Shianne Antoine — interviews — DC Dance Journalism Project

Chitra Subramanian, founder of chitra.MOVES

Chitra Subramanian is the founder of chitra.MOVES, which she created in 2018. This collective of diverse female dancers performs a fusion of hip hop and Indian dance. Based in Washington D.C., chitra.MOVES has performed in many venues in the Northeast and presented its first evening-length work, Temple, in December 2019. Subramanian currently works as a manager at Lee Montessori Public Charter School.

Tell me about chitra.MOVES.

This collective has its roots in Cleveland. Before I moved to Cleveland, dance was a hobby – I ran a non-profit in D.C. and that occupied most of my time. In Ohio, I didn’t have a traditional job, so I focused on exploring areas that I previously didn’t have time for. I was creating and figuring out what my movement style was – drawing from those inspirations that surrounded me. I was classically trained in Bharartanatyum, an ancient Indian dance form, for most of my life and began seriously training in hip hop after college. I thought now that I have this time to focus on dance, let me go all the way. The collective started in Ohio with dancers not only from Cleveland, but from Pittsburgh, my hometown. I was also training with the street dance community in Cleveland, which has roots in krump and popping.

I had the opportunity to be considered for a global Bollywood dance competition in New York. Our work was selected and we made it to the finals! I’m still tied to those original dancers. When I came to D.C., I wanted to continue this idea of bringing dancers, specifically women, together who have different backgrounds not only in dance, but beyond.

How has COVID-19 affected your collective or your art?

Everyone is readjusting as much as possible. I work with a range of people, some of them dance full time and some juggle many things. Personally, this has been a good opportunity for me to step back, re-plan, and reflect on how I want to move forward. I’ve been thinking of ways to focus on things that I didn’t have time to before, specifically my branding, so I’m working on that.

I’ve also been taking [online] classes from different people that I respect. I’ve been grateful that I have this opportunity because I do have a flexible job. But, I know many of my dancers are teaching studio classes online and feeling overwhelmed with adjusting. I think the overall energy has been, “We just got to keep it moving,” which has been cool to see. My next goal is to explore how I can start teaching again.

Did chitra.MOVES have to cancel or postpone any performances due to COVID-19?

There were teaching opportunities in the summer that aren’t going to happen. I was really hoping to participate in something in July, but at this point, I highly doubt it’s going to happen.

I have to say, this whole thing happened at a time where nothing was formally lined up for my company. August to February was crazy busy – after February, everything was calm. That’s when [the pandemic] hit, which is weird. I was working on a second presentation of Temple at Joe’s [Movement Emporium] for November, but we might need to push that back to spring 2021.

What are you learning right now as a dancer/artist by being socially distant?

It’s a new kind of discipline we must have. My discipline is doing some kind of movement two hours daily. It may be in different sections of the day because I have two young girls [seven and five years old]. I’m pushing myself to practice the aspects I want to grow in. I’m being organized about that – so if I’m taking a class consistently, I’m being mindful in how I’m taking that information, applying, and practicing it meaningfully. Now that we’ve been home for a while, I’m back to creating again. It’s fun that we can all learn and grow together through this virtual space. It’s also nice having the ease of going to class without having to drive; of course, nothing can replace the face to face.

How do you keep yourself uplifted during this time?

Overall, I do feel a sense of gratitude – it’s like a new family adventure for us, although we do have our ups and downs. I just want to throw everyone out of the house sometimes! From a parenting perspective, I use my experience from running M.O.M.I.E.S [a non-profit social justice education organization for children] and teach my girls “The Great Person Series.” We learn about one person in history for two weeks with hands-on activities. I’m uplifted because I get to be creative and [my children] are learning interesting concepts that they wouldn’t get otherwise. We just finished learning about Nikki Giovanni.

On the dance side, being able to learn from people is uplifting. I didn’t necessarily have the time and energy for all of this before. I have Zoom dance sessions with people I respect and we play around together. There’s been no pressure. It’s not ideal, but it’s been nice.

What do you hope the dance world will acknowledge or change by the end of pandemic?

It’s important to think about what support for artists really is. [The pandemic] has hit everyone hard. Even if you were successful or just starting out, this has affected artists in a big way. I would like to see dance organizations [become] more accessible to all dance forms, specifically in what they are choosing to present in their [performance] spaces. [Dance] organizations are going to have to pay more attention to that.

Online, we’re able to get audiences that we wouldn’t touch when we were performing in a physical space, so how are we able to build on those relationships? What are some things we can put in place now so that those audiences won’t be lost?

I also think we should use this opportunity to leverage more [financial] support for continuing dance in a greater capacity when we get back to “normal.” I wonder what organizations need right now to support our future “normal”?

Photo credits: Dominic Green and Ivan Huang

By Shianne Antoine

The growing COVID-19 pandemic has turned all of our lives upside down. Each of us is affected, whether by social distancing, staff meetings via video chat, closed studios, or cancelled performances. Talking with Malcolm Shute, my former college dance professor at Towson University, helped me gain a sense of the possibilities for continuing to one’s creative work through this pandemic and beyond.

Malcolm Shute founded Human Landscape Dance, an internationally known dance company based in Washington, D.C., in 2006. He earned his MFA in dance and choreography from the University of Maryland College Park and is a certified movement analyst through the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. Shute currently teaches multiple courses at Towson University, including a course on the evolution of vampires in film and dance composition.

Malcolm Shute, Human Landscape Dance, photo by Kanji Takeno

How did Human Landscape Dance begin?

When I went to grad school in 2003, I had been dancing with multiple companies in the D.C. area, but felt a strain of wanting to go in the direction of performing my own work. I focused on choreography in grad school. My heart was leading me to create in the off-campus community. Near the end grad school, I reached out to my very dear friend Alex Short to make work together. He and I have worked on Human Landscape ever since.

We call it Human Landscape because I’m very interested in the connections between people and the environments we live in, including other people. Most of my work is based on relationships and partnering; I look for connections -- what makes people part of their landscape, and, particularly, connections with people. It’s always been a playful process conducted among friends.

How are you and the Human Landscape dancers handling social distancing?

That’s the primary tension right now. I’m fortunate that Alex (Short) is still willing to dance with me. He and I are basically family, so I’m not worried that we would infect each other since we mostly socialize and dance with each other. I’m grateful that I’m still able to move with somebody because it’s my “bread and butter” and the fabric of my reality. I realize, as people separate [physically] more and more, I find myself going stir crazy. Why can’t I just go into the studio like I have every day for the last twenty years? It’s a huge challenge. Some dancers want to rehearse via Zoom, so I’m working on how we can create a coherent piece. It’s a Band-Aid on the problem of social distancing, but I don’t do social distancing! I social cling, smear, groove! It’s been a hell of a challenge; I haven’t quite figured it out yet.

The company had a performance at the Dance Loft on 14 scheduled for the weekend of April 18-19. What are the ramifications for postponing or cancelling? Are you taking a financial hit?

There have been financial losses. We hope to perform our D.C. and Baltimore shows in the future, but we won’t recoup everything even so. We’ve had to postpone our Japan tour for a year as well. A lot of work goes into presenting a show long before opening night, as you know. There are promotional materials that are now wasted, building support which has lost all momentum, and technicians and designers who may not be able to work a revised schedule.

But, most of all, the work itself suffers during these setbacks. Dances need to be polished and performed multiple times to meet their peak. Our work is built to the specific bodies of the dancers; after a certain point, it is not transferable. I’m afraid that some of our dances may never be performed. That said, it is better to lose dances than to lose lives. It still hurts, though.

Malcolm Shute with Alex Short, photo Nathan Harmon

What have you been doing to help occupy your time?

I’m video editing more now. I would rather spend this time making art and finding fulfillment rather than spinning my wheels. [The company members] are also tossing around the idea of an online concert. For not just Human Landscape, but for many groups. The idea is in the beginning stages, but it’s one I hope to pursue, particularly since I’ve lost several shows as a result of this [pandemic]. I know many of my friends have as well. We have this captive audience who are stuck at home, bored, and looking for something new and interesting to spend their time upon. I hope this necessity is going to generate some sort of invention or genre.

I’m fortunate enough to still have a job [at Towson University]. I’ve spent a lot of time working on teaching online. I’ve got a level three dance composition class about creating group choreography. Now, my students don’t have groups to work with. The impressions I’ve been hearing about from their isolation have inspired me to work harder to narrow the divide.

I’ve also been hanging around the family a lot. My 12-year-old daughter is really into ballet, so we’ll do a ballet barre together and, as you can imagine, that is something I haven’t done in a very long time!

What do you hope the dance world will acknowledge or change by the end of this pandemic?

A renewed sense of how lucky we are to get to do what we do. Our culture discourages connection: We look at screens all day, even before we were isolated socially. I feel that what we [dancers] do – communicating with each other in a room, performing cooperative relationships -- is such a gift! In some ways, I feel that it could be a solution for the world: “Make dance, not war.” I hope the pandemic serves as inspiration to create more work for the sheer pleasure and privilege of getting to do it. I hope we become more supportive of each other, having been separated. It makes me more appreciative of the support I’ve gotten over the years. I understand why we’re here. I just hope when we congregate again, we’ll return with a vengeance.