Dance Community | Southbank Centre

Gauri Sharma-Tripathi Copyright 2011 © Yemisi Blake

In response to Why Do South Asian Dance?, which was presented as part of the Alchemy Festival 2011.

As Indian classical dance continues to captivate artists and audiences all over the world, award winning Kathak Dancer and choreographer Sonia Sabri hosted and performed a unique interactive programme which took a personal look at the question ‘Why does South Asian Dance have an enduring appeal for people of all backgrounds?’. It featured two of the most famous Classical South Asian Dance styles, Kathak and Bharatnatyam, performed by two of their finest exponents in the UK today, Sonia Sabri and Anusha Subramanyam. They were accompanied by young dancers who have dedicated themselves to studying Indian classical dance in the UK today.

As a student of the Indian classical dance form Kathak, this event triggered within me the question of ‘Why does this particular dance form appeal to me?’. I started to learn this Dance Form at the age of four hence the choice was my parents, but as the years went by my intrest in Kathak grew and grew. Now when I come to think of it, I cannot imagine what my life would be without Kathak; it has become an integral part of my life and more importantly my identity.

If you are a student of a South Asian dance genre, or for that matter of fact, any dance form, ask yourself ‘What does that form mean to you?’ and I’m sure you’ll find an answer.

By Puja Mistry, Alchemist

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In response to Temple & Court, performed at Southbank Centre as part of the Alchemy festival 2011.

Temple and Court was an event that investigated Indian Calssical Dances with talks, performance and film from both British and International contributions. It explored the journey of two of the most prominent Indian classical dance genres, Kathak and Bharatnatyam, from the Temples to the Courts.

There were guest contributions from Guru Padma Sharma, Pushkala Gopal, Kathak dancers courtesy of Ankh at Encee Arts, Payal Patel, Seema Patel, Dhruti Dattani, Jesal Patel, Trishna Champaneri, Falguni Upadhyay, Shivani Sethia, Seeta Patel, Vanathi Bosch and Sri Thina.
The event started with a Ganesh Vandana ( a prayer to Lord Ganesh, the elephant headed God ) sung beautifully by Pushkala Gopal and performed by the Ankh Dancers and Sita patel and Sri Thina.

This was followed by a detailed introduction of the event by Mavin Khoo, who then went on to talk about the origins of the two dance forms in the temples and how it was used as a medium by the temple dancers, mainly Brahmins, to depict the various leela’s (pastimes) of the Gods and Godesses. This
introduction was supported by Guru Padma Sharma, who performed the kathak thumri ‘Sab Ban Than Aayi Shyam Pyaari Re’, an expressional dance, depicting the devotional love between Radha and Krishna. This was followed by a similar demonstration by Mavin Khoo in the Dance form Odissi. As the event progressed so did the journey of the two dance forms, from the temples to the courts, and at each point of progression the guest contributors gave demonstrations of how the dance forms began to evolve. There were also clips from movies to depict the era during the 1970s and 1980s when these dance forms were festival majorly used in films.

The event ended with Mavin Khoo talking about how they would continue to explore the theme of Temple and Court during next years Alchemy. So if you’ve missed this one then make sure you’re around next year, to continue on this journey from the Temples to the Courts.

by Puja Mistry, Alchemist,

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Copyright 2011 © Yemisi Blake

Last night in the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre Aritist in Residence Gauri Sharma-Tripathi showcased a new collaboration with the Soprano Patricia Rozario. Bringing together Kathak and Opera, two traditions with a basis of story-telling, the show blended French, Hindi and English, movement and sound to a create beautiful evening of experimentation.

Here’s a snippet of Gauri being interviewed by a group of young people from Sampad in Birmingham. They were visiting Southbank Centre for the day and spent some time speaking with artists performing in the Alchemy Festival.

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Copyright 2011 © Yemisi Blake

I approach the Southbank on a lovely warm English evening feeling very excited to see my first show of Alchemy 2011 (Celebrating Shobana Jeyasingh: Through the Glass Brightly) and knowing that I’ll be interviewing Shobana after the show!!

Jude Kelly introduces the show and gives us a brief insight into the significance of Jeyasingh’s work; how it has challenged contemporary dance and that by fusing contemporary with traditional styles is what keeps it relevant. Also on a personal note that she has seen the progression of Jeyasingh’s work from her Battersea Arts Centre days and feels that this show is a way to honour the work of Shobana Jeyasingh.

Yasmin Alihabi Brown takes us Through the Glass Brightly with Shobana as we go back in time through some of her work. We see excerpts from Faultline, The Dancer’s Cut and Pantasmaton, which is even more enjoyable with Shobana and Yasmin leading us into each piece.

After a small pause we get to see the remixed Bruised Blood featuring the beat boxer Shlomo! What I find most exciting about this piece is the way the dancers respond to Shlomo’s live music. At one point the dancers enter from upstage left whilst Shlomo is using a loop station to create transfixing layers to his music. Avatâra Ayusois is the first to enter and dances a powerful feisty solo; dancers Emily Absalom and Ruth Voon who too display the same essence in their movement join her. There are impressive trios and duets throughout the piece infused in Jeyasingh’s multi-lingual movement vocabulary, which all in all left you with a very dynamic piece of choreography.

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Last night Shobana Jeyasingh presented a beautiful collection of excerpts from her work over the years. Punctuated by conversation with Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, the evening was a great introduction for newcomers to Jeyasingh’s work, and a nice look back for her existing fans. There was even a guest appearance by Southbank Centre Artist in Residence Shlomo.

Copyright 2011 © Yemisi Blake

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The Alchemy Festival began on Friday, with some fantastic music, dance, debate and fashion. Over the 11 days of the festival there’ll be a brilliant group of Alchemists seeing and blogging about Alchemy. They are writers, dancers, photographers and artists from around the UK, India & South Asia. So here they are!

Charlotte Emily is an artist and explorer who dabbles in performance, photography, writing and child-like doodles. She is particularly inspired by storytelling and moments in everyday life. iamcharlotteemily.tumblr.com

Nathalia Mello is a Brazilian performance practitioner, living and working in the UK, London. She artist graduated in Theatre Direction by the Rio De Janeiro Federal University (2007) and master of Dance Theatre: The Body in Performance, graduated at Trinity Laban. Her current research explores territories marked by water and soil. ‘Abscene: A young female from the Tupinimos tribe from Water Which Hides Itself, says I do today’ is the performance of theatricality and politics of self-representing, being currently developed since May 2010.

Krupa Vekaria is a 2^nd year LLB Law and German student at the University of Warwick. In her spare time she enjoys dancing, reading and undoubtedly shopping! Her favourite cuisine besides Indian is Mexican and one item she needs with her all the time is my iPOD!

Hannah Anderson-Ricketts began training at Lewisham College she is now a student at London Contemporary Dance School. Hannah has worked with Katie Pearson, Sean Graham Dance Theatre, Vocab Dance Company, Uchenna Dance Company and Arthur Pita. She is currently a member of Just Us Dance Theatre.

Sumitra Upham is an aspiring curator and writer who seeks to commission, develop and manage creative projects with a focus on exploring new sites of practice for curating within new media and performance. In doing so, she seeks to use her curatorial practice as a tool of communication to provoke and encourage current debate and engaging with new audiences. At present, she is undertaking her masters in Curating Contemporary Design in partnership with Kingston University and The Design Museum London, whilst freelancing as project assistant for Art on The Underground.

Puja Mistry is 18 years old and currently on a gap year before studying medicine at university next year. This is her first time blogging, and she hopes to explore interests outside of her studies. Puja’s main intersts are dance, Taekwondo photography.

Myrto Williams is an Illustrator based in London. After graduating from Camberwell in the summer of 2010, she is now working on participation projects with the British Museum and The October Gallery. She is also collaborating with poets and musicians.

Camelia Muldermans is a London-based writer and creative facilitator, with a particular interest in informal education, poetry and responsible journalism. She is intent on promoting a positive image of youth in the media, giving young people a voice and raising their aspirations. Published work includes: The Big Issue, The Independent, Positive News, and Cent Magazine.

Aminah B is a London based creative having graduated in Architecture from the Bartlett school of Architecture, University College London. Aminah’s passion is landscape oil paintings, etchings, rotring pens, moleskines, photography and travel. Also further exploring and focusing on contemporary and traditional Islamic Art and Architecture which she hopes to do her masters in. In her spare time she helps charities working in developing countries designing prefabricated structures and local community housing.

 

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