As the co-artistic director of Duniya Dance and Drum Company, San Francisco choreographer Joti Singh has forged a singularly powerful body of work combining Bhangra with West African rhythms. She continues to explore this dazzlingly fertile hybrid with Ghadar Geet: Blood and Ink, a site-specific outdoor performance merging live Punjabi folk music, Bhangra dance and recitation. The guiding narrative delves into the little-known story of the San Francisco-founded Ghadar Party, a revolutionary group of political activists from India fighting for independence from the British Empire. More than history, it’s a family tale for Singh, whose great-grandfather was the Ghadar Party’s president in the early 20th century. Rooting the choreography in her Bhangra dance background, she incorporates her Guinean training to expand Duniya’s new diasporic language.

Donations from this performance will be provided to The Citizens Foundation’s fund for families and communities in Pakistan affected by the recent devastating flooding.

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Ghadar Geet: Blood and Ink is co-commissioned by Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, and supported in part by awards from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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