Parijat Desai (Choreographer): Since 1995, Parijat has been exploring ways to blend Indian classical dance, modern/postmodern dance and other forms. Desai strives to find organic connections between forms, to investigate new ways to respond to Indian music, and to find overlaps between drama in the Indian classical tradition and Western dance-theater. Desai's goals are to develop contemporary South Asian movement aesthetics, and to engage audiences across boundaries of language and culture. By creating hybrids, she hopes to challenge dangerous ideas about cultural and national purity.PDDC has been presented in New York by P.S. 122, Danspace Project, La MaMa Theatre, and the Queens Museum of Art; in Los Angeles by the Skirball Cultural Center, the Getty Center, and Highways Performance Space; as well as at venues in the Bay Area, Chicago and Chennai (India). Website: www.parijatdesai.org.