Misfit arrives in Toronto
Push Festival
By Jo Ledingham, Vancouver Courier

No misfit herself, Anita Majumdar is a beautiful, classically trained Indian dancer, university graduate and playwright-in-residence at Nightswimming Theatre (Toronto). The only child of Bengali immigrants, Majumdar was raised in Port Moody, a couple of small towns away from the home of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, the young Maple Ridge woman who was murdered in an apparent "honour killing."

Using that tragedy for inspiration, this one-woman show (presented by the PuSh Festival in association with South Asian Arts and Pull'it Out Theatre), begins as a comedy but ends in tragedy when Naz, a young dancer/choreographer leaves Canada for India to dance in the Taj Mahal Dance Company. Far from home, she falls for Lucky, a musician.

In her program notes, Majumdar says The Misfit is a work in progress--and it is. Directed and dramaturged by Mark Cassidy, it's heavily weighted to comedy at the beginning, then rushes to its violent conclusion.

Majumdar, however, is a skilled actor and dancer; her choreography cleverly embodies the difficulties faced by those who straddle two cultures: highly disciplined movement suddenly gives way to pelvic thrusting and overtly sexual gestures as East meets West.

With violence against Indo-Canadian women so often in the news, Majumdar is to be congratulated for exploring its roots. That she does so with humour is a bonus. She just needs to find the right balance--something, as a dancer, she achieves with such beauty and grace.

For more information, please visit: http://pushfestival.ca/index.php?mpage=shows&spage=main&id=44#show


The Toronto production of Misfit is part of HATCH: emerging performance projects. HATCH is Harbourfront Centre's annual performance residency programme, designed to incubate and foster invention and innovation in the local theatre and performance scene.Tickets cost $20 (students and seniors). A HATCHpass is $35 for all four HATCH projects. Performances on April 3 to April 5 start at 8 p.m.. For tickets and information, the public can call 416-973-4000 or visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com/hatch.
Performances take place at Harbourfront Centre's Studio Theatre at 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto.

The Misfit - Written and performed by Anita Majumdar
Directed by Mark Cassidy, Choreography by Joanna De Souza & Anita Majumdar

Toronto - HATCH: emerging performance projects, Harbourfront Centre: April 3-5