Tap Dancer & Kathak Master Join for Portland Ovations' India Jazz Suites

Portland Ovations presents India Jazz Suites, a dynamic collaboration between Emmy Award-winning tap dancer, Jason Samuels Smith and India's foremost Kathak master, Pandit Chitresh Das at Hannaford Hall, USM Portland on Wednesday, November 16th at 7:30pm.

India Jazz Suites is an energetic display of dance using rhythm and improvisation to communicate a deep appreciation of both the tap and Kathak traditions. These two incredible performers are accompanied by three top Indian musicians and the Marcus Shelby Jazz Trio during an evening of high entertainment that crosses all boundaries with its incredible speed and power, grace and beauty, epic storytelling and the pure joy of dance.

Jason Samuels Smith is one of the world's fastest, most explosive tap dancers and has won both an Emmy and an American Choreography Award. In 2007 he was honored with the Gregory Hines Humanitarian Award for his work to promote dance for youth in south Los Angeles and throughout the country.

Pandit Chitresh Das is India's foremost Kathak master and has received numerous awards and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation, among others. A child prodigy, Pandit Das has become one of the most compelling and far-reaching artists to emerge from modern India. A prolific artist, his performance, choreography and evolution of Kathak, classical dance of North India, has influenced the art form world-wide.

Ovations Offstage offers a pre-performance lecture one day prior to the performance presented at and in collaboration with the Portland Museum of Art, Back and Forth: An Evening with Dancers Pandit Chitresh Das and Jason Samuels Smith on November 15th at 6pm in the Osher Foundation Auditorium. A conversation between dancers Pandit Chitresh Das and Jason Samuels Smith explores how the unique collaboration of these exceptional artists transcends continents, generations, cultures, and communities. Together they create a new and distinct kind of dance. Individually in their home communities of India and the United States, each dancer works to preserve their individual dance traditions. Alicia Anstead, editor-in-chief of the national magazine Inside Arts will moderate the discussion.

Tickets for India Jazz Suites are $25 for Ovations' Members, $28 for the general public and a limited amount of $15 student tickets are also available. To purchase tickets, contact PortTix at 207-842-0800 or visit the box office window at Merrill Auditorium. Tickets are also available online at www.portlandovations.org.

About Portland Ovations

Each year since 1931, Portland Ovations brings a dynamic season of exceptional performing artists from around the world to Maine including classical music, jazz, opera, dance, theater, and Broadway national tours. In addition to live performances, Ovations brings the exhilaration of the performing arts out into our community with season-long educational and outreach activities known as Ovations Offstage. A Maine-based non-profit, Portland Ovations contributes to the cultural, social and economic well-being of our community by presenting an array of high quality performing artists from around the world and creating diverse educational experiences that bring the enjoyment, energy and enrichment of the arts to all.