Forbidden

Choreographed and danced by Aditi Mangaldas

The wondrous depth of carnality lights the fire of Forbidden, Aditi Mangaldas’s singular exploration of female sexuality. Couched in gestures both euphemistic and explicit, the language of pleasure is given its fullest flower. Dance House is extremely proud to offer the North American premiere of this extraordinary work.

Immersed in the tradition of Indian Kathak dance since childhood, choreographer/dancer Mangaldas brings a world of lived experience, commanding the stage with her shimmering humanity and consummate skill. Combining text from the Kama Sutra, India’s famous manual of erotic philosophy, with a score that merges traditional and contemporary sounds, Forbidden decries the double standard that has shrouded female desire in taboo and secrecy for centuries.

Why are women, from conservative as well as liberal societies, hounded, judged, controlled and ultimately punished for partaking of their own pleasure? Forbidden asks these foundational questions, as it moves from the first stirrings of sensuality to full ownership of desire, inviting audiences to shed their inhibitions and celebrate sexuality in all its myriad expressions and emotion.

Channelling the fecund power of the earth, Mangaldas’s performance casts aside more puritanical ideas, throwing off the mantle of shame to illuminate the body in all its incandescent beauty. In the words of the Sufi poet Rumi, “Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free. Dance until you shatter yourself!”