Anikai Dance Company (ADC), founded by artistic director Wendy Jehlen, is a production of Akhra: the Dancing Grounds. Wendy Jehlen is a choreographer of Contemporary dance whose work is rooted in her life-long training in Bharata Natyam (South Indian classical dance), as well as in Capoeira, West African dance, Japanese Butoh and American Contemporary dance styles which she has studied in the US, Italy and Japan. Jehlen's choreography also incorporates her work with Deaf artists, specifically the aesthetic of American Sign Language poetry. ADC's work has been produced throughout the US, Europe, India and Japan and has received funding from the Artist Grants Program of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Ford Foundation/Arts International, the Tokyo American Center and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. DeAnna has been dancing with Anikai Dance Company since 2005.
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"Hamsafar"
"Hamsafar" (meaning “traveling companion” in Urdu and Persian) is a trio made in collaboration with performers Alissa Cardone, DeAnna Pellecchia and Ingrid Schatz. This work-in-progress draws from the experience of living between cultures, between places, and between languages. It uses images of traveling, in groups and alone, to explore how life’s journey changes people along the way.
CLICK HERE to view "Hamsafar" (work-in-progress); opening soloist DeAnna Pellecchia.
"Crane"
DeAnna joined ADC in 2005 to work on the recreation of "Crane", Jehlen's twenty-minute piece for six dancers. "Crane", inspired by Japanese images of the crane and the lotus, is based on the Buddhist concept that beauty can grow out of, and thrive amongst chaos and suffering. "Crane" premiered in India in 2002 to live music performed by musicians from India, Japan, Italy and the US. DeAnna performed in the US premiere at The Dance Theater at Boston University in June, 2005.
"Haaaa" "Haaaa" is a dance for five people, inspired by the experience of pregnancy and childbirth.It incorporates an American Sign Language poem which can be interpreted as follows:GENERATIONS-BLOOD-OCEAN-ALL-FIT-TOGETHER-CONNECT-CONNECT BACK IN TIME.This poem is layered onto movement to imply the sign for “tide”.The dance also incorporates the sign for “breath”, “gather”, and the South Indian classical dance gesture for “goddess”.
"The Day of Alast"
In Islam, the Day of Alast is the day on which humanity was created. In Sufism, this moment of creation is often seen as the day on which the Sufi’s journey toward the divine began. Before this moment, there was no duality, only unity. At the instant of creation, the one became two –human and divine. From this time forward, the two have searched and longed for each other, yearning to be one again. This duet for Wendy Jehlen and DeAnna Pellecchia, depicts the time before duality, right before the moment of simultaneous creation and division.
