Mandeep Raikhy is a dance practitioner with a particular interest in exploring the intersections between performance, research, pedagogy and activism. He completed a BA (Hons) in Dance Theatre at Laban in 2002 and then toured with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, London, between 2005 and 2009. Since 2010, Mandeep has created several dance works, notably Inhabited Geometry (2010), a male ant has straight antennae (2013) and Queen-size (2016) and Anatomy of Belief (2019) and Hallucinations of an Artifact (2023). Over the last few decades, Raikhy has been preoccupied with exploring the relationship between choreographic practice and political resistance. Confronting issues like Section 377 of the Indian penal code that criminalised homesexuality up until 2018, religious nationalism, secularism and the nuanced performance of masculinity, Raikhy's dance becomes a reflection on contemporary lives. Besides creating and touring several dance works since 2008, Mandeep has worked to develop a supportive environment for contemporary dance in India through several initiatives such as Gati Dance Forum, Khuli Khirkee and the MA Performance Practice (Dance) at Ambedkar University, Delhi.
PCA is one of the rare programmes that bring together areas as diverse as performance, activism, community and research. Since my work falls in the intersections of these constructs, I am delighted to be thinking through these ideas further during my engagement with the course. I am excited about bringing my experience and knowledge of the moving body in South Asia to the programme and look forward to meeting students from a diverse range of social, political and geographical backgrounds and engaging with their aesthetics, communities and critical inquiries.
Mandeep Raikhy on what excites him about the MA Dance: Participation, Communities, Activism programme at London Contemporary Dance School