Amina Khayyam Dance Company is returning to Summerhall with two shows YOU&ME and BIRD, part of our Kathak Monologues – dance pieces written & choreographed by Amina Khayyam thematic from a South Asian feminist perspective.
Nominated for the National Dance Awards 2022 - Amina Khayyam Dance Company (AKDC) makes touring dance theatre work using the South Asian dance Kathak as the core narrative. AKDC develops works in collaboration with those who are culturally least engaged, economically challenged and societally disenfranchised - with a focus on the marginalised female voice – across its hubs in Luton, Slough Woking, East London and Birmingham:
Speaking to Asian Voice, Artistic Director Amina Khayyam said: “I treat Kathak as a contemporary form thereby transcending any ‘classical’ or ‘modern’ precepts to its approach. I use its vocabulary to transpose it on a modern body dialogue, in the process subverting its many facets to carve out an emotion performed to a contemporary narrative. I believe the dance form is evolving with progressions demanded by the contemporary zeitgeist, in the same way it did so from the demands of the Mughals, the last time it took a major step forward. At its heart, to me, Kathak is a storytelling form – an approach that has allowed me to use its uniquely placed and equipped vocabulary to tell new and urgent stories of global importance – such a Yerma, A Thousand Faces, Catch The Bird Who won’t Fly, - stories made in collaboration with women who are culturally least engaged, economically challenged and societally disenfranchised - not just from the mainstream but from within their own community - a place from where I myself come from.”
BOX
YOU&ME – Wed 2nd Aug – Sun 13th Aug
Man meets Man… discovering a state of happiness never felt before; but he has a wife and family at home. A dance duet featuring the spectacle of high energy Kathak and physicality of contemporary dance, with a live music score of sitar, tabla and cello.
BIRD – Tue 15th Aug – Sun 27th Aug
The stage sequel to the critically acclaimed ‘Catch The Bird Who Won’t Fly’ exploring the question ‘What happens when you run away from domestic abuse?’ Three dancers weave the story to a specially commissioned live music score by Jonathan Mayer (with an adaptation of John Marc Gowan's sequence from Slut)
The preview nights are on the first night of each run:
- YOU&ME Weds 2nd Aug, 19:20 (45 minutes)
- BIRD Tues 15th Aug, 19:20 (45 minutes)
