writer
Writing provides an alternative space to represent and explore ideas that come from and lead into performance structures. Rajni enjoys writing for a variety of contexts and presenting writing for the page or as spoken word. As well as speaking about her own work, she often uses writing to explore the issues surrounding performance and research as well as the more political nature of performance interventions. She has delivered keynote addresses on cultural identity and internal geographies, and her published writing includes essays on performance as gift, meditation in performance, and the problematic role of cultural identity in the arts.
 small gifts: glasgow - image by Theron Schmidtclick image to enlarge |
 small gifts: colchester - image by Rajni Shahclick image to enlarge |
- (2008)
This article was written for Dance Theatre Journal and exposes some of the processes involved in the making of the art book 'Point and Place'
- (2008)
A lecture presentation at Hebbel-am-Ufer (Berlin), in which speaking in both German and English was used as an illustration of the ideas of (mis-)translation and cultural identity within Rajni's work.
- (2006)
A series of performance interventions using gift as an opening to conversation, includes essays
- (2006)
Rajni Shah wrote 'Cultural Diversity: bite-size chunks from my life' for Engage magazine, issue 19
- (2006)
This talk examines the idea of ‘internal geographies’ and compares the ritualised entering and exiting of fixed iconic figures in Rajni’s work with key rites of passage.
- (2006)
Rajni edited this evaluation of the Arts Council England South East Fellowship Programme 2004-2006, which was written collaboratively with Saj Fareed and Tracey Low, then all three fellows on the programme.
- (2002)
Rajni edited JUICE magazine (monthly) at The Place between 2002 and 2004, during which time she published many articles specifically for professional dance artists.