Mea Culpa (2007-2019)

Inspired by a vintage photograph of American dance pioneer Ted Shawn’s 1926 work, “The Cosmic Dance of Siva”, Mea Culpa is a zany, ‘twisted’ comment on re-appropriating the misappropriated.

Choreography: Hari Krishnan

Dancers: Luke Garwood (2007), Joshua Green (2009), Paul Charbonneau (2009), Austin Diaz (2010), Matt Owen (2014), Phil Strom (2018) and Spenser Stroud (2019)

Music: Rossini and Gowri Shankar (with due apologies to both!)

Lighting Design: Gabriel Cropley (2007), J Shane Mongar (2009), Arun Srinivasan (2010/14), Alejandro Fajardo (2018) and Jack Carr (2019)

Costume Design: Rex (Rajavairan Rajendran)

Premiere: May 23-26, 2007, as a commission from artistic director Christopher House and Toronto Dance Theatre as part of “12 Solos” at the Winchester Street Theatre (Toronto, Canada)

Mea Culpa was also performed from April 3-5, 2009 at Joyce SoHo (New York City, USA); on June 26, 2009 as part of Toronto’s Pride Festival (Canada), on August 19, 2009 as part of the Erasing Borders Dance Festival at Chase Plaza (New York City, USA); from March 18-20, 2010 as part of inDANCE’s 10th Anniversary at the Fleck Dance Theater (Toronto, Canada); on March 14, 2014 as part of Kalanidhi’s International Dance Festival at the Fleck Dance Theater (Toronto, Canada); on Oct 27, 2018 at the Asia Society (New York City, USA) and from April 26-27, 2019 at Wesleyan University’s CFA Theater (Middletown, CT, USA)