Blue13 Dance Company is an American dance theatre ensemble based in Los Angeles, with a mission to drive a substantive shift in the perception and practice of American dance through performance, outreach, and education. For over 20 years, Blue13 has connected audiences through the power of live, aesthetically and culturally daring dance, performing in the U.S. and abroad in its highly energetic and theatrical modern dance style that is inspired in part by the classical and cultural art forms of the Indian subcontinent. A first-generation South Asian American, Blue13’s Artistic director, Achinta S. McDaniel pulls precision, humor, and deep emotion from her ensemble to create work as rebellious and unconventional as its architect. Storytelling through dance is central to the company, as is a continual exploration of technique with its cast of dancers of many backgrounds. The work is moody, rhythmic, and charged, presenting the audience with an intelligent experience of performance that turns the cultural stereotype of Indian dance on its head.

Blue13 recently will show new works “1947” presented by the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Spring, 2023. The piece explores the India-Pakistan partition of 1947, colonization, and its lasting effects. It was originally commissioned by the USC Kaufman school and premiered in 2022. Blue13 recently performed in McDaniel’s new stripped down, score-based contemporary work  “Restless autumn, restless spring,” with a world premiere at the REDCAT New Original Works Festival in 2022. A hallmark event in the company’s career was July 2022’s sold out Hollywood Bowl performance, in which Blue13 performed alongside the legendary Indian composer, A.R. RAHMAN. Blue13 created the critically acclaimed immersive piece, “Shaadi”  at the historic Heritage Square Museum in 2021. Other recent works include the evening length “Terpsichore in Ghungroos,” which premiered at The Wallis in February 2020. This three-part work provides commentary and explores the depths of insidious oppression based on race, gender, and othering.