California Contemporary Dancers
From 2001 to 2004 Gandhi was Co-Artistic Director of this modern dance company based in San Francisco. The company was founded by Yasmen Mehta in 1990, and was a San Francisco favorite! Gandhi choreographed many dances on the company during her time with them, presenting one home season per year along with some local and international touring.
It’s a Sign (2003)
An exploration of how superstition, since ancient times, continues to permeate our day-to-day living. With a highly gestural movement vocabulary including the use of “mudras” (symbolic hand gestures used in classical Indian dance), the piece illuminates, with a tongue-in-cheek sensibility, the inherent need in each human being to give meaning to the “chance” occurrences in our lives.
Excerpts: 5:49 minutes
Full-length: 15 minutes
Creation: Sheetal Gandhi
Music: Rama Douglas
Lullaby Goodbye (2003)
Letting go and moving to accept the untimely passing of the one you love, Gandhi dances for her father, to one of his favorite songs by Sultan Khan.
When does it happen? That a wind chime is blown, and I miss my dad like a wave passing through me. What moment is it when his spirit is felt so acutely, like a pin-prick to my heart, and that longing, that miss, and that thankfulness for the love all rolled into one, comes on so strong? I love, love, love my dad, and this was his favorite song. Sojaare, tane lori sunao……sleep, I will sing you a lullaby.
Excerpts: 4:37
Full-length: 13 minutes
Creation: Sheetal Gandhi
Music: Sultan Khan “Sojaare”
Costumes: Sheetal Gandhi
Chicks (2003)
A family-friendly show that puts chicks and roosters into the coop together for the age-old battle of the sexes.
Excerpts: 5:12 minutes
Full-length: 14 minutes
Creation: Sheetal Gandhi
Music: Zap Mama
Costumes: Sheetal Gandhi
Calabash (2003)
Having lived in Ghana, West Africa for one year, Gandhi learned the traditional drum and song rhythms played by the Dagbamba women of Northern Ghana. In Calabash, Gandhi experiments and plays with these rhythms, using them as a springboard into a high-spirited piece that explodes in celebration of woman's unparalleled strength, tolerance, and perseverance.
Excerpts: 4:56 minutes
Full-length: 14 minutes
Creation: Sheetal Gandhi
Music: Calabash rhythms from Northern Ghana and Live musicians
Costumes: Sheetal Gandhi
Takers (2002)
Highly imaginative, quirky and theatrical, this piece uses silver paint and balloons to create an otherworldly landscape. Inspired by the book “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn and Gandhi's experiences and observations living in Irvine, Orange County – the epitome of a “Brave New World”, petri dish society. Takers explores human society’s evolution and obsessive need for control.
Excerpts: 4:49 minutes
Full-length: 11 minutes
Creation: Sheetal Gandhi
Music: Stephen Kent “Taksu” & AfroCelt Sound System “Lovers of Light”
Costumes: Sheetal Gandhi