Straddle #2025 - PENDING by January Low

Pending offers a glimpse into January Low's ongoing virtual mentorship with Bijayini Satpathy, which began in 2020. Through this mentorship, January has deepened her connection with Odissi while cultivating a practice based on compassion, patience, and respect. The work challenges January's perception of the Indian Classical Dancer and explores the unseen, invisible labor that goes into maintaining an art form without the promise of the stage. It reflects on what it means for a dancer to be responsible for her own practice in a virtual space, where lessons are spread over weeks instead of days, and feedback that once came instantly now takes weeks. "Pending" invites the audience to experience the slow, introspective process of learning and sustaining an art form in a digital age, emphasizing the dedication and effort required beyond performance.


About the artist:
January Low is a Malaysian mid-career dance artist who specialises in Odissi and has been practicing for close to 30 years. She spent her formative training in Sutra Dance Theatre and toured extensively with the company for over a decade. Her departure from Sutra in 2009 initiated a process of deep self-inquiry affecting how she chooses to share Odissi with her audience today.

Over the years January has been gently observing the rhythm between dance and life and how Odissi continues to exist in her daily Southeast Asian female body. As a mother of 3 she continues to challenge themes of agency, objectification and commodification of the Indian Classical Dancer.

PENDING Team

Concept, Direction & Performance: January Low

Lighting & Multimedia: Bryan Chang

Choreography: Bijayini Satpathy

Music Composition: Pt Raghunath Panigrahi

Details of the performance:
Date: 9th April 2025 (Wednesday)
Time: 8.30pm - 9.30pm
Venue: Five Arts Centre @ 9th Floor, GMBB, KL

This performance is part of the programme of Straddle #2025. For the full programme pass, please check out details here. 

Straddle #2025 is a new platform by Five Arts Centre aimed at nurturing connections between artists in Kuala Lumpur and other cities. 

A special shoutout to our community partner, GMBB.