Nov 2012 - View Online - Whats On Live

love. It’s a language through which you can
say and explore anything. Some of the dance
styles in India are related to festivals, particular
religious ceremonies and different parts of the
religious calendar, and it’s sometimes difficult
to move away from that. That said, it’s
becoming more progressive, and people like
ourselves are working with organisations there
to produce more hybrid-based choreographic
workshops and masterclasses. I was born
here, I trained here, and so my understanding
of body alignment is subconsciously informed
by other dance forms that I’m watching and
absorbing here in the UK. This means that my
cultural landscape and my dance landscape is
very different, because I’m accessing
contemporary, African and flamenco dance. In
India, all you see is Indian dance. The
reference points are therefore very different
over there.
Do you adapt your performances when in
India?
No, I don’t change. I would just choose things
deliberately not from the repertoire - for
example, a political piece that has nothing to
do with India. I’d also concentrate on Kathak’s
more Islamic influences, which don’t get
celebrated enough.
Would you ever choose Indian subject
matter and use it as a reference point?
I have done, certainly. It always seems new to
them, because my way of moving and the
shapes that I devise are very different to those
of a Kathak dancer who lives in India.
What’s your starting-point when devising a
new piece?
I would say that music is a very big stimulus. It
can be anything; rock, jazz, Purcell - anything.
I could also be influenced by something I’ve
heard on the news, or by a walk in the park.
Inspiration can come from anywhere.
What inspires you to take something to the
next stage?
When I start to get goose pimples with a
particular piece of music, or when something
evokes a particularly strong image in my mind.
It’s a very strong internal feeling that I get.
That’s when I begin to play in the studio. Then,
through listening and moving, things begin to
happen. Over time, when you begin to
improvise and play, you create phases and
dance segments. That’s when the music no
longer plays a major part in the delivery,
because you’ve found something else to hang
on to. The music eventually will stop being
part of it. It’s just a stimulus to feed an idea. I
then work with Sarvar Sabri, who’s our Musical
Director, and explain the kind of sounds I’m
hearing. Or he may have seen what I’ve
created and have some tune in his head, and
a piece develops from there.
Do you give yourself a timescale?
I don’t think it’s as black and white as that. I
usually have an idea early on whether
something’s going to work, and if it doesn’t,
then I lay it to rest. Obviously, if I’m working on
a commissioned piece, I have to make sure
that I have something I can create. It has to be
something that interests me. If I’m generally
excited about it, then I know I can make it
work.
Is there a fellow artist who’s proved to be a
big inspiration to you over the years?
There are a lot of people, actually. I think
Richard Alston is someone who’s been a huge
inspiration, because his relationship with
dance and music is very similar to mine. He’s
also mentored one of our research projects,
offered his pearls of wisdom and given us, as
a company, some great feedback. Richard
loved Kathakbox and invited us to perform at
The Place in London as part of their fortieth
anniversary programme. It was there that he
announced to the whole auditorium that he
was ‘a real fan of Sonia Sabri’... Shobana
Jeyasingh is another choreographer who I
really admire. She’s very interesting, because
she asks similar questions about her style of
dance to those that I ask, like ‘why can’t it be
classical and contemporary at the same
time?’. She’s also created some very stunning
pieces of work which take her art form to a
completely different dimension.
How do you balance your time between the
educational side of the company and
performing?
We’re now beginning to delegate more work. I
now have dancers coming through who can
deliver workshops and perform. It’s all about
legacy as well. I can’t be dancing forever, and
my work should continue when I’m not here,
but I can only do that through dancers and
musicians who have trained through the
company. A lot of our company dancers are
going out and work-shopping, which frees me
up to do what I should be doing - the work
which needs more time; the choreography, the
performing and the creating of works for the
company.
What does it mean to you as a company to
have finally secured funding from the Arts
Council?
It’s a wonderful feeling. We’ve been knocking
on their door for the past nine years. I’ve
always believed that the company has
delivered new work and groundbreaking
pieces within South Asian dance which really
ticks all their boxes. But no doubt the Arts
Council has had its own agenda, and I
suppose they only have a certain amount of
money to allocate at any given time. But I can
now understand why they’ve given it to me, as
they probably think they’ve had enough of me
saying the same thing over and over again.
And we do an awful lot of international work.
There’s no other dance group in the Midlands
that does as much international touring. I don’t
like to blow my own trumpet but there aren’t a
lot of small-scale companies who do forty
shows in a tour, so we’re in a very privileged
position. However, I wish that they’d
recognised us earlier on, because we could
have done something really, really fantastic.
How will the funding be spent?
It’s not a great amount but it will enable us to
sort ourselves in terms of space. It allows us
to recruit a couple of part-time staff, but
that’s about it.
How much of your success do you
attribute to your Birmingham roots?
An awful lot of it. I’m a Brummie-trained
dancer, because my teacher was from here,
and mac has been there all along, offering
support. Also, I met my husband Sabri here -
he’s the Musical Director - and if it wasn’t for
the one hundred-and-ten percent effort that
he gives to the company, we wouldn’t have a
company. If the two of us hadn’t put in so
much personal time and investment, we
wouldn’t have lasted for even two years. The
amount of times we’ve been up at 2am
sticking labels on flyers... I consider myself
really fortunate to be in Birmingham. I’ve
been given numerous invitations to move to
London - because that’s where it all happens
- but I’ve always turned them down. I’ve
seen the people who’ve gone there and
they’re really struggling. London is so cutthroat;
in Birmingham, artists support each
other. I also make a point of giving work to
musicians and dancers based in
Birmingham. We’re very much homegrown...
Sonia Sabri Dance Company appear at mac
Arts Centre, Birmingham, from Fri 23 & Sat
24 November.