Indian classical dance - immersive and interactive in Rye

Sonia Sabri Company bring Indian classical dance to the Rye Festival on September 12, with a new walkabout performance, bringing dance, music and storytelling directly into the festival environment.

They are promising to engage audiences in a lively and accessible way.

The Gazelle and The Hunter will be on Saturday, September 12 starting at 11:30 in and around the Citadel.

Sonia, who recently received an MBE for her work directly from Charles III himself, is artistic director of Sonia Sabri Company, setting it up with her husband Sarvar Sabri, a seventh-generation musician, back in 2002.

“Our award-winning productions are rooted in Kathak and Indian classical music but draw on contemporary influences to create distinctive, relevant and accessible artistic experiences for audiences of all ages and backgrounds,” Sonia explains.

“We tour internationally to theatres, arts centres and festivals, as well as unconventional spaces, including schools, libraries, parks and museums. We are committed to presenting energetic work with live music wherever possible with high-quality percussion, instrumental, and vocals as well as soundscapes.”

Sonia directed and choreographed the piece which is coming to Rye. It will be brought to life by two dancers – and by the audience.

“It is interactive. It requires the audience to take part so that we can move ahead with the narrative. It's not just a wave and a smile! There is a story that drives it, and we are finding that the audiences are staying across the whole 25 to 30 minutes to enjoy it.

“Sonia Sabri Company is a dance and music organisation which is inspired by everything from Kathak to the Indian music that is its counterpart. We are always looking at what finds connection across other cultures outside South Asian dance and with all dance forms and literature and fine arts. It really is stretching its tentacles to find the common denominators. “We all tell stories, and stories are from different cultures but the human experience is pretty much the same. It's about how we tell these stories and how we tell them through music and dance. It’s also about how we shift the access from black box theatres to taking the shows to the doorsteps of where people are.

“I set it the company up, myself and my husband. It can be quite a precarious field. When I first started it, it was a case of people not really knowing much about Kathak dance even though there have been practitioners that have come from India as solo artists. I was very young starting a company as a freelance artist, and also becoming the director of a company, you find that you really have to prove yourself a lot. It's about what the ideas are that you are doing that are different, and there was a lot of pressure or top-down guidance on us, but we stuck to our guns.”

There was pressure for fusion performances: “But my roots have always been in the roots of Kathak itself. My experiences as a British born, British trained artist are very different than someone that was born in India, and it can be very difficult to go against what you're being told that you should do. It was hard but we're now one of the torchbearers for Indian classical dance.”

And the honour from the King in person was a huge confidence boost: “It was wonderful.”