Artslandia at the Performance: Portland Playhouse Nov/Dec 2014 | Page 50

Q+A
CW: Anita, tell us about the creative
process for your recent project, The
Jungle Book, created in collaboration
with Northwest Children’s Theater.
AM: At the onset, we knew that this
would not be Disney’s version, so we went
back to the original story by Kipling. The
production is a movement-heavy show
with different styles of Indian dance, from
classical to Bollywood. Coming from two
different worlds of dance training, Sarah
Jane [Hardy, Northwest Children Theater’s
artistic director] and I spent the first few
weeks developing a shared vocabulary
which we created through dance workshops together, a hybrid style of movement
that would not only be influenced by
Bharatanatyam but would also celebrate
the rich traditions of Western physical theater. The production married both Indian
dance and Western theatre with toetapping music and vibrant costumes. It’s
been wonderful to bring Indian dance and
music to mainstream children’s theatre audiences in Portland for the very first time.
Besides creating unique pieces of artistic
work, I strongly believe that collaborations
build tolerance, foster genuine respect for
others, and in this case, create a lifelong
friendship.

CW: Linda, as a longtime member of
the Portland dance community, how
have you seen the dance scene here
evolve and transform over the past
decades?
LA: I feel like I can’t really keep up with the

number of people who are performing and
creating! There’s so much more activity
going on than existed when I arrived —
at all levels, from tiny performances in
galleries and clubs to the establishment of
centers such as BodyVox and Northwest
Dance Project. The less mainstream, more
experimental work is closest to my heart.
I believe Performance Works NorthWest
— as well as centers such as Conduit and
Headwaters, and, more recently, FLOCK
— has contributed to this [movement],
and that makes me proud. I also feel like
Portland’s connection with national and
international dance and performance
practices has become more solid, thanks
in part to institutions like PICA and White
Bird, but also by more ad hoc do-it-yourself
programming by artists of the community. This do-it-yourself Portland thing is
both a strength and weakness. It speaks
to people’s drive and longing for creative
connection, but it also reveals Portland’s
lack of infrastructure in terms of supporting local artists and artist-run organizations. Luckily, initiatives such as the Fred
W. Fields Fund of the Oregon Community

Foundation and the Precipice Fund are
starting to fill in the gaps. Performance
Works has been incredibly fortunate
to receive substantial support from the
Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and the
Eichholz Foundation that, in addition to
supporting our programming, has finally
enabled me to be paid a tiny monthly
stipend to run PWNW.

CW: Anita, your choreography often
takes a unique cross-cultural approach,
blending Bharatanatyam with music by
Beethoven or a story by Agatha Christie,
for example. What are some of your
artistic influences?
AM: My challenge has been to keep young
dancers today engaged in a culture that
they’re not fully immersed in. Over the
years, whenever I choreograph stories
that [kids] have grown up with here in
America, the dancers love, enjoy and
identify with them and perform them with
heart. These dances bring together both

My challenge has been to
keep young dancers today
engaged in a culture that
they’re not fully immersed in.
... This Fellowship Award has
given me the encouragement,
strength and power to keep
forging ahead –– to continue
to collaborate, innovate and
adapt Indian dance for the
next generation of dancers.

ANITA MENON
of their worlds and personify who they are
— both Indian and American. Audiences
not familiar with Bharatanatyam have also
tremendously enjoyed [them] because
they’re stories that they can relate to. With
my students, who are all young girls, I also
find it crucial to pick traditional stories
with strong woman role models — warrior
queens and women who have persevered
against all odds. My own children are huge
influences in my artistic work. I’m also actively engaged with what my students of all
ages are reading to understand what books
and stories appeal to them.

CW: Linda, how has receiving this
Regional Arts & Culture Council
Fellowship impacted your life?
LA: For the first time in my more than 30
years in the field, the award makes something close to a reasonable compensation
for my work as a choreographer and performer possible. The financial support will
allow me to take a leave of absence from

my part-time ESL teaching job — my financial mainstay these last decades — and
dedicate myself more fully to my two other
jobs: my dance making and my administering of Performance Work