2025 marks Samskriti's 30 years as a leading arts organization that has changed the cultural landscape of Houston and enriched the arts scene with its outstanding presentations by world renowned artists. One such production is The Four Horsemen by Jiva Dance Company of New York. It is a highly innovative Indian Classical dance production exploring symbolism from the story of the Apocalypse through Indian classical dance, music, and Sanskrit poetry. The work centers around four vignettes of life and death through four female protagonists who stand for universal human experience. The stories - a woman shackled to the life of a courtesan (conquest), a woman reminiscing the night she spent with her lover who is at war (war), a mother searching for nourishment for her child in the midst a sandstorm (famine), and finally a woman at the end of her life recalling memories that span youthful joy to hardship and loss (death) - are touchingly timely. 

This production is a group choreography that depicts the story of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, representing the battle between destruction and creation, despair and hope – the end of time and new beginning.  Perhaps the apocalypse does not merely occur at a finite point in time when the world/time ends. Perhaps, we as humans live are living in the world marred by endless wars power plays, lust for power and control, and amidst nature who gas unleashed her fury on us for our ignorance. Is this not our apocalypse? Can there be hope to get past these struggles?

The new work challenges the notion of Indian classical dance content and technique and moves beyond the traditional to incorporate a cross-cultural analysis of female experience. The work highlights original choreography by Sonali Skandan and Maya Kulkarni with music commissioned to the celebrated composer Rajkumar Bharathi (Chennai, India) and Bala Skandan (NYC) with sound design by Sai Sharavanam of Resound, India. The show features a cast of four dancers. The project is supported by funds from the inaugural Dance/NYC Dance Advancement Fund, and the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs. The initial choreographic ideas and dramaturgy were developed in residency at Queens College through the CUNY Dance Initiative from 2017– 2018. The script was written by Shiv Subramanian and Sonali Skandan with narrative guidance from Dramaturge Kate Farrington from Pearl Theatre and Queens College. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 23 at 5:00 PM

Matchbox 2

RUNTIME:
90 minutes with no intermission

TICKETS:
Reserved Seating
$32 Premium
$22 Regular

Students/Seniors may receive a $5 discount by
using the code HORSEMEN at checkout.

ALL SALES ARE FINAL.

GENERAL INFORMATION

*Online sales will end 30 minutes prior to the scheduled curtain time. At this time tickets may be purchased in-person at the box office.

The box office opens 2 hours prior to the performance time for WILL CALL and walkup sales.

All sales are final. No refunds or cancellations available after purchase.

MATCH Concessions will be open 1 hour prior to event start time. Enjoy a cocktail or a quick snack before the event. For a concessions menu CLICK HERE.

Location & Parking: For information on area parking CLICK HERE.

Area Restaurants & Bars: CLICK HERE for a list of area restaurants and bars.