About the Performance

Copresented with the Steppenwolf LookOut Series

The Next Cup of Tea is a solo dance-theater performance by Anjal Chande that investigates how to make sense of the never-ending impulses that run through our hearts, our everyday moments, and our contradictory experiences. Through improvisational dance and storytelling, Chande reflects on money, her grandfather, the politics of art, and more. Zigzagging between the gnawing inner world and daily physical routine, The Next Cup of Tea traverses through all that is ordinary, appalling, and enchanting.

This performance was originally scheduled as a part of the MCA’s 2023 Chicago Performs series, organized by Tara Aisha Willis, former curator, with Laura Paige Kyber, Assistant Curator.

Special Thanks from the Artist

Gratitude to all the collaborators who have contributed to previous iterations of this work across seven years of process. Shout out to the following individuals who shaped recent versions during the pandemic (2021) and a live showing at Tanztage in Berlin (2019): Gina Hoch-Stall (dramaturg), Jesse Hunter (musician), Karl Olson (musician), Josh Anderson (cinematographer), Emese Csornai (lighting design), David Ofori-Amoah (material design), Jorge Rodolfo De Hoyos Jr. (dramaturg), and Sophia New (mentor).

Billing

Anjal Chande | Creator/Performer
Sharon Udoh | Musician/Performer
David Ofori-Amoah | Structures designer
Maggie Bridger | Costumer
Amanda Maraist | Prop assistant
Matthew Chapman | Lighting designer

About the Artist

Anjal Chande is a dancer, drummer, and dragon, as well as a producer, space-maker, and founder of Soham Dance Space, which she has led as a home for creative practice, live performance, critical dialogue, and community gatherings since 2007. She was recently featured on Vocalo Radio’s This Is What Chicago Sounds Like. Her work has been presented/supported by the Chicago Dancemakers Forum 2019 Lab Artist Award, Ragdale Foundation, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Illinois Arts Council, Sophiensaele in Berlin, the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Drive East in New York, World Music Festival in Chicago, and numerous stages in India. Through the US Fulbright Program, she performed and studied in Berlin, Germany, researching the dance community and factors that contribute to thriving urban arts ecosystems. Trained in numerous music and dance forms since childhood, Chande draws from a wide creative range in making her art. She teaches performance art and bharatanatyam through radical pedagogies and has a desire to instill a sense of creative possibility and critical reflection within her students. As an aspiring carpenter, she is working toward learning how to build outhouses for the apocalypse.