5:13pm Wednesday 21st January 2009
By Kate Sole
For the past ten weeks more than 100 young people aged between seven and 19-years-old across the Buckinghamshire area have been working with two professional dance companies to explore culture and diversity through dance. The fruits of their labour will be seen with a grand extravaganza peformance at Wycombe Swan next Thursday, where all the different schools involved in United In Dance will come together to take part in various workshops before showcasing their pieces.
Speaking about this unique project, Maria Ryan, Community Dance Officer at the Wycombe Swan, tells me: “Sometimes it’s not even about what they do on the stage, I think it’s more about the experience of taking part.”
At the heart of the project are two very different professional companies, Tavaziva Dance and Angika Dance, which respectively fuse African and Indian dance style with contemporary dance. They have worked with pupils at Cressex Community School, Bookerhill School, Millbrook School, Ash Hill School Hamilton Primary School, Highcrest School and the Green Street Youth Centre.
Eager to get a sneak preview, I popped into a rehearsal at Cressex Community School, where around 20 teenagers were excitedly working in small groups under the direction of Subathra Subramaniam, co-director of Angika Dance.
Speaking over the loud India music filling the sports hall, 14-year-old Summan Asif tells me: “You just have to really express yourself and come in and do your best every week. I’m a bit nervous about the performance but I’m looking forward to it too.”
Taking their cue from a few moves Subathra taught them at the beginning of the process, the girls have been giving free reign to create their own intepretations.
“My dance specialism is Bharata Natyam (a classical dance form from south India), and when I first came to the school I taught them a short sequence, but the whole idea is that I don’t choreograph their routine. The idea is that they are involved in the creative making of the work so they have a sense of ownership about the work.
“I give them the dance vocabularly and then they use that with all their ideas and input and their way of working their own dance styles.”
While rehearsals have been confined to the school’s sports hall and respective bedroom mirrors for now, in less than a week, the pupils of Cressex Community School will get the opportunity to integrate with other young people involved in the project, which, Subathra believes, is at the very core of this experience.
“During the day they will have the opportunity to take part in various workshops in salsa, Capoeira, African and Indian dance, as well as preparing for the performance,” the Malaysia-born choreographer says. “But it is really about a whole bunch of different people from the commuinity coming together and it is dance that is uniting them all.”
United In Dance is at the Wycombe Swan on Thursday, January 22, 6.30pm. Tickets: 01494 512000 (£1 -£3 ). The next United In Dance project involves young women aged 13-19 and runs for ten weeks from Thursday, February 26. If you are interested in taking part please contact Maria Ryan on 01494 552872 or maria@wycombeswan.co.uk
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