India@oz

This event was the continuation of a creative dialogue started by the Suburban Masala project in 2002. Suburban Masala was a performance project initiated by Cicily Ponnor and Vandana Ram exploring what it means to be a young person of Indian origin living in Sydney. [email protected] further extended this dialogue by involving a broader cross section of the community – from ages three to 61.

Initial thematic material for the project focused on experience of the Indian diaspora, the impact of being physically and emotionally separated from extended families, and how Indian-Australians create a sense of connection to the Motherland and family.

The workshop and devising process led to a two-week performance season at Parramatta Riverside Theatres as part of Carnivale Multicultural Arts Festival 2003.

One of the lessons of this show was the way cultural intermingling can result in new forms and genres that are unexpected and are often more than the sum of their component influences.

Stephen Dunne, The Sydney Morning Herald

…this production had a tremendous sense of pride, fun and celebration…

Keith Gallasch, Real Time

Original Concept

Cicily Ponnor & Vandana Ram

Co-Directors

Cicily Ponnor & Alicia Talbot

Visual Design Artist

Vandana Ram

Multimedia Artist

Sam James

Musical Director

Phil Downing

Choreographer

Chum Ehelepola

Sound Artists

Masala Mix

DJ

earthbrownkid

Artistic Observer

Kathy Elphinstone

Choreographer

Chum Ehelepola

Production Manager

Jessie Deane

Stage Manager

Clare Britton

Lighting Designer

Joseph Mercurio

Production Assistant

Craig Johnstone

Production Secondments

Julie Richards, Cristina de Mello & Angelique Corderoy (Carnivale secondments from University of Western Sydney)

Set Construction Supervisor

Kath Davis

Performers/Devisers

Anu Ananda, Katharine Babatzanis, Sathya Bala, Anita Barar, Leela Carroll, Rahul Carroll, Samar Chopra, Neil Deo, Devleena Ghosh, Nipurnh Gupta, Rani Hayman, Tara Hayman, Leela Hayman, Ama Kamalasuriya, Siri Kamalasuriya, Sippy Kapoor, Preeti Khubchandani, Puja Khubchandani, Tamara Kuppusamy, Sarswathi Kutti, Lalita Lakshmi, Mahesh R, Sameer Malik, Vatsla Nagpaul, Samshul Nair, Kavita Narayan, Vinita Narayan, Antony Ponnor, Georgeena Ponnor, Tresa Ponnor, Arti Prasad, Kailash Prasad, Ahilan Ratnamohan, Lux Ratnamohan, Anjali Roberts, Jaswinder Singh, Saranga Sudarshan, Veena Sudarshan, Kiran Thakkar, Renu Thukral

Additional Performers

Dhanya, Chirag, Priya, Bhavna, Bhimaarthi, Bhagyarathi, Vishaal, Vikaas, Shantanu, Ankita, Surya, Sonia, Nikhil, Vaishnavi, Ajit, Sanjay, Shradda and Shravan (Chinmaya Balvihar Group)