YOU&ME – Man meets Man… discovering a state of happiness he has never known before; but he has a wife and family at home.  You&Me confronts the cultural status quo attitudes towards sexuality.

Developed because of AKDC’s programme of workshops with women’s community groups. The women shared their real-life experiences of a marriage where their partner could not express his sexuality for fear of bringing shame to the family. This experience has been developed with two LGBTQ+ performers from their imagining his perspective.

 BIRD – A stage sequel to AKDC’s critically acclaimed dance film Catch The Bird Who Won’t Fly started in a workshop with a women’s community group – where a participant asked – “What happens to a woman when she runs away from domestic abuse?”   

The tone, the expression, the nervousness in her voice, the looking away after she asked the question, prompted this scalding emphatic kathak fluence-d piece exploring the social stigma for women in such a situation.

KATHAK MONOLOGUES

Kathak Movement Notation and Depiction (choreography) by Amina Khayyam  

Performers: Jane Chan, Jalpa Vala, Sushma Vala, Abirami Eswar, Shyam Dattani, Julian Nichols

Musicians: Debasish Mukherjee (tabla), Jonathan Mayer (sitar), Iain McHugh (cello)  Nimrita Kaur Rasiya (vocal on ManChild).  

Music composed by Jonathan Mayer   

Produced & Dramaturgy by Hardial S. Rai 

Costume: Abeda Begum  

Lighting: Clare O’Donoghue  

Made at Brunel Arts (University) and Collage Arts Spaces in association with zeroculture/Arts with support from Arts Council of England