25th April 2019

Sampad Welcomes World-Class Dance Artist For Cultural Exchange Residency

We are delighted to welcome extraordinarily talented Bangladeshi dancer Sudeshna Swayamprabha Tathoi (Tathoi) to Birmingham for the first phase of our Research and Development as part of Transforming Narratives.  

This week Tathoi joined us in Birmingham for a full weeks’ residency and cultural exchange with dance artist Johnny Autin, spoken word and music artist Soweto Kinch and musician Sarah Sayeed. Throughout the week Tathoi worked closely with each artist, exchanging artistic practice both in the studio and around Birmingham.

Tathoi is a dancer and choreographer from Bangladesh. She is a Manipuri and Bharatanatyam dancer, who is also exploring contemporary interpretations of these classical dance forms. Tathoi comes from a long line of talented and world-class cultural and artistic leaders and was introduced to the cultural area from a very young age. Tathoi’s mother ,Sharmila Banerjee, is an eminent dancer and choreographer of Bangladesh and her Father Bhaswar Banerjee, renowned recitor, director and drama personality.

Over the years, Tathoi has been highly appreciated both in home abroad for her performances. She has performed in USA, Norway, Nepal, Japan, Sri Lanka, UAE, Singapore and to several cities of India like Kolkata, Delhi, Ujjain, Kerala, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Agartala, Shilong, Mumbai to perform both in private invitation and also as a part of Govt Delegation, in many prestigious festivals, conferences, and exchange programs. She is a regular performer on stage and various television channels in Bangladesh. Alongside being dedicated to establish herself as a performing artist, Tathoi also holds two First-Class Masters degrees in both Dance and Anthropology.

As part of the Transforming Narrtives research process, we are sharing the findings of the residency and drawing out the learnings for each artist, in order to take this extraordinary project forward. We have also been working with film maker and producer Idriss Assoumanou, who is documenting the residency and will produce a short film reflecting on the artists’ processes. During Tathoi’s residency, we also hope to draw out the narratives of her perspectives of living in Bangladesh as a young woman and as an artist, as well as understand her perceptive of coming to Birmingham and how that may be impact on her work.

Learn more about Transforming Narratives.

This project is supported by: