The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), an expansive program providing New York City choreographers and dance companies with creative residencies on CUNY college campuses, announces the world premiere of Clothesline by Jeevika Bhat on November 13 & 14 at 7:30pm at Aaron Davis Hall at City College (129 Convent Ave at West 135th Street, NYC). General admission is $20, with student and senior tickets available for $15. Get tickets at: www.ccny.cuny.edu/ldcpa/events
Choreographed by Jeevika Bhat, Clothesline is a contemporary Indian dance story, told from the perspective of a sari that is passed down through generations of Karnataka women. Exploring themes of home, heritage, and identity, the piece asks “how does culture fade with each wash?”
Bhat trained in the east Indian classical dance style Odissi, and she uses this as a basis for a contemporary choreographic mode that seeks to define the confluence of cultures through art.
“The notion that we are too American for our home country, yet too foreign for America, plagues many of my second-generation immigrant peers,” says Bhat. “Deeply personal to my own lineage, Clothesline evokes a sense of homesickness, personifying the sari as a parallel to the immigrant experience.”
Clothesline features a cast of eight South Asian dancers, one of whom plays the personified sari: Shalini Basu, Keshav Agiwal, Rutva Satish, Jeevika Bhat, Medha Morparia, Samanvita Kasthuri, Bhavana Channavajala, Divya Empranthiri. The score is comprised of Kannada folk music – bhavageethe (emotional songs) and janapadageethe (songs of the people).
Clothesline, which is co-presented by the CUNY Dance Initiative and the Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts, has also received support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Creative Engagement Grant and the GALLIM Moving Artist Residency.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Jeevika Bhat is a dancer and choreographer who explores the confluence of her cultures through a contemporary Indian medium. Her technical background is in Odissi, an East Indian classical dance form known for its nuanced storytelling and graceful fluidity, which she studies under the guidance of Guru Jyoti Rout. Academically, she is a graduate of UC San Diego, where she earned a BS in Mathematics with minors in Linguistics and Dance, and UC Irvine, where she earned an MFA in Dance.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI) marked a decade of supporting the NYC dance field in 2024. The program was developed in response to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s 2010 report, “We Make Do,” which cited how destabilizing the shortage of affordable rehearsal space in New York City is to the dance sector. A successful pilot supporting residencies on four CUNY campuses in 2013 led to CDI’s formal launch in 2014. Since then, CDI has become a key player in New York City’s performing arts ecosystem, leading a consortium of 14 CUNY colleges and four arts organizations to host 20+ residencies for NYC choreographers and dance companies each year. In the past 11 years, CDI has granted 275 residencies to emerging and established choreographers, providing invaluable resources to artists, while enhancing CUNY students’ education and cultural experiences.

The CUNY Dance Initiative receives major support from The Mertz Gilmore Foundation and Howard Gilman Foundation. Additional support is provided by the SHS Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s Charles E. Culpeper Arts & Culture program, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and the Harkness Foundation for Dance. CDI is spearheaded by The Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College. www.cuny.edu/danceinitiative
Leonard Davis Center for the Performing Arts, located at The City College of New York, serves as a cultural hub that builds a sense of community both within the school and its surrounding neighborhood, while inspiring creativity and diversity. It also provides a premier venue for local and national performers and for art patrons in the tri-state area.
Aaron Davis Hall is the focal point of this creative revitalization and community programming. It will soon launch phase II of a $50 million renovation, which includes an upgrade of all theatrical instruments, installation of a lift, upgraded bathrooms, dressing rooms and more. www.ccny.cuny.edu/ldcpa