Malika Srivastava is a performer and educator who has specialized in the preservation and dissemination of jazz dance. Malika’s fascination with jazz has taken her to Cuba, New Orleans, Italy, Montreal, and New York, where she has studied the folkloric (or social) songs and dances that have distincly infused and influenced the world of jazz. In 2006 she receive a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to study folkloric dance and its connections to jazz in Northern Brazil. She is a former company dancer with Decidedly Jazz Danceworks and has also taught in their school program. In 2009 she created a highly successful interdisciplinary class wherein a live jazz ensemble accompanied the class, as well as educated students about each instrument, it’s particular role in the ensemble, and a muscian’s approach to improvisation. Malika pursued anthropological and jazz music studies at Concorida University where she worked towards the completion of an honours thesis on jazz and its (re)connection with its physical counterpart, dance.
The Gossips
Season: 2012
Music: Raunchy Rita by Richard Davis
Costume: Leica Hardy
A theatrical mix of dance and improvisational dialogue that looks at teenagers and their penchant to “talk”.
Photo by Nicole Pelot of the company in The Gossips.
