Brookline Natives Neena Gulati & The Triveni Ensemble get Spotlighted in Upcoming Boston Performing Arts Festival

By Ashley Waters

Brookline native Neena Gulati and the Triveni Ensemble will be preforming at the Outside the Box festival today.

 An acclaimed dancer from New Delhi, India, Neena Gulati founded the Triveni school of Dance in 1971 in Brookline. The Triveni Ensemble consists of Neena and her senior students, and they’ve performed extensively all over New England at various multicultural events, like Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival’s Inside/Outside stage in 2005 and 2007.

Gulati has collaborated with Robert Bly and choreographed dances to his translations of Indian poets Mira Bai and Kabir, and together they performed in NYC, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, London.

Outside the Box, the largest free entertainment event of the summer will transform Boston Common and City Hall Plaza into a moveable feast for music, theatre, dance and food lovers for nine magnificent days from July 13 – July 21, 2013. The inaugural festival will bring in more than 200 performers from the world over with headlining acts including Buffalo Tom, Ricky Skaggs, Boys Like Girls, The Lemonheads, Los Lobos, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Siobhan Magnus and Doubtful Guest, Taj Mahal and a special reunion of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

Outside the Box will also feature performances from the Rhythm of the Universe, Smithsonian Jazz (with a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald), Italian performing artists La Notte della Taranta, Australia’s high flying Strange Fruitand emerging local artists including Gentleman Hall, Boston Bhangra and students from Berklee College of Music. No, we didn’t forget the kids! Outside the Box will also feature daily, non-stop entertainment for children, which will include clowns, puppeteers, escape artists, and mask makers. Not all of the entertainment will be taking place “outside”. Outside the Box is proud to introduce to Boston the world renowned Spiegeltent (tent of mirrors) which has been a featured attraction at many international arts festivals.

With the understanding that “Food is Art”, Outside the Box will shine the spotlight on Boston’s top chefs including Ming Tsai, Todd English, Michael Schlow, Lydia Shire, Jody Adams, Jason Santos and Jeremy Sewall who will be providing cooking demonstrations and sampling on City Hall Plaza, which will also include a Beer & Wine Pavilion.