Seattle University, April 12th, 13th, 14th, 2019

Friday, 12th – 7pm-10pm
Saturday, 13th – 7pm-10pm
Sunday, 14th – 2:30pm-5pm

Yoni ki Baar is a growing collection of authentic, bold, vivid, tender, powerful, and poignant stories written and narrated by South Asian women, and Transgender community members. The narratives highlight special challenges and opportunities relevant in this socio-cultural context.

 

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Yoni Ki Baat is a collection of authentic, bold, vivid, tender, powerful, and poignant stories written and narrated by South Asian women, trans, and gender non-conforming community members. The narratives highlight special challenges and opportunities relevant in this socio-cultural context. YKB acknowledges that sexuality and that gender are essential–and sometimes fluid–aspects of identity, experience, and expression. Under the guidance of this year’s director, Jaya Ramesh, the 14th Yoni Ki Baat will be a space that transforms and encourages South Asian womxn to express their challenges, hopes, dreams, breakdowns, and aspirations for change.

Yoni is a complex word: it is used to refer to the vagina or vulva. In Sanskrit, it can also mean “sacred space” and serve as a symbol for divine creative energy. Baat means “talk” in Hindi/Urdu. Each year, YKB stories evoke the literal and metaphorical meaning of the title, and in 2019, we again invite you to come share this space with us and experience the voices of our performers, in all of their diversity.

Inspired by Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues, Yoni Ki Baat was originally started in 2003 by South Asian Sisters, a progressive collective of South Asian women based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Yoni Ki Baat is performed across the United States and empowers participants and audiences to tell their own stories honestly and fearlessly with the larger goal of contributing to individual and community transformation. Contains Mature Content.

YKB Directors Note

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By Jaya Ramesh

I am excited for this year’s YKB and I invite you to come listen and be a part of this transformative experience  These 9 strong women have chosen to be vulnerable with the rest of us. As a member of the larger community your role in bearing witness is vital to this process and has a profound impact.  YKB is certainly a journey for our participants, but it is also a journey for our community as a whole. We are all changed by it.

My first exposure to YKB was as an audience member a decade ago.  I’ve since been inspired to be a participant myself (2012), and am now  honored and humbled to be directing YKB 2019. As a mental health therapist, I see it as my role to collaboratively work with others in helping them find the most authentic version of themselves. My guidance in directing YKB comes from this same place of deep love and respect for the other person’s own knowing and wisdom. It has been my privilege to create space and tend to the stories of resilience, courage, gratitude, love, survival and power by some remarkable women.

The theme this year centers around  “moving from shadow to light.” It is an exploration of how shifting the gaze on and sitting in a different kind of relationship with the unspoken narratives in our lives can help transform us. This work has been facing our wounds and recognizing that storytelling frees us from the solitude of our pain, allowing us to emerge from the shadows into the warmth of connection and light.

Have you gotten your tickets yet?

I look forward to seeing you in the audience.

With love and in community,

Jaya

YKB Performers

Jaya, YBK Director

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I am a lover of stories, whether it be in the form of a book, a Moth podcast or a riveting Netflix crime drama. My story began in Chennai, India and now continues to blossom in the Pacific Northwest. I work as a mental health therapist and live with my two delightful boys and my supportive and funny husband.  I was drawn to YKB first as a community member in the audience and then inspired to participate in 2012. I knew back then directing was a dream and am grateful to have been presented with this opportunity!

If I had a superpower it would be the ability to talk to animals.
Motto: Breathe!
Cats or Dogs: Dogs!
Pronoun – She/her

Meghna

Title: Making Waves

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I am a 20-something nonprofit event manager focused on living in the present. I love all things soul-nourishing: grandma’s cooking, bookstores and dancing till my feet ache.

I chose to participate in YKB this year because I wanted to dive deeper into my roots and examine the effects of my socialization in a setting that is culturally specific and sometimes challenging because it goes against South Asian social norms. I’m at a pivotal period of my life and want to be able to understand where and what I come from to get to where I am going.

I hope that by sharing my story, I can disrupt the cycle of narrowly defined South Asian womanhood in my own family and in my community.

If I were a superhero, my superpower would be: teleportation!

My personal motto: everything happens for a reason- the universe finds a way to give you what you need.

Cats or dogs: Cats

Pronoun – She/her

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Shilpa

Title: Unbecoming

A poet, an artist, a music and nature lover, a dreamer. Wife, Mommy to a 11 year old and a teacher who teaches technology and art to kids.

Choice of participating in YKB was prompted by the calling to explore living life undefended and as an authentic expression of true self. I hope to create curiosity about how it might change things if we could cultivate a safe, sacred environment of relating to one another in ways that are non-judgemental and non-restrictive.

Superpower – Seriously, just getting laundry done with a snap of my fingers would make me very happy!!! Teleportation would be fabulous too. Wouldn’t mind weekend getaways to sunny places during Seattle winters.

Personal motto: You can only paint with colors that you have stirred up inside you.

Cats or dogs: Dogs

Pronoun – She/her

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Shivani

Title: Inherited Silence

I am a Floridian who moved to the Pacific Northwest for the vegan food. I work as an audiologist and recently started my own practice. Having been a fan of YKB for many years, I loved witnessing the healing, strength and support between YKB sisters at each performance. This year seemed the perfect opportunity to participate now that I have more time for myself.I think it is important for our community’s identity to be based on truthful, shared experiences rather than myths or expectations. I hope by telling my story I can help us get there.

If I were a superhero, my superpower would be flying.

Personal motto: Mottos suck.

Cats or dogs: Cats!

Pronoun – She/her

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Siddhi

Title: Clouds Do Part

I am a kind and fiercely loyal woman who loves everything Desi- from Garba and Bhangra to Bollywood to Desi Khana. I call Tasveer my home and chose to participate in YKB this year after being profoundly inspired by last year’s stories. Through my story I hope to inspire changes in family dynamics in our culture and encourage people to have open dialogues around difficult subjects.

If I were a superhero, my power would be to bring comfort and calm to people in trouble.

My personal Motto: This too Shall Pass

Cats or dogs: I love dogs, hate cats – think they are the devil reincarnated.

Pronoun – She/her

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Khurshida

Title: Slavery to Bravery

I am a bold, confident decisive leader who joined YKB 2019 to enlighten our community on the hidden  crime of human trafficking. I am a mom, sister and friend, motivational speaker and chef. I hope by telling my story that I can inspire the humanity in us all.

If I were a superhero, my super power would be to have the ability to FLY because airplane tickets cost too much to travel and see the beautiful world.

Personal motto: BE BOLD. BE KIND.

Cats or dogs: NO PETS FOR ME

Pronoun- She/her

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Sowmya

Title: Calm After Storm

I am a single  mom to an amazing and handsome son Eshan. By profession, I am a newbie Real Estate Assistant and loving it! I chose to participate in YKB this year because I am ready now than ever before to celebrate myself differently today. I am here to tell my story because its my story of courage, wisdom, and strength I have gained through the journey of suffering

If I were a Superhero, my Superpowers would be to heal people in ailments and diseases.

My Personal Motto: Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% on how you react to it.

Cats or dogs : dogs

Pronoun – She/her

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Indu

Title: Grief & Gratitude

I’ve borne witness to stories shared at YKB for over a decade. I have been moved by the courage and authenticity of the participants and the community that shows up to support them and to reflect on its own condition.

I grew up all over India and the Pacific Northwest has been home for 17 years. At work, I operate in the niche between HR and Technology. At home, I apply systems thinking principles to decode the human experience. I am mom to two energetic nine-year-old boys and love travelling and exploring life, with my husband.

Seeing and being seen through our stories has the power to transform the listener, the storyteller, the story and the community. It was time to speak my truth.

My story has helped me re-frame old narratives around primary relationships and pivotal events in my life. The light I shine on my past, gives me clarity for the future. I hope my story adds to the voices that bring a positive change in our community.

Superpower: The power to help people see the sacredness of their soul.

Personal motto: Follow your highest excitement!

Cats or dogs: Both, but dogs like me more

Pronoun – She/her

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Cynthia (Mumtaz)

Title: The Weight of a Decision

I am a mother of two sons, a center-fielder, a wife, an auntie, and a sister.  A maker of tatertot casserole, and an Academic Adviser in the Comparative History of Ideas (CHID) Department at UW.

I signed up for YKB to be in community. To be brave. To be vulnerable.  I’m a Pakistani woman and a mother of mixed-race children. I realize how important having a strong sense of identity is for me and my family.  That begins with sharing my story. The love, the joy, and the pain. I hope others will find connections to the echoes of who I am.

My superpower is being a mom.  It’s that simple. It’s that incredible.

Personal motto: Surround yourself with passionate people.

Cats or dogs:  I’m allergic to both but I like cats

Pronoun – She/her

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Faria

Title: Rage

I am  a daughter, a sister and an Aunt, working in luxury fashion, a world traveler and a lover of people. I  chose YKB as I wanted to find a platform to share my own journey of pain and betrayal and in turn grow from it.

Life isn’t only about the destination but the extraordinary connections you have along the way.  2019 is a year that I did not want to sit back. There was something missing in my life and I just felt I was going round and round on that hamster wheel.  Today, I am here because I learnt the art of forgiveness through YKB and my sisters.

If I had a Superpower, it would be to be able to ‘unbreak’ the hearts of parents who have lost their children to death because to me, losing your child has to be the most painful experience ever and raising a child has to be the toughest job in the world.

My motto – Find your tribe and do what makes you happy.

Cats or dogs: A dog lover always

Pronoun – She/her