Meet The Stones Ensemble: Anoshinie Muhundarajah
June 6, 2018
We’ve been profiling some of the amazing women of Stones. Next up, we asked ensemble member Anoshinie Muhundarajah to talk a bit about her collaboration on the project:
1. Why did you want to collaborate on Stones?
I wanted to collaborate on Stones because it was bringing two things I dearly care about and love together; performing arts and storytelling. I feel very strongly about using our voice through the arts to share real life stories and use it as a platform to enlighten, educate and empower people. I believe in the story Stones is telling and the resilience it holds for both the artists performing and the audience watching. I also wanted to take on this opportunity because it was something new, out of my comfort zone and challenging. Fundamentally being a dancer, I saw this interdisciplinary piece as a beautiful way to grow as an artist. Stones is an important story to be told and I wanted to be a part of this journey.
2. What have you learned from working with this group of creators?
I have learned so much from working with this group of creators. With Stones being my first step into theatre, I am so grateful to be working with a group of individuals who are not only talented and humble with their work but are deeply passionate with what they do. I see myself as a student to each creator on this team and I feel lucky to learn new skills and walk away with a great measure of growth. With a piece like Stones, I have learned how important it is to breathe together, listen to each other, connect with each other and trust each other. Everyone has been very supportive and I am beyond grateful to our director, Anita La Selva who believed in me and trusted me to be apart of her vision. She is a Guru (teacher) who has taught and inspired me so much in a short period of time.
3. How does this piece resonate with you personally?
Stones is a piece I do resonate with personally. As much as this piece looks at the practice of stoning itself, it represents the spectrum of violence against women and I believe that is something every woman can resonate with to some degree. Growing up, I personally can say that I know at least 10 people who I care about that have experienced physical/sexual violence. How many of these individuals felt they could report it? None. Having listened to their stories starting at a very young age, it is something that has also become part of my story and my trauma because of the way it affected me mentally and emotionally. Being in this piece is definitely a personal journey because it takes a lot of resilience to work through the triggers and emotions of the content. However, it is also therapeutic to work through it and express it with our art.
4. What do you hope audiences will take away from Stones?
Stones is filled with a lot of heavy material to walk away with and process. However, as difficult it may be to watch and understand, what I would hope for the audience to take away is that this is real life. The names of the women we mention in the piece are real people. Stoning may be the most extreme form of violence against women and it may not occur where we live, but are women here any safer? Several women, all of different age, cultural background and religion are often shamed, bullied, harassed, attacked, raped and killed. How is it any different? It is still violence. Furthermore, what steps can we as individuals and as a society take to stand in solidarity and end all forms of violence against women?
Anoshinie Muhundarajah is a Dancer, Choreographer and Instructor based in Toronto. She is a trained Bharatanatyam (Indian Classical) and Bollywood dancer who continues to grow exploring and fusing other styles. She has been performing for over 10 years and has danced for artists from the south asian music and film industry. Anoshinie was a finalist on Canada’s Got Talent with Broken Dance Performing Arts and went on a World Tour as a feature dancer for Lilly Singh performing in over 25 cities internationally. Anoshinie is also a huge advocate for using the arts and her love of dance to connect with people while inspiring and empowering communities globally. This led her to volunteer in Sri Lanka to teach dance in orphanages and women development centres. She believes that by continuing to use dance to guide, inspire and empower others then she is fulfilling her purpose.
Stones is a co-production between Aluna Theatre and The Stones Project. Performances run through June 10, 2018 at Geary Lane Studios, 360 Geary Lane. For more info and tickets, click here.