AKDC presents double bill of award-winning Kathak at The Place

Amina Khayyam Dance Company is set to present YOU&ME and BIRD, a double bill of award-winning and critically acclaimed Kathak, at The Place, London 4th June 2024 In YOU&ME, Man meets Man… discovering a state of happiness never felt before; but he has a wife and family at home. A dance duet featuring the spectacle of high energy Kathak and physicality of contemporary dance, with a live music score of sitar, tabla and cello. YOU&ME was developed from workshops with women groups - where some 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 was developed with two LGBTQ+ performers.

“Like all artforms, the dance world is always trying to re-invent itself and say something original. Rarely, however, does an entirely new subject matter come along – which is partly why YOU&ME is such special work” 4 ★★★★ review The Scotsman at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023 Opening with a silent scream, BIRD poses a question that crosses the mind of many women stuck in abusive relationships: “Where will I go?” “Will anyone believe me?” High energy Kathak weaves the story to a specially commissioned live music score by Jonathan Mayer featuring Sohini Alam on vocals and Debasish Mukherjee on tabla.

BIRD is a stage sequel to AKDC’s critically acclaimed digital work Catch The Bird Who Won’t Fly shown at the Fringe in 2021. Critically acclaimed BIRD won the Lustrum Award at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023. Since Edinburgh the piece has been scaled up and developed into a longer performance with more dancers. “Powerful & captivating” 4 ★★★★ review, The Scotsman at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023.

Artistic Director Amina Khayyam said: “After the success of these pieces at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, I am excited to tour them across the UK this year and bring them to new audiences.

“BIRD 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?”. In BIRD we explore the social stigma for women in such a situation.

“YOU&ME explores the pressures of hiding your true self and the barriers to overcome as a family, this was developed using lived experiences from the female perspective and developed with two LGBTQ+ dancers.

“These stories are forever relevant but seem even more so in current times. The pieces tell these stories with the compassion and energy of Kathak and the power of the original live music.”

Amina Khayyam Dance Company (AKDC) makes touring dance theatre work using the South Asian dance Kathak as the core narrative. AKDC develops works in collaboration with those who are culturally least engaged, economically challenged and societally disenfranchised - with a focus on the marginalised female voice – developing ideas for performances from the dance workshops produced with women’s groups in Luton, Slough, Woking, East London and Birmingham.

Tickets are on sale at https://theplace.org.uk/events/summer-2024-amina-khayyam-dance-company-double-bill