partner Indo American Arts Council. Major sponsors for the festival include Religare Arts Initiative, Intercultural Interdisciplinary Initiatives Fund, India Abroad, and Desiclub.com. 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 is both a presenting and performing company. It 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.