Artistic Director, ANIKAYA ANIKAYA technique (USA)

Wendy Jehlen

Her career has been marked by international explorations, study and creative collaboration. She received her Bachelor’s degree in ritual and performance from Brown University and her Master of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School with a focus on performance and religion in the former Persian world. Her unique approach to choreography incorporates elements of Bharata Natyam, Odissi, Capoeira, Kalaripayattu, West African dance, Butoh, and a wide-range of Contemporary movement forms. Her emotionally powerful choreography has been created and performed in the US, Canada, France, Italy, India, Japan, Benin, Brazil, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, South Africa, Palestine and Turkey. Works include The Women Gather (2022), a post-modern ritual movement opera developed exclusively with women-identifying artists; Breath(less) (2021), a solo for two dancers; Conference of the Birds (2018) a multi-media dance theater work created in collaboration with artists from 10 countries and Migrations (2019), a companion piece to Conference of the Birds re-created in communities on tour; Delicateness in Times of Brutality (2017), an evolving duet with Japanese Deaf Butoh artist Dakei; Entangling (2015), a duet with Burkinabe choreographer Lacina Coulibaly inspired by Quantum Entanglement; The Deep (2015), a work for 25 dancers created in São Paulo, Brazil, Lilith (2013), a solo on the first woman; The Knocking Within (2012), an evening-length duet on a disintegrating relationship; Forest (2010), a journey through the archetypal forest; He Who Burns (2006), a trio on the figure of Iblis (Satan); Breathing Space (2003), a collaboration with Japanese choreographer Hikari Baba in Tokyo; Crane (2002), based on images from Japanese Buddhist poetry; and Haaaa (2002), inspired by the experience of childbirth. Jehlen has received support from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, Theater Communications Group, the Japan Foundation, the Boston Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Network of Ensemble Theaters, National Performance Network, Boston Center for the Arts., Massachusetts Cultural Council, the American Institute of Indian Studies, Boston Dance Alliance, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, the National Endowment for the Arts, US Embassies in Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Japan, Mexico, Rwanda and South Africa among others. She is an Arts Envoy of the US Department of State, a Fulbright Scholar and former Fulbright Specialist and is on the Speaker Roster of African Regional Services.

Lead Artist, ANIKAYA. Bharatanatyam. Kalaripayattu (South Africa)

K Sarveshan

K Sarveshan is a South African Bharatanatyam artist of Indian Origin. His performance practice rigorously explores the complexities of his diasporic cultural heritage and his embodied experience. The interplay between Bharatanatyam, Kalaripayattu, Yoga, Traditional Indian Folk, Kathak, and Carnatic Music has revealed to him a creative path that ferries between the “classical” and the “contemporary”. Bharatanatyam, however, remains the fertile ground from which his creative endeavors take root. Sarveshan’s distinct understanding of Bharatanatyam is derived from his initial training with Savitri Naidoo – student of the formidable Pandanallur Srinivasa Pillai and Indira Rajan – and his expert training received from living legends, Natyaacharya Shanta & V.P Dhananjayan. In addition to being a seasoned Bharatanatyam performer, Sarveshan concerns himself in areas of dance research and scholarship, with a first-class BA Honors in Performance Studies from The University of Cape Town (2021). Diverse dance-work experiences at Bharata Kalanjali, Leela Samson’s Spanda Dance Company, ANIKAYA Dance Theater & The University of Cape Town further enhance Sarveshan’s credibility as an award-winning Bharatanatyam performer, dance-maker and teacher. In 2018, The Madras Music Academy awarded Sarveshan the “Gutty Vasu Endowment Prize” for being the “Best Performer” at the Spirit of Youth Festival 2017. Other titles that have been conferred on him are “Natya Purna” from Bharata Kalanjali, “Natya Bhaarathi” from Visakha Art & Dance Association & “Yuva Kalaa Bhaarathi” from Bhaarat Kalaachaar. He is the 2021-2022 recipient of The Kalaavahini Junior Fellowship, an initiative by Malavika Sarukkai, for which he created and premiered his recent solo work titled, KailāsaKrishna.

Danang Pamungkas

Danang Pamungkas was born in Solo, Indonesia. He studied traditional Javanese dance at the Mangkunegaran Palace of Surakarta, and graduated from the Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Surakarta. From 2008-2011, Danang was a member of the renowned Cloud Gate Dance Company of Taiwan under artistic director Lin Hwai Min. 

Danang received a grant from the Asian Cultural Council for a 6 month residency program in New York City and a fellowship for a 6-week summer choreography program at American Dance Festival in Durham, NC in 2016.

Danang’s own choreography includes “Panyot Pun Padam, “ which was awarded First Prize at The Next Wave Indonesian Choreographer in Jakarta, and performed at the 2004 Surabaya Art Festival; a Beat Project Grant from Kelola Foundation performed at Teater Arena Taman Budaya Jawa Tengah In Surakarta (2011) and Salihara Theatre Jakarta also performed at Indonesian Dance Festival 2012 in Jakarta. He has collaborated as a choreographer with Indonesian director and filmmaker Garin Nugroho on “Opera Jawa Selendang Merah“ performed in Jakarta Theatre. 

Other projects include (2013) “A Part of Passion” performed at Teater Arena Taman Budaya Surakarta. (2013) Festival Salihara Jakarta (2014) “Break the Harmony” at the Welt Museum Impulstanz Festival 2013 in Vienna; “Fly on the Earth” at the Welt Museum Vienna Austria (2013); Residence program from Austrian Ministry of Education Vienna Austria (2013); “ANGST ANGEL; Return” a collaboration with Alex Dea and Maya Dance Theatre, Singapore (2014); “ Whispering of” performed at M1 Open Stage National Museum Singapore (2015); “In one/two world(s)” at Cornell University (2016); choreography of the Silent Film “Satan Jawa” directed by Garin Nugroho (2017); “Kabar Senja” at Taman Budaya Jawa Tengah in Surakarta (2021); “Ruang Bawah” Rumah Banjarsari Studio Surakarta and Bentara Budaya Yogyakarta (2022) “A Quest for Relationship: Island by choreographer Wang Yeu-kwn in Weiwuing Kauhsiong, Taiwan (2022).

Danang has been working with ANIKAYA since 2018 as an ensemble member of Conference of the Birds and is now developing a new work, T(h)ree with ANIKAYA. 

Ching-I Chang

Made in Taiwan, active in America and quiet places. MFA. She has a deep love for dance and nurturing harmony. She has danced for Susan Marshall, Gesel Mason, Punchdrunk, and many brilliant artists. She was an original cast member of Sleep No More NYC; as well as a rehearsal director of SNM Shanghai. Most recently, she has toured with ANIKAYA to Palestine and African countries. Along with performing, teaching has been her sacred process of learning. She was a visiting professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and an adjunct at U of California San Diego. She is a Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, Yoga and Yoga Nidra Facilitator. She has bathed in contact improvisation, meditation and yoga since 2005 with occasional teaching and sharing with others. In her free time, she practices calligraphy, plays with voices, and makes bad art. And she loves bananas.

Yasin Anar

Yasin Anar is a contemporary dancer based in Istanbul. He is a graduate of the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory in Contemporary Dance and holds a Master Trainer certificate in Turkish traditional folk dance. Yasin has performed with numerous contemporary dance companies both in Turkey and abroad, including the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet Modern Dance Company, Istanbul Contemporary Ballet Company, Hodjapasha Dance Theatre, DEF Dance Company, and the UK-based Aakash Odedra Dance Company. At MDT Istanbul, he has worked with renowned choreographers such as Beyhan Murphy, İhsan Rüstem, Andonis Foniadakis, Evrim Akyay, Alper Marangoz, Michael Popper, and Aysun Aslan. In addition to his role as a soloist in many productions, he also served as one of the principal soloists in Aysun Aslan’s production of Jizel. He has also been a creative dancer in works by artists such as Sagi Gross and Korhan Başaran at Akbank Sanat. Since 2016, Yasin has been working as a teacher, choreographer, and dancer at Istanbul Dance Factory and has toured the Balkans and Europe with the Zümrüt-ü Anka project. In 2024, he performed a solo piece with his own choreography during the closing show of the Saudi Pro League final match in Riyadh. With the Aakash Odedra Company, Yasin performed in Je Suis, touring worldwide in countries such as Germany, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom, including performances at prestigious venues like Sadler’s Wells. In 2019, he took part as both a choreographer and dancer in the Mosaic project, which was presented at the Effekte Science Festival in Karlsruhe, Germany, bridging the worlds of art and science. Yasin has danced with ANIKAYA since 2018.