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Breaking Ground
“The act of migration puts into crisis everything about the migrating individual or group, everything about identity and selfhood and culture and belief.”
~ Salman Rushdie
‘Breaking ground’ is based on Artistic Director Sonia’s family’s migration story - tracing her grandmother's move from her motherland Gujarat (India) to the fertile lands of Kenya in the 1940s, and culminating with Sonia's own journey to the UK decades later.
Using innovative Kathak dance, metaphorical poetry and a specially commissioned music score, the show unpacks the highly-relevant emotional conflicts that arise from multicultural identity. It explores how we experience the world through the lens of our personal, accumulated “cultural baggage”. As more layers get added to this baggage, does it get harder to find ourselves within it all?
In keeping with our Company ethos. ‘Breaking Ground’ is a show for all ages, and one for different generations to watch together. It is likely to appeal to audiences across cultures, and those interested in issues around the impact of migration on culture and identity.
Video credit: Rehmat Rayatt-Sohal
CREATIVE TEAM:
Concept & artistic director: Sonia Chandaria Tillu
Choreographer: Urja Desai Thakore
Music composer: Shammi Pithia
Poetry composer: Wobusobozi Amooti Kangere (with support from the Lantern Meet Foundation of Poetry in Kampala, Uganda)
Dramaturgy: Lou Cope
Performed by: Sonia Chandaria Tillu
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MEDIA TEAM:
Photographer: Simon Richardson
Filmmaker: Rehmat Rayatt
Bloggers: Two Brown Girls
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SUPPORTED BY:
Commissioned by: Sampad
Grants: Arts Council England and British Council
Space partners: Pagrav Dance Company & Aakash Odedra Company
Fundraising credit (ACE): Nina Head
Critical friend & mentor: Tara Lopez (Spark Arts)
Production mentor & Leicester performance host: Samir Bhamra (Phizzical Productions)
Critical friend & marketing support: Piali Ray (Sampad)
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PERFORMANCES & WORKSHOPS
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2019
24 June: Workshop at King Edward School, Birmingham
1 July: Workshop & sharing at Rushey Mead School, Leicester
13 July: Sharing at 'Introducing.... 2019" by Birmingham Dance Network
29 July: Kathak workshop at Balaji Temple, Birmingham
23 August: Sharing at Atternborough Arts Centre, Leicester
16 September: Week long Artsdepot residency
30 November: Breaking Ground premiere at MAC Foyle Studio, Birmingham
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2020
27 February: Performance as part of solo triple bill "Untagged", OFS Theatre, Oxford
14 March: Performance as part of solo triple bill in Mombasa, Kenya
15 March: Performance as part of solo triple bill in Nairobi, Kenya
"How vividly dance can convey such a wide range and delicacy of feelings and emotions - moving in every sense of the word."
(Feedback from Birmingham Dance Network sharing of Breaking Ground, 13 July 2019)
ABOUT THE CREATIVE PROCESS
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Migration is an experience that is both shared, yet unique. So while the show is based on Sonia’s personal family history, it has been hugely informed and influenced by numerous conversation with British Asian communities in the UK and abroad.
Groundwork included discussions with representatives from Birmingham’s Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre to understand life in Gujarati villages and a research trip to Kenya (supported by the British Council).
Breaking Ground is available for touring from early 2020.
Contact us to bring this production to your venue
WITH THANKS TO:
