NIKITA MAHESHWARY
Me&You: In a Dialogue
Me&You: In a Dialogue is a collective reading performance in which you (the audience) are invited to read a series of 16 letters addressed by ‘me’ to ‘you’. The letters delve in the themes of care, guilt, limitations, motherhood, nationalism, decoloniality and questionable historiographies – looked through the lens of a brown dancing girl -the naachnewali – me.
Together, me & you, share the space for 75 minutes and, collectively orchestrate the experience by: reading aloud or walking around or listening to the voices of others reading around us or by just soaking in the impressions unfolding of your earlier encounters with me.
“….(in these letters) ‘I’ reveals and vibrates its multitude, because the ‘you’ it addresses constantly changes – from being the writer’s past self, to a future child, to friends-artists, one of which is dying, to historical and fictional role models. The ‘I’ as artist, as mother, as friend or spectator tries to find and claim her place in a world that is still defined by too many inequalities between cultures, religions and genders. The ‘I’ as dancer, moving between past, present and future. The ‘I’ as a ‘temporary custodian merely a link between the dead and the unborn’. ….So, if there is one sentence in this first collection that weaves everything together, it is the writer’s intention to be mindful. For all the women to become; for all the women yet to come”
Guy Cools, Dance Dramaturg
August 2022
About Nikita Maheshwary
Originally from New Delhi, Nikita Maheshwary is a performance practitioner based in The Netherlands with over fifteen years of experience in choreography, dramaturgy, art education and artistic research. Her art inquiries lie at the nexus of gender, culture, and identity.
Currently, she works as an independent choreographer and dramaturg and teaches at the Circus Department and Dance Department, Fontys Academy of Arts, Tilburg.
After the performance (and a short brake) there will be a 30mins aftertalk moderated along with Regina Janzen.
Regina Janzen is a versatile artist in dance, choreography, and writing, currently based in Antwerp, Belgium. Her writings on dance have been published for the theatre deSingel in Antwerp, Het Theaterfestival in Belgium, and Czech Dance News, amongst others. In addition, Regina is currently a Dance Theory & Culture teacher at Fontys Dance Academy in Tilburg, the Netherlands.
Location: De Nieuwe Vorst, Tilburg
Start: 20u
Income: Pay What You Want
0-euro tickets for sale HERE