CHITRA - WARRIOR PRINCESS (2005 work in progress) is an original choreography by Menaka Thakkar that is a re-telling of Rabindranath Tagore’s breakthrough feminist dance drama. It is the story of a Warrior Princess who is raised as a son and heir to the kingdom and her struggle to balance her innate feminine self with her developed masculine self. Since these themes are universal, they appeal to any audience that enjoys a good story. The choreography will use Bharatnatyam and Odissi dance styles along with some Kalaripayattu martial arts movements. There will be four guest dancers touring with the Company from India.

SITAYANA (remounted in 2005, original creation 1994) - A landmark work of Menaka’s traditional choreography in Bharatnatyam, Sitayana re-interprets the ancient epic Ramayana from the point of view of the epic’s heroine Sita, and thus addresses a number of contemporary feminist concerns. This two-hour dance drama combines classical dance and classical theatre.

PARASHAKTI (remounted in 2005, original creation 1991) - Parashakti is a contemporary Bharatnatyam dance that deals with the cycle of Creation, Sustenance, and Destruction. It portrays the evolution of Creative Energy through various stages: first, the pre-creation primordial self-absorption or self-involvement; second, the impulse to create bursting forth in an amorphous self-abandon of joyous expansion; then a self-regulating movement of order, harmony, beauty, and balance giving rise to well ordered creation; finally there is loss of balance and a falling off centre through uncontrollably rising tempo of activities and self-exploding dynamism that leads to inevitable destruction. The piece ends where it began: in the self-absorption of the Creative Energy as in the primordial pre-creation stage. The cycle is now complete. This production was presented in 2005 for Tsunami relief because of its message of birth, death and rebirth and is on tour in 2006.

WISE MONKEY AND FOOLISH CROCODILE (remounted in 2005, original creation 1979) - The piece, Wise Monkey, Foolish Crocodile is a timeless classic from the Jakata tales and was created in 1979 for the International Year of the Child, Dance and the Child Conference. It is a children’s dance drama based upon creative dance movements that illustrate several classical Indian dance styles. In conjunction with seven company dancers, the students become part of an imaginary animal kingdom. The fable depicts a husband and wife crocodile and their relationship with their friend the monkey. The husband crocodile is put in a situation where he is forced to be loyal to his wife or loyal to the monkey. However, the wife’s loyalty is based on greed (the wrong choice) and the monkey’s loyalty is based on genuine friendship (the right choice). The husband crocodile makes the wrong decision, and chooses greed over friendship. In the end, he loses his friend the monkey and upsets his wife.

PATTANO PRADESH - The Queen of Spades (May 2004) - Hailed as Menaka Thakkar ’s “masterpiece” by The Globe and Mail, Pattano Pradesh or The Queen of Spades is a spectacular and multi-faceted work featuring five of India’s classical dance forms: Bharatnatyam, Odissi, Mohiniattam, Manipuri and Kathak Based on a short story by Rabindranath Tagore, the narrative is told through the fantasy of a society of playing cards, in which each suit represents a rigid socio-cultural group symbolized by a distinct dance style. As the story unfolds, two principal characters - the prince and the joker - play catalyst to the breakdown of this stagnant social order and the rebuilding of a new society where freedom and order exist in harmony. When the free-spirited and fun-loving prince is transformed through his new-found love for the Queen of Spades, the Queen finds she must change the very basis of her life and values in accepting the love of one who is a total outsider to her society. The transformed society is symbolized by the fusion of dance styles into a common dance vocabulary.

IN THE FURTHER SOIL ( 2001; premiere in March 2002) - A production celebrating the 25th anniversary of Nrtyakala, this production tells the story of the spread of Indian dance culture, into the “further soil” of Canada through. The multi-layered production features more than 50 dancers performing a wide range of works in Bharatnatyam, Odissi, and contemporary styles.

LAND OF CARDS (2000; jointly with Danny Grossman, BengtJorgen/Debbie Wilson, Patrick Parson, and William Lau) - This ambitious and demanding work involves 6 choreographers, 4 music composers, and 54 dancers and features 5 different dance traditions: Indian, Chinese, Afro-Caribbean, Contemporary Western and Ballet. The fusion of the dance forms symbolizes a call for freedom and social equality that is at the heart of this vibrant and colourful fantasy.

MUKTI NAD - Call of Freedom (1999) - This huge (35 dancers), and long (150 minutes), multimedia dance–theatre production was created to portray the story of India’s 90-year struggle for independence. Based upon the poetry and freedom songs from 12 different regional languages of India, Menaka's choreography ranges over a wide variety of dance forms—classical, folk, tribal, martial, and street theatrical. Voice over narration, original music and multi-media images of the period serve to integrate the twelve stories. Call of Freedom is a very popular touring production among US cities with large South Asian populations.

A CURIOUS TALK (1998) - A 12-minute modern piece that was created for the students of Canada’s National Ballet School and was performed at the school’s 35th anniversary celebration. The dance features three dancers speaking to one another through Bharatnatyam and Ballet. A Curious Talk is an outstanding example of the aesthetics of dance fusion and has become a favourite in the company repertoire.

DUALITY (1997; jointly with Claudia Moore) - Created specifically for Menaka and Claudia, this 25 minute piece further explores the fusion of Indian and Contemporary Western traditions through the blending of choreographic styles and the actual physical fusion of two dancing bodies.

RAGA-RANGA (1997) - The musical movements, temper and successive stages of development of an Indian RAGA or the melody form in the KHAYAL mode of North Indian tradition is explored in this 25 minutes piece. The production features contact-improvisation, as well as Indian Dance Movements.

INTERIOR LANDSCAPE - 3 VERSIONS (1996, 1997) - A landmark production deliberately created in three versions to show how the same theme can be approached from entirely different angles. The basic dance movements in all three versions are derived entirely from traditional Bharatnatyam, and thus show the basic strength and infinite possibilities imbedded in the tradition. The theme is based upon a 2000-year-old poetic tradition, called ‘Sangam Poetry’, of pre-classical Tamil culture of South India.

FAREWELL TO HEAVEN (1996) - Based upon a long poem of Rabindranath Tagore, this hour-long dramatic work involves dance vocabulary and movements from the Indian traditions of Bharatnatyam and Odissi. Farewell To Heaven is set to an original “world music” composition for 15 member live Orchestra by Alex Pauk.

GANESH NARTANAM (1993) - A traditional opening to a concert begins with a prayer to the elephant-headed Lord Ganesh, who is the remover of all obstacles. In Ganesh Nartanam, Lord Ganesh is brought right into the dance.

SHAPES AND RHYTHMS (1993) - This delightful 32-minute modern fusion choreography combines Bharatnatyam, Odissi and Ballet. Shapes and Rhythms is the result of a week-long residency for Ms. Thakkar organized by the National Ballet of Canada working with the composer Ron Allen.

UNTITLED (1992) - This fine example of ‘fusion choreography’ blends Indian and Western Contemporary dance and music and was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award in 1993.

MOODS OF MORNING (1992 jointly with Robert Desrosiers) - In a bold and imaginative departure from traditional choreography, this work fuses Indian and Contemporary Western dance and music and explores the commonalities of these two dance forms.

KARNA-KUNTI (1986) - An innovative work for one dancer, choreographed to the instrumental score and voice-over narrative of a poetic dialogue between Karna and Kunti in the intensely tragic moment of their lives. Written by R. Tagore.

BHANUSINGHER PADAVALI (1986) - A 90-minute dance drama in Odissi style created out of early poems of Rabindranath Tagore about Radha’s love for Krishna.

RITU CHAKRA - Cycle of Seasons (1985) - A dance interpretation of 6 songs of Rabindranath Tagore, portraying different moods of each of the six seasons.

SCULPTURE IN MOTION (1981) - A creative work in Odissi style showing kaleidoscopic movements inspired by the dancing images in temple sculptures of Orissa.

GEET GOVINDA (1976) - A one-woman presentation of a two-hour long dance drama in Odissi style, based upon the famous 12th century Sanskrit poem, integrated with projected images of the 18th century paintings of this poem.