About the Show
MUDRA, by Shalaka Kulkarni, is a 60-minute dance-theatre work that unfolds through mythical short stories carried by sand, water, breath, and gesture. Rooted in Bharatanatyam and Kathak and shaped by contemporary movement, the piece explores desire not as longing, but as an inner current that guides, spills, transforms, and leads us toward what is alive and present.
The journey moves from stillness to awakening, from shadow to light, tracing creatures, rivers, keepers, and lotuses that exist between worlds. Each transition reveals desire as motion rather than possession: something that cannot be held, only followed. Like the gradual opening of a lotus, the work peels back layers of memory, time and embodiment, inviting the dancer and the audience closer to an essential, vital truth.
MUDRA features guest artist Yoshinojo Fujima (aka Rika Lin), Grandmaster of Fujima-style Japanese classical dance, in a rare collaboration that bridges form and fluidity, stillness and flow, ritual and release.
About the Artists
Asian-American artist Shalaka Kulkarni is an interdisciplinary dance artist trained in Bharatanatyam and Kathak who creates experiences bridging the ancient and contemporary. Trained in India and then continuing to train after immigrating to USA under artists like Pranita Nayar, Sandhya Desai and Nana Shineflug, Kulkarni holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and Media from Columbia College Chicago. Her work explores female identity, societal norms, and mythic narratives through hybrid movement and storytelling. As a principal dancer and choreographer, she has performed in India, the U.S., and Europe. Her choreography integrates her writing, media and Indian Classical vocabulary to deliver resonant contemporary narratives, often exploring empowerment and healing through movement.
Performing since 2000 in Chicago- Kulkarni previously danced with Kalapriya Dance Company and Anila Sinha Foundation. She also founded SurTaal, a collective presenting hybrid Indian classical dance works. Her creative collaborations include performances in The Story of Ram (Harris Theater), the Fever Up series (Chopin Theater), and a cross-cultural collaboration with Japanese artists at Bridge Dance Festival (Links Hall), Chicago Danzetheatre Ensemble, La Pocha Nostra under Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Dance Chicago Festival, and residencies at the Chicago Cultural Center, High Concept Labs, Mandala Arts, and SloMoCO (Movement and Computing Community). She was a 2023 High Concept Labs Resident Artist and a guest choreographer for Momenta Dance Company. (2023) Dance for Camera resident artist with See Chicago Dance, (2024) Ragdale residency, (2024) 3Arts Make A Wave Artist (2025) 3-Opp Grant from 3Arts.
MUDRA is inspired by her time spent with renowned Maureen Fleming, a Guggenheim Fellow and multiple times awarded Fulbright Scholar. Maureen's invaluable feedback and insight has propelled the idea of MUDRA in its first iteration. The 3-Opp grant from 3Arts made this residency possible in the summer of 2025 and inspiring making of MUDRA.
Learn more about Shalaka at shalakakulkarni.com or on social media @shalaka_dance.
Yoshinojo Fujima (aka Rika Lin) is an interdisciplinary artist, dancemaker, and Grandmaster in Fujima-style Japanese classical dance and is part of the postwar Japanese American diaspora. Her process and art springs forth from the complete immersion in traditional practice and then ‘sonar pings’ as questions, challenges, and then fireworks into a coalesced impression. She has performed her original works and as part of many collaborations at Links Hall, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Pritzker Pavilion, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), where she premiered her full length work Asobi: Playing within Time in 2018. Her works embody her identity and tradition through performance as well as her teaching practice in Japanese classical dance. In 2021 she received the CDF Digital Dance Grant and the CDF Production Residency for her ongoing virtual reality project “Kurokami E{m}Urge, #ChooseYourReality”, which is also nurtured by her time as a Fellow in Residence at High Concept Labs (HCL) (2021-2022), She presented the most recent iteration as part of her ongoing “Beyond the Box” series as a CoMission Fellow at Links Hall in June 2023.
A recipient of a John D. and Susan P. Diekman Fellowship Djerassi Resident Artist (2019), she has also received residencies at Ragdale Foundation (2019) and High Concept Labs (2018), a Links Hall Artistic Associate Curatorial Resident, 3Arts Make a Wave artist, and Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist (2017.) And most recently, recipient of the 3Arts award for dance (2023).
Learn more at yoshinojo.org/ or follow on social media @fujima.yoshinojo.
Running Time
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RED Card Members
If you are a RED Card Member, your credits are valid for this LookOut presentation! Click the button below to learn more about redeeming your credits online.
Patron Code of Conduct
Welcome to Steppenwolf, one of the premiere ensemble theaters in America. By visiting us, you agree to adhere to the theatre’s Patron Code of Conduct and Health and Safety Protocols.