MUDRA

Digital Program for March 13 and 14th, 2026

LookOut Series at Steppenwolf Theatre

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Welcome

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The word mudra means gesture in Sanskrit, one of the most ancient languages in the world. In many classical Indian traditions, mudras are not simply hand movements—they are a language. Through gesture, dancers evoke emotions, characters, mythological narratives, and entire worlds.

This work is a journey through movement, myth, and transformation.

Drawing on the expressive languages of Indian classical dance—specifically Bharatanatyam and Kathak—and integrating elements of contemporary physical theatre, Mudra explores the symbolic power of gesture. This embodied language carries memory, emotion, and story across time.

Each movement unfolds as an invocation: to imagine, to desire, to dare, to rise, and ultimately to live fully.

Through shifting landscapes of sound, gesture, and embodied storytelling, Mudra invites audiences into a poetic world where the body becomes both archive and oracle.

Rather than presenting a single linear narrative, Mudra unfolds through states of being, inviting the audience to imagine and complete the story. Each moment is an invocation: to imagine, to desire, to dare, to rise, to uplift, to hope, and ultimately to live fully.

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Artists

Created and Performed by
Shalaka Kulkarni

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Featuring Guest Collaborator
Yoshinojo Fujima

https://yoshinojo.org/

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Sound and Music:

Cello Piece by Zoe Keating titled 'Legions' 

"Is it Gion?" by Yoshinojo Fujima

All other sections – Sound design by Shalaka Kulkarni

All music is permitted for use in this performance by the artists.

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Lighting Design
Matthew Chapman

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Production Support
LookOut Series Producers
Patrick Zakem and Kara Davidson

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Performance Order

Imagine
A quiet awakening. The space of possibility opens.

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Desire
Longing begins to shape movement and form.

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Dare
A moment of risk. A step beyond fear.

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Rise
Transformation begins to take hold.

Music by Zoe Keating. 

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Uplift
An encounter that shifts the trajectory. lifting the spirit beyond limitation

"Is it Gion?" by Yoshinojo Fujima

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Hope
Surrender to the unfolding path. A quiet resilience

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Live
A return to the mind, body and spirit as a site of freedom.

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About the Work

Mudra explores the power of gesture as a universal language.

Rooted in classical Indian dance traditions yet shaped through contemporary choreographic inquiry, the work examines how the body communicates states of being that words cannot.

Gestures become portals to mythology, personal memory, and collective experience.

The work asks:

What stories are carried in the hands?
What histories live in the body?
How can movement become a pathway toward transformation?

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Program Note

I have been fascinated by Maureen Fleming’s work the moment I first saw her on stage in New York, and I continue to be so. Her work traces infinite stories with a single body, bending space and time with gesture, moving between the delicate and the otherworldly. My time with her last year has been one of the most rewarding creative, artistic, and personal moments of growth and courage. Working alongside her reminded me that dance is not only about form or technique, but about possibility, bravery, and the questions the body can ask. Her work continues to inspire me to explore how movement can open worlds that words cannot reach.

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Note on Our Collaboration

Yoshinojo Fujima (a.k.a. Rika Lin) and I have been creating collaborative vignettes for some time now. Each project becomes an exchange that expands our cultural boundaries and our own creative limits. Every collaboration is a chapter of discovery, allowing new seeds to sprout as our approaches to “traditional” and “contemporary” both differ and merge.

Through sharing, challenging, and co-creating often without words, we explore movement, gesture, and rhythm in ways that are playful, transformative, and deeply resonant. These moments of dialogue and invention continue to shape in this work of MUDRA, inviting audiences into a shared imaginative space where lineage, experimentation, and collaboration converge.

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Yoshinojo Fujima A.K.A Rika Lin

Yoshinojo Fujima (Rika Lin) is an interdisciplinary artist, choreographer, and Grandmaster in the Fujima style of Japanese classical dance. Rooted in the traditions of Nihon Buyō while embracing contemporary experimentation, her work bridges heritage and innovation through performance, collaboration, and interdisciplinary exploration. As part of the postwar Japanese American diaspora, her work often reflects questions of cultural identity, lineage, and artistic transformation.

Her work has been presented at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago Cultural Center, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, and Links Hall. Her full-length work Asobi: Playing within Time premiered at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2018, and her ongoing project Beyond the Box explores new creative possibilities for women performers through interdisciplinary collaboration and performance.

Fujima is a recipient of the 3Arts Award for Dance and has held residencies with High Concept Labs, Chicago Dancemakers Forum, and Djerassi Resident Artists Program. Through performance, teaching, and collaboration, she continues to expand the language of Japanese classical dance within a contemporary global context.

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Note on "Is it Gion?"

"Is it Gion?" composed by Rika Lin, the music is heavily inspired by the Yamatogaku piece "Gion no Yozakura", composed by Sakyo Yamato(Midori Nishikawa II) The original piece was written for Midori Nishikawa I. It depicts the splendor of cherry blossoms at night, and is said to have been performed by the Osaka geisha Ohan around 1951.

Watching her senpai perform the dance and then dancing it herself; as a composer, Lin grasps at the atmosphere of stillness, reverie, and universal expanse in the cyclical, meditative soundscape; while as a dancer, the movement displays thoughts, experiences, and the force of 'will'.

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Shalaka Kulkarni

Shalaka Kulkarni is an interdisciplinary dance artist, choreographer, actor, and writer whose work bridges Indian classical dance, contemporary performance, and physical theatre. Trained in Bharatanatyam and Kathak, she creates original works that explore mythology, identity, and transformation through movement, gesture, and storytelling.

Kulkarni holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and Media from Columbia College Chicago. Her performances and choreographic works have been presented at venues including the Chicago Cultural Center, Links Hall, Elastic Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, South Asia Institute, Heritage Museum of Asian Art, Fever Up series at Chopin Theater and the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. Her solo performance 'Nyra’s Dreams' has been presented at Chicago Dramatists, Filet of Solo Festival at Lifeline Theatre, and Rhinofest, with the short dance film adaptation recognized at international film festivals in Korea, Paris, and India.

Her collaborative and interdisciplinary projects include work with Yoshinojo Fujima, Amin Gulgee, Asian Improv aRts Midwest, and Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble. A recipient of the 3Arts Make a Wave Grant, Kulkarni has held residencies with Ragdale, High Concept Labs, Chicago Performance Lab at the University of Chicago, See Chicago Dance, Mandala Arts, and SloMoCo. Through choreography, film, and performance, her work explores how the body carries cultural memory, imagination, and personal narrative across time.

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