About
Join Joseph Houseal, director of Core of Culture, for a mystical evening of live dance, film, and conversation that follows 25 years of the organization’s work to protect and assist the continuity of ancient dances and embodied spiritual traditions across Asia and the Himalayas. Shri Prajwal Vajracharya will begin the evening with a performance of Charya Nritya, the ancient dance of Kathmandu Valey in which a Tantric priest embodies a deity to teach enlightenment. He wil be accompanied by the vocal stylings of Joshua Proto, a specialist in ancient Vedic music. Ocean of Mudra is a wordless short dance film produced by Core of Culture, directed by Lindsay Gilmour, with cinematography and score by Nathan Whitmont. Set within high-altitude Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh, it features mudra, the esoteric sign language of the ancient world, shimmering as a modern, multi-generational reality and offers a lively first-hand look inside monastic life. Cham Quad-split is a 4-screen museum installation created after five years of dance research and documentation during the final five years of the absolute monarchy in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. It features the monastic meditation-in-motion, Cham. This 10-minute visual and musical installation has been shown at museums around the world, and this evening marks its Chicago premiere. Directed by Joseph Houseal, camera by Gerard Houghton and Karma Tshering. Edited by Matt Hoffman. Original score by Sandy Hoover. Prajwal and Joshua wil perform a final Refuge blessing dance to conclude the program.
Biographies
Shri Prajwal Vajracharya is a 35th generation Newar Buddhist Vajracharya priest, trained by his father from the age of 8 as a Charya Nritya initiate dancer. He is the foremost exponent of Charya Nritya internationally, teaching groups of students around the world. The Vajracharya clan of Nepalese Tantric masters are designated stewards of esoteric Newar Buddhist practice since ancient times.
Joshua Proto is a Buddhist practitioner in the Newar Vajrayana lineage of Charya dance and song and a specialist in the ancient Indian Vedic tradition.
Joseph Houseal is founder and director of Core of Culture, a Chicago-based non-profit organization dedicated to safeguarding intangible world heritage with an emphasis on endangered dance and movement traditions in the healing, meditation, and martial arts. After a decades-long international career as a dancer, choreographer, and director, including work as artistic director for singer Chaka Khan, Houseal began working with ancient Asian dance traditions and has spent the past 25 years working in cultural preservation of sacred dance traditions in the Himalayas and beyond. His work has been shown in 14 museums worldwide and is part of 5 permanent museum colections.The Bhutan Dance Colection is the most widely accessed colection within the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library, for more than 11 years. A contributor to Ballet Review in New York, for 34 years, Houseal writes a monthly column for Buddhistdoor Global. His book, Buddhist Dances, Movement & Mind, wil be published by Motilal Banarsidass, in 2025.
Event Overview
5:30pm | Reception
6:00pm | Program begins
7:00pm | Program Concludes
Attire
Club Smart/Business Casual
Parking
The nearest parking garage to the University Club is the Grant Park North Garage (25 N Michigan Ave).
About the University Club of Chicago
The University Club of Chicago is a private club with a 100+ year history of serving generations of Chicago’s civic, arts, philanthropic, and business leaders. The Club has welcomed luminaries from the world of art, architecture, literature, music, theater, science, sports, and government and recognized icons in Chicago’s cultural history from Ai Weiwei, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Tom Hanks, Mary Beard, Misty Copeland, Pete Townsend, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Fareed Zakaria, and other visionaries.
