Collaboration with Belen Maya / Me Vuelves Lorca Festival

 

This weekend the company journeys deep into Lorca’s mountains of Andalusia to begin an exciting and ambitious collaboration exploring kathak’s connection with roma/flamenco for the Me Vuelves Lorca Festival.  

Amina Khayyam will lead her company of musicians Debasish Mukherjee, Lucy Rahman, Alastair Morgan with Jane Chan on ‘paranth’ and joined by the very talented and versatile guitarist Guiliano Modarelli, to work with roma flamenco star Belen Maya, who will be joined by flamenco vocalist Noelia la Negri.  

Using AKDC’s kathak production - ONE as the structure, the week long residency forms the beginning of looking beyond the obvious commonalities of rhythmic patterns and footwork. “We can’t deny that there are similarities, but what is at the heart of the connection... .I want to look at the narratives and emotions. Both forms can be highly passionate and emotive. There is a lot of pain and passion expressed in roma/flamenco, and I am interested in that connection”says Amina, “ I am really looking forward to see what the soul searching magic Lucy will bring working with the Noelia. And I am really looking forward to Guiliano’s approach with his Indian based/sarod like approach to the guitar with the flamenco rhythms”  

“Our work ONE explores the subject of global refugee situation and my recent work with the roma community here in UK is leading me to find more about their contemporary narratives and situation”, continues Amina,  “both Belen and I are keen to not just look at traditional stories, but also stories reflecting what is happening today. We both use our art forms to speak about injustice, particularly towards women, giving voice to the voiceless, so it was really exciting when the director of Me Vuelves Lorca Festival, Anna Kemp initiated the collaboration. Anna has stayed connected with the company’s work since we staged Yerma in Malaga in 2014.” 

The week long residency will culminate in a performance on Aug 10thin the outdoor theatre at Laroles. AKDC is working to further develop the collaboration into a full production to bring the collaboration to UK and a European tour.