In the Further Soil

Friday 22nd January 2010

In January sampad set out for India, in partnership with Teamwork Films for the start of its In the Further Soil project.

It took a team of UK dance and music artists – Soweto Kinch, Harmage Singh Kalirai and Anusha Subramanyam – to work alongside artists based in India – Priyam Mukherjee; Ratul Shankar and Sanjukta Ray (pictured).

The choreolab took shape in the form of a one week residency where the artists were involved in an exploratory process, using literature to inspire movement.

The creative outcome was a 10 minute sharing which was presented at the Jaipur Literature Festival to an international audience followed by a discussion.

The artists were also fortunate enough to deliver an education workshop to a highly responsive and engaging group of Rajisthani school children.

In the Further Soil has been inspired by text from Rabindranath Tagore (1861 – 1941) – the Bengali poet, philosopher, social reformer and dramatist who was awarded the Nobel peace prize for literature in 1913.

Tagore once commented on the Indian diaspora in a letter to C.F. Andrews; “To study a banyan tree, you not only must know it’s main stem in it’s own soil, but also must trace the growth of it’s greatness in the further soil for then you know the true nature of its vitality”.

The piece will be developed into a full performance which will tour the UK and India later this year.

The project is supported by the British Council.