Abhinaya Dance Company Performs at Historic Hoover Theatre Saturday

Through Pooja Sohoni’s facial expressions, fluid hand movements and body language a story will unfold in her solo performance of a traditional Indian dance Saturday during Exposition of Abhinaya at Historic Hoover Theatre in San Jose.

Sohoni, a grad, is among the dancers with the Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose, who will take the stage at 4 p.m. for their 2012 Next Generation performance.

“My personal solo performance is a traditional Indian classical dance,” she says.

Abhinaya is part of the dance company name, and it means expression. Expressional dances, such as the one Sohoni will perform, are based on stories from Indian mythology and explore universal emotions such as love, compassion, fear, jealousy.

Sohoni’s dance is grounded in Hinduism and is about a mother and her young toddler-age child who is being playful and running away; the toddler turns out to be the god Krishna, she says.

Now a senior at Washington University in St. Louis, she’s been active in choreography of classical Indian dance and fusion pieces for the university. Sohoni has participated in several recitals and Abhinaya Dance Company performances, and has been a teacher for the company.

Other dancers include dancers Rasika Kumar, Malavika Kumar, Anjana Dasu, Sindhu Natarajan, Yatrika Ajaya, and Lakshmi Venkatesan.

Tickets, which can be purchased online, are: Donor $25, general $15, student/senior $10. Historic Hoover Theater is located at 1635 Park Ave. in San Jose.