Grad students combine energy, intellect in ‘Ajar’

Kim Okamura
Published: Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Although studying dance at UCLA may not prepare you for a Britney Spears video, the latest work in the MFA choreography program’s “Upstarts Series” proves that it’s not just about theory, either.

Directed, choreographed, and produced by World Arts and Cultures graduate students Erica Rebollar and Anjali Tata, “Ajar” opens Thursday at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica. The performance represents three years of graduate study in an attempt to combine art, academics and real life into live performance.

Composed of two segments, one by each choreographer, the work comments on the effects of contemporary American society on individuals and the ways people respond to a hectic, conflicted, material world.

Both women came to UCLA as established, working artists. Tata is a respected classical Indian dancer (Bharata Natyam form) and teacher while Rebollar is an award-winning contemporary dancer and choreographer. They also share similar philosophies on creating dance in the department’s theory-driven academic environment.

“I think that the difficult thing is to try to put the kinesthetic and the visceral and the sweat with intellectualism – the academic, ‘brained-approach’ with the instinct approach,” Rebollar said. “You have to be objective about your instinct and be able to describe it intellectually.”

For Tata, that dichotomy has led her beyond the boundaries of classical Indian training. Combining modern dance and yoga with Bharata Natyam in “Ajar,” she examines Eastern spirituality in the context of the New Age subculture. It’s a risky blend of forms and ideas that could distance her from the traditional Indian community. Sometimes, she says, “If it’s too abstract, they don’t get it.”

While trying to incorporate critical theories such as postmodernism into their choreography, Tata and Rebollar hope to create work with themes that will ultimately appeal to a larger audience. Instead of promoting dance as an elitist art form, they believe they have something fundamentally universal to offer.

“It’s giving the audience your energy, it’s as simple as that.” Rebollar said. “Beyond the academic, beyond the bubble of UCLA, that’s what people need. They go to work nine-to-five and they come home tired. They don’t need someone intellectualizing about orientalism.”

Rebollar’s section in “Ajar” explores the strain of a multitasking world on the minds and bodies of individuals. The dance deals with issues like addiction, isolation and the trauma of world events.

The process of getting their work to the stage has been no less of an education than their classes. The department encourages graduate students to experience the real-life difficulties of putting together a performance, dealing with budgets, scheduling and publicity as well as choreography and direction. The department intends not only to teach them how to cope with problems that arise, but also to give them the skills to prevent the same problems from happening in the future.

The whole experience has made the two women think about what it is they’re trying to accomplish as choreographers, and what it means to create dance in an academic setting.

“Sometimes there’s a danger, if you become so cerebral, the art becomes something else,” said Tata. “Trying to blend the two, that’s where the talent is.”

Performances run Nov. 21-23 at 8:30 p.m. in Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica. Tickets are $15 general, $13 for students. For reservations, call (310) 315-1459.