Fast Forward

Curated by Sangeeta Yesley/Creative Performances 

Fast Forward is a dance series curated by Sangeeta Yesley that provides opportunities for choreographers working in all dance forms to workshop longer, more developed pieces that run 25 – 35 minutes. The series will feature 2 choreographers/dance companies each evening on a shared bill. Each evening will be curated around a theme.

Theme: Vulnerability 

Choreographer: Leigha Bartko
Company: Bart.Co Dance
Presenting: Gut Feeling
This piece is addressing the need to be extremely aware and sensitive to our surroundings. Looking at how paranoia consumes women, and questions whether we’re safe in America. Do you feel someone watching?

Leigha Bartko is a New Jersey-based dance artist. She went to college for a BFA in dance at Rutgers University.Has worked with artists such as; Ani Javian, John Evan, Kun-Yang Lin, Andrea Zachery, and many more. She was awarded the Margery J.Turner Choreography Award through Rutgers University for their thesis. Leigha currently has a space fellowship with the studio, Washington Rock Dance, for their company; “Bart.Co Dance”. We use personal experiences, political issues, and human rights issues as a source to create reflective work. Our most notable performance; 2025 Fringe Arts Festival ‘Through The Eyes of a Woman’ the companies first evening length.

Photographer: Matt Gal

Choreographer: Bipasha Guptaroy
Company: Srijan Dance Company
Presenting: Many Shades of Women
This dance draws its inspiration and is based on writings of Rabindranath Tagore, a prolific Bengali poet, and a recipient of the Nobel prize in Literature in 1913. Tagore created a large body of work, of poetry, prose, songs, and essays on diverse subjects, as a social reformer, philosopher, and educationist. In his work, he has written about remarkable female characters, both known in literature and of his own creation. Through these characters he often expressed his own views of society. In Many Shades of Women, we present stories characterizing four of these women from his writings, through imagery of movement. In these, Tagore comments on the ills of society that still exist today emphasizing the relevance of his views. In each story, through the female protagonist he speaks against social injustices. In Sreemoti, we see courageous defiance of an unjust decree against the practice of Buddism. Through Chandalika, he comments against caste-based discrimination. In Gandhari, he speaks against disrespect towards women and in Chitrangadha, he champions gender equality.

Bipasha Guptaroy trained with Amala Shankar in the creative Indian dance technique of Uday Shankar at Uday Shankar India Culture Center. She received a diploma in dance from the Center in Kolkata and performed extensively with the Center’s troupe, including at the American Dance Festival. She also trained in Bharatanatyam, Kathakali and Manipuri. She later trained in Odissi with Neena Gulati at Triveni School of Dance in Boston. Bipasha was guest lecturer in Indian dance at University of Michigan and Wayne State University. She is a lecturer in Indian dance at Oakland University, in World Dance Traditions.

Photographer: Shiva Vemula

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