Ātete – Resistance: a Kiwi-Indian dancer in Dunedin takes on patriachy

Pic courtesy: Adair Bruce

Swaroopa Prameela Unni, an acclaimed Kiwi-Indian performing artist based in Dunedin, will be presenting her new solo dance theatre Ātete – Resistance, at the New Athenaeum Theatre on November 30, and December 1.

Through Ātete, she will be introducing audiences to three South Asian women - Poomathai Ponnamma, Dr Rajani Thiranagama and Nayika who stood up against violence. Her performance will weave through stories of caste and feudal violence, violence during war, and domestic violence in New Zealand. Through these three segments, she will connect the dots with common themes like patriarchy and how women's bodies are used as a site for revenge in this world.

This will be Unni’s third solo theatre presentation. In past years, she has performed two solo theatre productions, Aananda and Sringaram, at the Body Festival, Dunedin Fringe Festival, New Zealand Fringe Festival and Tempo Dance Festival.

“Ātete will be choreographed in Mohiniyattam, a South Indian Dance form, known for its portrayal of ideal womanhood and I will juxtapose this with how this very concept has shaped the pattern of violence on women's bodies. It will use spoken words, movements, music and digital media to narrate their stories. The production will have some additional music, which has been composed by Jyolsna Panicker and Sandeep Pillai from India,” informed Unni.

-Gaurav Sharma

About Swaroopa Prameela Unni

Unni started training in Bharatanayam from the age of four, Mohiniyattam and Kuchipudi from the age of 11 and Kathak during her adult life. She was a principal dancer for Nrithyalaya School of Indian Classical Dance and Abhinava Dance Company in India. She established Natyaloka School of Indian Dance in Dunedin in 2011 where she teaches Bharatanatyam, a South Indian Dance form, to students from age of four-and-a-half years and above. It is the only Indian dance school in the Otago region. In recognition of her efforts deep South, she was chosen as one of 125 extraordinary women in Dunedin – an exhibition by Otago Museum, to celebrate 125 years of suffrage movement.