San Francisco, CA

Charlotte Moraga, a senior disciple of Pandit Chitresh Das, performs traditional Kathak dance around the world as principal dancer of Chitresh Das Dance Company (CDDC), and as a solo artist. Moraga is currently director of the Chhandam Youth Dance Company. She is a recipient of the first Shenson Performing Arts Fellowship, recognizing artistic merit and potential for future excellence and impact on the field of Kathak. With her newest work, Moraga will explore the triangle of audience, dancer and musicians by putting it into a triptych based on the Hindu paradigm of existence: creation, preservation and destruction. Destruction is often seen as a creative act in itself as it makes way for rejuvenation. The work will feature collaborative and virtuosic live music.

2009 Festival Weekend 1 Artist

“A Conference in Nine”
Many birds set off on a journey in search of God. Along the way most of the birds drop out but the thirty who make it to the end see only their own reflections in the “face” of God. Charlotte Moraga, a senior disciple of and principal dancer for Pandit Chitresh Das, performs Indian traditional Kathak dance around the world. Departing from traditional stories, Moraga creates a dazzling new dance based on a twelfth century Sufi poem, in collaboration with carnatic saxaphonist, Prasant Radhakrishnan, tabla artist, Salar Nadar, sarodist, Ben Kunin and percussionist, Jim Santi Owen.

November.  Thanksgiving.  Well, Performing Diaspora was a thanksgiving feast of a sort, for sure.  Dishes of quiet contemplative explosions and moments of mirth filled the platter,  like when Sri did her nonplussed “boob dance” and her sexy “butt dance.”  With her back to the audience, she cocked her head as if to say, “I see [...]

We are super excited to have had the opportunity to meet the truly kind and professional folks from the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Culture Wire. Watch the video below to hear from Jessica Robinson Love and 3 Performing Diaspora artists Gema Sandoval, Charlotte Moraga and Adia Tamar Whitaker talk about what Performing Diaspora meant to [...]

With Performing Diaspora fast-approaching, some of the artists took a break from the stage and headed over to KPFA’s radio studios in Berkeley for a musical sneak-preview of their work on Stephen Kent’s show, “Music of the World.” In between tracks, our Executive Director Jessica Robinson Love joined them in the conversation about their performances [...]

Kathak made a man out of me….And a Bird! by Charlotte Moraga Gender-bending, gender-blending–This is ardhinariswara. It’s nothing new for a Kathak dancer. We have to explore the depths of extreme masculinity and extreme femininity as we portray different characters and characterization in stories. This kind of role playing requires an artist to get in [...]

What is kathak? Kathak is a unique dance form which incorporates rhythmic virtuosity, compelling storytelling, poetry, recitation, song, swift and subtle movement, and a rich philosophy whose roots extend thousands of years. In 1992, I enrolled in a Kathak class at SFSU with world-renowned master, Pandit Chitresh Das. Little did I know the vast ocean [...]