Storytelling at the Saint Louis Art Museum. An audience member took this so it cuts off after two minutes.
Story Editor, Parabola 2023 * President, Dances of India 2023 National Endowment for the Arts Award
Parabola, Winter 2023, The Melody of Nothingness, from the Lakota Sioux
Parabola, Fall 2023, The Rainbow Serpent, from the First Peoples of Australia
Parabola, Summer 2023, The Lazy Girl & the Butter-Yellow Pot, from African traditions.
Parabola, Spring 2023, The Monk & The Temple Dancer: A Buddhist Legend from Ancient India
Parabola, Winter 2022, The Twenty-Seven Wives of the Moon.
Parabola, Fall 2022, Incandescent: The Love-Story of the Sun, and Sajana, the Cosmic Architect’s Daughter
Parabola, Summer 2022, The Magical Descent of the River Ganges
Parabola, Spring 2022: Melody of Fire, Melody of Rain. Winter 2021: The Many Golden Coins of King Kanishka, Fall 2021: Agni, Thief of Stars.
St. Louis Anthology, Belt Press June 2019 Two pieces: Pilgrim on the Interstate & St. Louis: A Portrait 2019
Panorama, the Journal of Intelligent Travel: PanoramaJournal.org
Title: Dawn: Four Arisings, November 2022
Title: Dr. Premachandra’s Pilgrimage; Mapping the Midwest from a Cadillac October 2018
President, Dances of India—Celebrating its 47th season in 2024-25, this is one of the oldest classical Indian dance companies in the United States.
I’m a Missouri Arts Council Featured Artist for March 2021.
*Artistic Director Asha Premachandra won a 2020 St. Louis Regional Arts Commission Fellowship and a 2018 St. Louis Visionary Award.*
In addition to performing, I administer the company and write and narrate our original productions. In 2022 I wrote and narrated River Goddess: Tales of Love & Other Shenanigans Along the River Ganges.
2021: The Seven Sisters—the creation of the Pleaides star-system in Hinduism
2019: You Are My True Reflection: The Secret Letters of Radha & Krishna. Other examples include:
1. The Forgotten Ramayana: The Tale of Urmila, the Sleeping Princess 2018
”The Tale of Urmila, the Sleeping Princess was extraordinary. The narrative, the staging, the beauty of the costumes and dance, the clever (and beautiful) way you represented the five significant episodes within the tale by unrolling the images, and your rendition as narrator were all terrific. I was transported. “—Lesley Wellman, Head of Multigenerational Learning, Saint Louis Art Museum
2. The Music of Water—tales told along India’s rivers. 2016
“The entire performance was so great. Your performance was outstanding and the St. Louis Ballet piece was wonderful as well.”—Lynn Maupin, Program Manager, St. Louis Regional Arts Commission.
3. Devi of the Ashes—or, Cinderella in India 2017
“ I was very impressed with the quality of the performance. I also noticed that the performance was well attended and that the audience was diverse, with people of various ages and racial backgrounds. That means that your work appeals to a broad audience, which is excellent.”—Felicia Shaw, Former Executive Director, St. Louis Regional Arts Commission.
Additional Public Speaking/Skills
Storytelling:
I’ve done a lot of storytelling at the Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis International Storytelling Festival Events, and at our performances ( see above), and for the first time told a story at the Arts & Faith Concert at the Sheldon Concert Hall in September 2019. https://youtu.be/CkhNVYczYmY
Public Speaking:
—River Cities: The Mississippi, Ganges, & Seine: I gave this talk for the Missouri Historical Society in May 2020. https://youtu.be/zvrtcPgFDHE
—I gave three talks for Yoga Buzz (a St. Louis yoga community, yogabuzz.org) in May and September 2020 on Mudras (hand gestures), Hindu myth, and the Divine Feminine in Hinduism.
—Om Mani Padme Hum: The Jewel in the Lotus of the Heart. This was a presentation I gave at the Saint Louis Art Museum on October 2 & 3, 2019. It deals with Buddhism, Hinduism, & Christianity, along with the interchange of ideas of culture, religion, even fashion & food, along the Silk Roads. I additionally presented this talk as a series of lectures every Sunday morning at Ladue Chapel in September 2019.
--Full Effort is Full Victory; Gandhi, King, and the Persistent Path to Peace. I gave this talk several times in 2018, @ Missouri History Museum: January 14, 2018, Florissant Valley Community College: February 28, 2018, St. Louis Ethical Society: March 28, 2018, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals: May 11, 2018
Ladue Chapel (as part of a 4-week series of talks on the religions/history/art of the Indian subcontinent): October 28, 2018
—Saint Louis Art Museum Storytelling for International Day of Peace September 23, 2018
—Saint Louis Art Museum: The Strong Wondrous Song of the Body—Myth, Movement, & Metamorphosis in the Sculpture of Degas, Sintenis, and Kolbe. August 2-3, 2018
--Saint Louis Art Museum: An Iridescent Exchange: Fashion & the Fantastic Along the Silk Road. August 31 & September 1, 2017
I have also performed and spoken at many corporations, universities, schools, cultural institutions, etc. about classical Indian dance & culture, including Pfizer, Anheuser-Busch, Kirkwood Public Library, Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri History Museum, etc.
Readings of my own work:
--St. Louis Anthology Release Party June 14, 2019
—St. Louis County Library October 16, 2018
--Southwest Illinois College, East St. Louis, IL October 2016 & February 2010
--Washington University, St. Louis, October 2016 @ a memorial for Professor of Classics Kevin Herbert.
Reference Contact: Cathy Reilly, organizer
Tel: (314)-791-6917 Email: cathyreilly16@gmail.com
M.A. Finance, Webster University, London, England, 1997
B.A. French, Washington University, 1990 Elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Studied one year at the Université de Paris-Sorbonne.
Languages: French (Fluent) Spanish (Conversational) Italian (Basics, but working on it!), Japanese (Basics but would like to get back to it!) Sanskrit (I do not speak this ancient language but know many words from dance and literature and would like to study it more.) Tamil (Basics, my mother-tongue!)
Grant-Writing: I have received written & received grants for our company for years.
Bookseller: Borders: 1998-2004 Barnes & Noble: 2009-2020
Language Consultant @ Interac, Yokhohama Japan, 1991-1992. I taught Business English at Mitsubishi, Hitachi, etc.
Reference Letters Available Upon Request