Blue13 Dance company
2024 Media Kit
REIMAGINING AMERICAN DANCE
about the company
Blue13 Dance Company is an American dance ensemble based in Los Angeles, California. For over 20 years, Blue13 has connected diverse audiences through the power of aesthetically and culturally daring dance. They have taken their highly energetic and theatrical modern dance style throughout the US and aboard–a style inspired, in part, by the classical and cultural art forms of the Indian subcontinent.
A first-generation South Asian American, Blue13’s Artistic director, Achinta S. McDaniel, creates art at the intersection of diaspora and disruption. Her work is as rebellious and unconventional as its architect, conveying the multiplicity of her artistry through rhythm, joy, precision, humor, and emotion.
An NEA grant recipient and NEFA National Dance Project finalist, Blue13 showcases a mastery of audience engagement through critically acclaimed stage productions, innovative immersive works, accessible community and educational programming, and thought-provoking film projects, such as the award winning Firebrand Sway. Equal importance placed on each of these areas yields equal excellence.
Storytelling through dance is central to the company, as is a continued inquisitiveness and exploration of classical, folk, and contemporary techniques with its diverse cast of dancers. Blue13’s work is moody and charged, and presents the audience with an intelligent experience of performance that turns the cultural stereotype of both Indian and American contemporary dance on its head.
The deft blending of such a myriad of pieces – movement styles, colors, light, music, and costume is the hallmark of an organization that not only dives deep into study, but knows how to make choices that deliver a punch. I want to see them again. You need to see them.
Mary Pat Cooney, LA Dance Chronicle,
MISSION
Blue13 Dance Company's mission is to drive a substantive shift in the perception and practice of American dance through performance, engagement, and education. Blue13 seeks to create lasting societal contributions, to dispel stereotypes and monolith mythology, and to connect diverse constituents through inclusive, cross-genre live performances, dance classes, and community activities that encourage and value curiosity, inclusion, respect, and belonging.
LEADERSHIP
Founding Artistic Director
ACHINTA S. MCDANIEL
Achinta S. McDaniel is a pioneer of contemporary Indian dance in the United States. A prolific choreographer, performer, and instructor, McDaniel’s powerful style draws from techniques including Bhangra, Kathak, Bollywood, hip hop, ballet, jazz, tap, and modern dance. She is known for her experimentation with international styles and for the inventive staging of her signature contemporary Indian forms. Her choreography is highly dramatic and a real reflection of her upbringing: Eastern and Western, exotic, mysterious, wild, rebellious and unconventional. McDaniel’s work is fearless and inventive, ever-exploring the boundaries of contemporary dance as a South Asian American woman.
McDaniel, a professor at the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance at the University of Southern California, was born in New York and grew up studying dance in Cleveland, Ohio, where she got her start as a choreographer at Hathaway Brown School at the age of 14. She danced in ensembles at Cleveland State and Case Western Reserve, thereafter graduating from New York University with a degree in choreography, dance, and theatre. She later studied classical Indian kathak in Bangalore, India with guru Maya Rao.
Returning to New York in 1999, McDaniel founded Blue13 Dance Company, performing and teaching across the tri-state area until 2001, when she relocated to Los Angeles. Achinta has evolved Blue13 for two decades, creating one of the United States' first professional contemporary Indian dance companies, and touring on stages around the world. McDaniel also lectures, teaches, and choreographs for educational institutions across the U.S.
McDaniel has choreographed and danced in the music videos of DJ Snake (Colin Tilley) and The Strokes (Warren Fu), and choreographed for Bollywood and American films and artists alike. McDaniel works as a TV choreographer (So You Think You Can Dance, New Girl, Speechless with Minnie Driver, and The Amazing Race), designs live Bollywood and Bhangra productions at Walt Disney World on both coasts, and choreographs a multitude of projects in comedy, contemporary, and Bollywood and Bhangra dance styles. She has worked as a choreographer for commercials and brands including FitBit, Madden NFL, Heineken (Todd Haynes), and Snapple, and has worked with artists Timbaland, Sunny Leone, Anupam Kher, and A.R. Rahman at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl. McDaniel is passionate about teaching and sharing her unique perspective with students of all levels and abilities. She is an expert in audience and community engagement, working with Laguna Dance Festival, The Music Center, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and many more.
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
JON PAUL
Jon Paul has been studying, performing, choreographing, and teaching with Blue13 since 2011. As a principal dancer with the company, he performed with Blue13 for Google, Dreamworks, and Fox’s New Girl. As Associate Director, he has assisted Achinta S. McDaniel with projects for artists such as A.R. Rahman and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, TV shows such as ABC’s Speechless and So You Think You Can Dance, productions at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Ford Amphitheater, and Heritage Square Museum, and engagements at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and California Adventure theme parks. Working with McDaniel and Blue13 has provided Jon Paul with training and experience in a variety of classical, semi-classical, and folk styles of Indian dance, as well as an expanded vocabulary in Western modern and contemporary styles.
Through his work with Blue13 Dance Company and beyond, Jon Paul has established himself as a versatile and knowledgeable dancer, choreographer, and instructor. He has worked with artists such as Lance Bass and Marques Houston, Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth, and world famous ballroom dancers Julz Tocker and Katerina Fedosova. He has starred in productions of A Chorus Line, Hello Dolly, Brigadoon, and You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. Commercially, he has danced for Oscar Meyer, Honda, and Radio Disney. Jon Paul has choreographed for Olympic medalists Ashley Wagner and Adam Rippon, brands such as BCBGMAXAZRIA, and musical theatre productions such as The Wiz! and Godspell. Jon Paul is a former instructor at Debbie Reynolds' Dance Studio, and a current faculty member at C-Spot LA. He has appeared as a guest instructor at Glorya Kaufman School of Dance at the University of Southern California, University of Minnesota, Iowa State University, and has taught and choreographed for studios and dance teams across the country, showcasing his unique style which incorporates western jazz, modern, and contemporary dance with street styles such as hip hop, whacking, vogue, and house dance.
history
Blue13 has a vast and varied history of works that appeals to a wide range of audiences. In July 2022, Blue13 made its debut at the famed Hollywood Bowl performing alongside a musical legend in Bollywood at the Bowl: A Night with A.R. Rahman. In August 2022, Blue13 was featured as one of the selected companies in the REDCAT New Original Works Festival.
In September 2021, Blue13 premiered Shaadi at Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles. The immersive work, which took place inside and throughout the grounds of the museum’s collection of 19th-century homes, was the first of its kind for the historic venue and received rave reviews.
The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presented the World Premiere of Blue13’s Terpsichore in Ghungroos in February 2020 to critical acclaim. The three-part work provides commentary and explores the depths of insidious oppression based on race, gender, and erasure, through the immigrant and diasporic lens.
Blue13 has performed internationally, including at 2008’s Fez: Queen of Cities with engagements at Royce Hall Los Angeles, Symphony Space New York, in Rabat, Morocco’s Mohammed V Theatre, and at UNESCO in Paris. Blue13 has been presented by University of North Carolina Wilmington, the Tahoe Arts Project at Cal Poly Arts San Luis Obispo, and Arts For Schools in Nevada and California.
Blue13 has performed at Taal Festival in Cleveland, Ohio and the Northern Alberta Children’s Festival in Canada, and in performances and festivals from Seattle and Las Vegas to New York and Miami. Dance works made during the pandemic include Restless autumn, restless spring and Pan Pastoral, which the company premiered at the historic Casa Romantica in San Clemente, California, and toured to the West Las Vegas Performing Arts Center.
Upcoming engagements include 2023 World Premieres at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, as well as NEA-supported Soliloquy in 2024 at Heritage Square Museum.
repertory
1947
World Premiere: April 21, 2022, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Run Time: 15 min
Music: Lijo George, DJ Chetas, Darshan Raval, Tabla Beat Science, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Rakesh Chaurasia
Augmented by a soundscape rife with stories of survivors and their children, this piece investigates the transnational and transgenerational effects of the India-Pakistan partition which took place in 1947. It was inspired by Blue13’s 2014 site-specific residency for LA/Islam Project and the Doris Duke Foundation, at Grand Park in Los Angeles. The world premiere of the piece was performed by a cast of 44 students from USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance.
Restless autumn, restless spring
World Premiere: August 18, 2022, Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater
Run Time: 15 min
Music: Sheila Chandra
Utilizing improvisation and collaboration to foreground process, Artistic Director Achinta S. McDaniel and the ensemble of artists of Blue13 Dance Company strip away production to explore the impact of movement alone in Restless autumn. restless spring. Relying on a Fluxus-inspired score, the performers revisit contemporary dance, revealing the multiplicity of intersectional global majority identities, seemingly incongruous to a basic dance score. Largely a response to the isolation and separation of the COVID-19 pandemic, Restless autumn, restless spring is a return to collaboration and a rediscovery of what it means for artists to unite in a space to reflect on shared experiences and create work together.
shaadi
World Premiere:September 17, 2021,
Heritage Square Museum
Run Time: 120 minutes
Live Music: Alma Cielo, Enrique Lara, Jag Tooray
Lighting: Brandon Baruch
An audience-immersive and site-specific work, Shaadi is Blue13's choose-your-own-adventure style dance experience that premiered in September 2021. The work follows a community navigating love, duty, and heartbreak as they prepare for a wedding at the white spired church at the end of the road. Audience members, turned wedding guests, were invited to roam the grounds of Los Angeles’ historic Heritage Square Museum, selecting which stories to follow and relying on interaction with fellow guests to grasp the full story.
chardi kala
World Premiere: August 7, 2021, Geffen Playhouse
Run Time: 8 min
Music: Navv Inder, Lisa Mishra, Raja Kumari, Run the Jewels, DIVINE, Yo Yo Honey SIngh, Neha Kakkar, Navraj Hans
Blue13 amplifies their energetic brand of movement to this collection of contemporary hit songs from both India and the United States. This high impact medley features everything from Bhangra and hip hop to whacking and body percussion, expertly weaving styles together into a rhythmic spectacle.
Ghungroos and Whistles
Virtual Premiere: November 14, 2020
The Ford, presented by the LA Phil.
Run Time: 30 Minutes
Music: Multiple Hindi Soundtrack Hits
Costumes: Sadhana Barma, Pamella Kapoor
Blue13 embodies Bollywood like no other company, crafting energetic and colorful Indian dance through choreographer Achinta S. McDaniel's contemporary American lens. This work was originally created for Northern Alberta Children’s Festival in 2014, reimagined for Walt Disney World in 2019, and restaged for the virtual space during the pandemic by commission from The Ford in 2020.
Terpsichore in Ghungroos
World Premiere: February 21, 2020, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
Run Time: 38 Minutes.
Music: Paul Livingstone, Alma Cielo, Enrique Lara
Projection Design: Sean Cawelti
Costumes:Nimmi Singh, Achinta S. McDaniel
Available with live music
A contemporary triptych amplifying the often erased, multifaceted voices of the Indian diaspora. Terpsichore in Ghungroos is Achinta S. McDaniel’s interrogation of the insidious gender-based and racial inequity, bigotry, violence, and terror perpetuated today by our neighbors. In a multisensory experience of dance, live music, and projection, Blue13’s work builds to rhythmic crescendo through driving Kathak-inspired footwork amplified by Ghungroos and ankle bells.
Diya Aur Toofan
World Premiere: February 21, 2020, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Run Time: 18 min
Music: Multiple Hindi Soundtrack Hits
Costumes: Pamella Kapoor, Nimmi Singh, Sadhana Barma
An escape from the dreary drudgery of day-to-day life, immerse your audience into an Indian world of color, joy, and confidence. Diya aur Toofan (the flame in the storm) is a 20-minute energetic whirlwind like only Blue13 can deliver on stage, set to catchy Hindi film songs.
“...but by others’ seeing”
World Premiere: August 16, 2019, Ford Theatres
Run Time: 5:46
Music: “Aromale (My Beloved)”, Alphonse
A solo work on feminine sexuality, agency, and empowerment from a global majority female perspective and lived experience. “For why should others’ false adulterate eyes/Give salutation to my sportive blood?/Or on my frailties why are frailer spies,/Which in their wills count bad that I think good?”
F*ck Fusion V.2, or How to (or not to) be Adequately Indian
World Premiere: February 21, 2020, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
RUN TIME: 7:30
Music: “Fuck Fusion” by Chris Webb
Costumes: Rita Shrestha, Nimmi Singh
A piece questioning what is allowable behavior and enterprise for immigrant and immigrant children in the United States. The work was originally created in collaboration with the last composer Chris Webb in 2001, with engagements in New York and Austin, Texas. This reimagining of the work uses the original composition, and pairs it with commissioned music by Aalok Mehta.
classic works
fire and powder
world Premiere: August 3, 2013
“Capulet or Montague?” Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story motifs collide with cheeky fourth wall breaks in this contemporary Bollywood Hip Hop work set in modern day Verona.
Paheliyan: The Story of Alice
World Premiere: August 25, 2007
See Alice’s arranged marriage! See Alice run! Blue13 characters, from Madhatters disguised as Hindu gods, peacocks, monkeys, and the menacing Rani of Hearts, turn the classic on its head, and bring to life a mad, Bollywood, spiced-up take on Alice in Wonderland.
into the bollywoods
World Premiere: July 22, 2011
An Indian fairytale told through diverse contemporary wicked witches, and a dancing world of intertwined tales inspired by classics like Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Follow Jai (Jack) on his journey up the beanstalk to conquer his villains and get the girl.
Khel!
World Premiere: August 23, 2008
One magical night in India, three children fall asleep and find their dreams have collided! The friends journey through a bizarre, Bollywood-enchanted phantasmagoria filled with whirling, romping characters and absurd, larger-than-life games in order to save the world from the vicious and powerful threat known simply as, “The Nightmare”.
Karishma
World Premiere: September 2, 2006
A magical, Indian dance theatre work inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Karishma is ripe with charm and mystery, fairies both naughty and nice, four young lovers, and an enchanted forest filled with Eastern enticement, laughter, and charm.
A.B.I.D.E.
access, belonging, inclusion, diversity, equity
Blue13 is a woman-founded dance company and Global Majority organization with a diverse cast, board, and staff, that is committed to the Artistic Director’s ABIDE vision and creating meaningful and lasting impact where it is most needed across the U.S. and abroad. Blue13 represents multiplicity, empowerment, and belonging. Our ongoing efforts aim to increase cultural knowledge and amplify representation, equity, and diversity in the field. Working with Blue13 centers the Global Majority as the important artists of our generation.
Your partnership with Blue13 additionally highlights the multifacetedness and artistic excellence of the Indian diaspora, an important advocacy voice field-wide. It is time to go beyond checking a box, and beyond a single performance, to increase understanding and deepen access and belonging for all. Our residency activities invite new audiences to your space, help show your community you value diasporic diversity and inclusion at the highest levels, and increase accessible programming to those who do not often see or hear from artists of color.
BEYOND THE STAGE
Achinta S. McDaniel’s choreography and Blue13 dancers have been featured in a multitude of extraordinary commercial projects: in the hit show NEW GIRL on Fox, Speechless starring Minnie Driver, The Amazing Race, and multiple music videos including DJ Snake‘s A Different Way, directed by Colin Tilley, and The Strokes' Threat of Joy, directed by Warren Fu. We provide Bollywood, contemporary, jazz, hip hop, ballet, tap, and popular dances for film projects of all formats. Blue13 has performed in multiple films and live events around the world, as well as for a multitude of commercials including Heineken by Oscar-nominated director, Todd Haynes, and Madden NFL directed by Wayne McClammy. You may have also seen Blue13 at Disneyland's California Adventure, and at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom.
"A POWERHOUSE OF A DANCE THEATRE PRODUCTION… THE ENSEMBLE CAST IS RIDICULOUSLY SKILLED, FROM THE BIT PLAYERS TO THE LEADS... A DYNAMIC FEAT OF EXPRESSION THAT MADE ME WISH I COULD WATCH THE PIECES OVER AND OVER... I'M A FAN NOW."
—Noah Nelson, No Proscenium
"The voice is female, it is strong, it is wildly theatrical, and it has dance bursting at every seam.”
—Debra Levine, Arts Meme
"BLUE13 QUESTIONS THE LINES THAT WE USE TO DIVIDE DANCE INTO CATEGORIES, THE LINES THAT DENOTE WHAT IS DIMINISHINGLY CALLED A "FUSION" OR CULTURAL DANCE FORM. THE COMPANY BREAKS THESE ARBITRARY LINES, SHOWING US THERE IS NO NEED FOR THEM."
—Sophie Brass, Ampersand LA
"UTTERLY ENTRANCING… blended genres like paint on a canvas, creating a beautiful portrait of love, longing and joy… The production’s immersion was all-encompassing and kept people hooked till the very end.”
—Steven Vargas, USC Annenberg Media
“...a hauntingly beautiful film set in a picturesque desert landscape. With every detail precisely captured, from the movement of the hands to the colors of the costumes, the dancers explore a sense of loss and connection while fusing contemporary, bharatanatyam and kathak styles.”
—Julia Mary Register, DANCE Magazine