A dancer from Sonia Sabri Dance Company at Brindley Place. Photo: Tim Ellis
We’ve caught wind of an opportunity for students to be part of a choreographic research and development project with Sonia Sabri in January 2010, working title KathakBox.
Sonia Sabri is currently exploring the innate parallels between movement, rhythm and spoken word between the age old art of Kathak and the modern culture of Hip Hop. Sonia is opening up the second phase of the project out to young people by offering workshops to schools and universities, providing the chance to gain insight and learn the techniques of a collaboration between different disciplines from a world-class dance company.
The first phase of this research took place as part of Choreodrome at The Place, London, in August. Sonia was selected out of 300 choreographers to look into the dialogue between the two cultures, with choreographer Richard Alston mentoring the two week process. Sonia worked with two dancers from contemporary, flamenco, African, kathak and hip hop disciplines, a spoken word artist, and an Indian percussionist and poet, and presented the findings of the research using three showcase platforms.
Currently in the second phase of a research project, which involves is further exploration and development of the initial ideas, Sonia is focusing on choreographic possibilities using dancers and other collaborating artists. The aim is to broaden and challenge the perceptions of old and modern artforms and to investigate what happens when they are taken out of their usual contexts – seeing what emerges.
These workshops are suitable for students of dance, music, drama, physical theatre, and any other curious types. The workshops are delivered by dancers from the company and can be anything from a half-day to a week-long residency at your venue depending on your funding. At least one (or only one) workshop must take place in January 2010.
If participants enjoy performing, there is an opportunity for those who wish to develop a segment of work from the workshop(s) to present it at The Drum Arts Centre in Birmingham on Friday 29 January 2010 alongside the professional artists.
The fee is £150 per artist for half-day or £250 per artist for a full day inclusive of travel. If you would like more artists or would like more than one workshop, the fee is negotiable.
For more information contact: Sonia Sabri, Artistic Director
Sonia Sabri Company, The Dance Workshop, 132 Alcester Road, Birmingham B13 8EE UK, sonia@ssco.org.uk, 0121 442 6742, www.ssco.org.uk
