Choreography: Nandita Shankardass
Music : Nitin Sawhney
Extracts from ‘Breathing Light’ (from the album Prophesy) and ‘Noches en Vela Part 2’ (from the album Philtre)
Costume: Dancers’ own
Cast: Cira Robinson, Jade Hale-Christofi, Sarah Kundi, Damien Johnson, Sayaka Ichikawa, Jazmon Voss, Kanika Carr, Samuel Chung.
At the forefront of my mind when creating this work for Ballet Black was the significance of community and the benefits it can bring us in coming together as a whole yet with all our differences.
I explored these ideas, themes and energies through movement with the dancers of ballet black, gave the freedom to each dancer to express and respond to a given task in their own unique way, piecing these phrases and expressions together to build a sense of individuals coming together in community through dance in the space.
I was greatly guided towards the essence of the work I wanted to create, when I stumbled upon this quote from Howard Thurman in his book,The Search For Common Ground: An Inquiry Into The Basis Of Man’s Experience Of Community (1971).
“In the conflicts between man and man, between group and group, between nation and nation, the loneliness of the seeker for community is sometimes unendurable. The radical tension between good and evil, as man sees it and feels it, does not have the last word about the meaning of life and the nature of existence. There is a spirit in man and in the world working always against the thing that destroys and lays waste. Always he must know that the contradictions of life are not final or ultimate; he must distinguish between failure and a many-sided awareness so that he will not mistake conformity for harmony, uniformity for synthesis. He will know that for all men to be alike is the death of life in man, and yet perceive harmony that transcends all diversities and in which diversity finds its richness and significance.”
No two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle are the same yet they can piece together to create something bigger and better and complete. Just like in the world no two people are the same yet we can use our own uniqueness to create a community where we can strive to live in harmony together and forge forward feeling stronger and supportive to one another through our individuality.
DISCLAIMER: I hereby declare that I do not own the rights to this music/song. All rights belong to the owner. No Copyright Infringement Intended.
