DISCO RIOT presents: S P A C E Pro Showcase March 28 & 29, 2025 at 7 p.m. S P A C E Pro Showcase is a final presentation of our 2025 S P A C E Pro Residency program with Resident Artists, Radhika Karandikar and Isabel Desmet. With 60 hours and 10-weeks in residence, our selected Resident Artists delved into research and development of new works. Join us for the culminating event of this process, to see what their creative research and exploration has yielded. S P A C E Pro Showcase: March 28 & 29 at 1100 Kettner Blvd, San Diego About the Artists and Their Works Radhika Karandikar (she/her) is a Bharatanatyam dancer based in San Diego with a deep passion for performing, teaching, and collaborating. She holds an MFA in Bharatanatyam and is an instructor at Abinaya Arts Academy, also teaching students online nationwide. For over 8 years, she has been a core dancer with Sankhya Dance Company in Mumbai, under the mentorship of founder Vaibhav Arekar. Trained in Indian classical music, her dance is enriched by its nuances. Radhika has performed at prestigious dance festivals across India and Europe and continues to create, collaborate, and perform innovative works in the United States. Radhika Karandikar’s Project: The song of Life - an exploration of Haiku and Tanka verses through Bharatanatyam This experimental work traces the story of a woman in her twilight years looking back at her life, marked by love and loss, trying hard to break the chain of generational trauma that the women in her family faced. Using Haiku and Tanka as the literary base, Radhika has endeavoured to manifest these beautiful verses through the audio-visual form of the Indian classical dance Bharatanatyam. Working dynamically with multiple art forms like, the western violin, the Indian tabla, spoken word(poetry) and projection(multimedia), 'The Song of Life' takes the audience on a journey through space and time, through the rich storytelling aspect of Bharatanatyam. This would be an immersive experience for the viewers owing to the use of multiple spaces in the showcase. Poetry - Kala Ramesh (@kalaramesh8), Movement exploration and choreography - Radhika Karandikar (@radhikakarandikar27), Sound design and percussion - Rohit Panchakshari (@anandi_tabla), Music composition and violin - Jesus Cervantes (@jesuscervantesmusic) Isabel Desmet (she/her) began her dance training at 13, focusing mainly on jazz and contemporary. She fell in love with modern dance during her time at San Diego Mesa and City Colleges. Isabel has a bachelor’s degree in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley. At Berkeley, she trained in the dance department with Latanya Tigner in Horton and Talawa techniques, and with James Graham in Gaga movement language. Now, in addition to choreographing, Isabel is also a dancer for San Diego Dance Theater and teaches contemporary, jazz, modern, ballet, tap and hip hop dance to teens and adults throughout San Diego. Isabel Desmet’s Project: During this residency, Isabel Desmet has developed a work focused on reconnecting with the body through movement and fostering a deeper connection to our primal, animal nature. She explores how dance can help reclaim bodily awareness in a society driven by productivity and efficiency. Her research culminates in a duet inspired by animals, such as birds and spiders, with the goal of exploring how humans can reconnect with more instinctual movement, less influenced by modern norms. While Isabel has created movements based on animal behavior using video footage of various species, the work remains distinctly human. About DISCO RIOT Our mission is to grow social consciousness and connection through collaborative, thought-provoking movement-based art in San Diego. Visit: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/discoriot/1599788 DISCO RIOT on Instagram and Facebook
