This is a live ceremony where we engage with stories from the audience and work through them, using our bodies to search for the longing therein and dance for it.

A ceremony works with the elements - Wind, Fire, Water and Earth (our first ancestors) to process an outward expression of inward grace. It often celebrates or creates transformation within individual and community. It works in repetitive and ritualistic ways in the presence of witnesses to anchor this shift or change. In our ceremony we use dance, story and our own chants to work through stories from community members. The work slowly and strategically uses embodied processing and attempts to take the audience into a state where they can sense their own longing. Our process revealed to us that the potency of our longing and desire was indeed essential at this time. If we cannot even see what we yearn for, how do we name it ? And if we do not name it, how do we collectively manifest a sustainable future?

In a time of great disembodiment due to the pandemic, political upheaval and environment degradation we struggle to feel into our bodies and our longing, to stay connected with the most basic aspects of life that any child would be able to point us towards. Many of us, have forgotten these. This work is an offering to simply help us remember. May we know what we long for. And may this longing guide us.

Concept and Choreography by Diya Naidu

Performance by Anindita Ghosh, Maitreyee Joshi, Paridhi Bihani, Snigdha Prabhakar

Live Music by Priyabrata Panigrahi

Music Composition Madhava and Deepthi Bhaskar

Costumes Small Shop (Jason-Anshu)

Produced by Masoom Parmar, Alif Arts Consultancy