Jasmine Simhalan

Infobox Person
name = Jasmine Simhalan
residence = United Kingdom, India


imagesize = 150px
birth_date = Birth date and age|1970|11|13|df=y
birth_place = Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (சென்னை, தமிழ்நாட, भारत गणराज्य)
birth_name = Jasmine Simhalan
occupation = dancer, martial artist, actress, movement analyst, choreographer
title=Kalarippayattu Gurukkal
religion = Hinduism
website = [http://www.jasminesimhalan.plus.com Official Jasmine Simhalan website]

Jasmine Simhalan (born 13 November, 1970 in Chennai, India) is a practitioner of Indian martial arts and Classical Indian dance. Her father, Simhalan Madhava Panicker, was a well known Martial Artist. Simhalan is an instructor in Silambam and a Gurukkal in Kalarippayattu. Simhalan is a performer and choreographer based in the United Kingdom and India. Simhalan has been a part of physical theatre and South Asian contemporary form of dance, theatre and martial art forms for the past twenty years.

Background

Simhalan has trained in martial arts including Kalarippayattu, Silambam fencing and Marma Adi. She has also trained in Indian dance including Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, martial dance Chhau and Mohiniyattam.

Career

Since 1987, Simhalan has been part of most of the productions of the Indian Chandralekha group (1988-1993) [ [http://www.culturebase.net/artist.php?464 Chandralekha] ] and Shobana Jeyasingh dance company (1993-2003) [ [http://www.shobanajeyasingh.co.uk/index.html SJDC] ] as a dancer and educational/workshop leader. At the same time, Simhalan has worked as a soloist and a choreographer. Simhalan has toured and performed in productions of Wayne McGregor (UK), Richard Alston (UK), Laurie Booth (UK), Roger Sinha (Canada), Mavin Khoo (UK), and was also part of the 2001 Basement Jaxx album and Emergency Exit Arts production RungaRung. In the summer of 2000, Simhalan both choreographed for and performed in the award winning production, Coming of Age, directed by Keith Khan.

Simhalan's work in television and film includes "Check" by Amarjeeth Singh, and "Away Game", a BBC production. "Chathi" (means cheat in Malayalam), her physical theatre choreography based on the warriors of "Northern Ballads" like Aromal Chekavar, "Chathiyan channthu" etc of 16th-century in kerala, has toured in the United Kingdom and Europe. Recently, she directed and performed "Ghost", a street theatre act and video installation at the Somerset House which toured as a street theater act going in to the realm of 'settlement of cultures and greed for war'. She art directed and performed "SPILT", a video installation for London Mela. "Football" and "Spare Rib" are her current works on tour to South East Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Her recent award winning collaborative work, produced by Builders association New York in collaboration with Motiroti, London is a multimedia theatre work on global communication culture and arts. [ [http://www.alladeen.com Alladeen] ] and choreographed 'Arena' [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRP37Z0yf0E YouTube - arena ] ] an outdoor spectacle derived from the stories of experiences in hardships of Sri Lankan community through colonialism, war and natural calamity of centuries.

ee also

External links

* [http://www.jasminesimhalan.plus.com Official Jasmine Simhalan website]
* [http://www.sticktoearth.co.uk Stick to earth]
* [http://www.keralaresidency.plus.com Residency in UK and India]
* [http://www.udaan.co.uk Creative process]
* [http://www.kalaripayatt.co.uk Kalaripayatt martial fulfilment]
* [http://www.narthaki.com/homepg/userpages/jasmine.html]

References