Blue13 blends contemporary and traditional dance forms with everything from hip-hop to Bollywood and ballet, challenging perceptions of South Asian American dance. In 100 Seconds to Midnight, a new contemporary dance project choreographed by Achinta S. McDaniel, the company delves deep into the complexities of the human experience, drawing inspiration from the infamous Doomsday Clock. Made famous by J. Robert Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, and other concerned scientists, the clock measures how close the planet is to global catastrophe, marked as midnight. McDaniel turns the metaphor inward to examine the notion of “doom” as it pertains to South Asian communities. Repeatedly erased but resilient, these communities often grapple with cyclical trauma and the unrelenting anxiety of impending loss. Through a triptych of movements, 100 Seconds to Midnight confronts misogyny, unpacks the generational effects of colonization, and scrutinizes the expectations placed upon women regarding duty, tradition, and assimilation.
Blue13 Dance Company presents American dance through performance, outreach, and education. For over 20 years, Blue13 has connected audiences through the power of live, aesthetically and culturally daring dance, performing in the U.S. and abroad in its highly energetic and theatrical modern dance style that is inspired in part by the classical and cultural art forms of the Indian subcontinent.
Movement I: Vishwas is a statement on patriarchy and Hindu nationalism’s danger to secular women’s freedom. Set to Indian American composer Reena Esmail’s live orchestral work Vishwas, the piece explores the life of 16th century Indian poet Meera Bai, who rejected social conventions in devotion to Krishna. McDaniel employs the Bai story to explore South Asian women’s experiences navigating faith, duty, and the burden of “tradition” from Indian and white/western perspectives. The incorporation of Indian instrumentation including Tabla into a western orchestral ensemble asks audiences to reconsider preconceived notions of classical music.
Movement II: 1947 examines the year the Doomsday Clock was created, which was, remarkably, also the year of Indian independence, marked by the bloody partition of India and Pakistan. This movement explores the fear and panic that followed Britain’s sudden and deliberately cruel exit from the subcontinent, which killed over one million people, and displaced more than ten million along religious lines. Accompanied by audio accounts from survivors, the work is an honest take on the events surrounding the partition. 1947 uses contemporary dance, including Kathak-derived footwork, to comment on forced migration, islamophobia, and inherited, intergenerational hate.
Movement III: Midnight is a comment on the present state of the planet: war, climate change, populism, forced birth, and gun violence, predominantly perpetrated by the “first world” United States where we reside. Midnight investigates the so-called assimilation of Asian Americans, who face doom in the form of violence and white supremacy on a regular and generational basis. McDaniel correlates current threats to abortion and women’s rights, LGBTQ+ experiences with historical oppression, and the Global Majority’s seemingly endless fight for inclusion, from Meera Bai’s era to modernity. Midnight forces audiences to reflect on the impact of generational trauma and inherited biases as we navigate increasingly dangerous political and social climates.