PA/10/14 6 March 2014
AUSTRALIAN AND INDIAN ACROBATS REACH NEW HEIGHTS
New Delhi audiences will this week be treated to a spectacular display of aerobatic mastery with AAKASHAN - an innovative show based on collaboration between Australian and Indian aerial dance artists.
The physical theatre show includes aerial dance performed using specialist equipment such as ropes, trapezes and aerial silk. Hanging six metres high in the air, these dancers use their strength, grace and flexibility to create a scene of pure wonder.
Australia’s High Commissioner to India Patrick Suckling has welcomed the show to Delhi.
“This performance will be a wonderful showcase of virtuosity and skill from both Australian and Indian artists, and I’m sure audiences will be both moved and astonished,” Mr Suckling said.
AAKASHAN is performed by artists supported by the Kalakar Trust, a non-profit organisation working to improve the lives of traditional Indian artists in Delhi’s slums, and Carly Sheppard, an indigenous Australian contemporary and traditional dancer.
The show is choreographed by Vikram Mohan, and directed by Catherine Daniel, leader of the Vertical Circus, an organisation which empowers people from low-income backgrounds by teaching them circus skills and physical theatre.
“Audiences will admire feats of daring and high level artistry in a show which merges powerful Indian motifs with the strong physicality of Australian aerial arts,” Ms Daniel said.
“This cultural exchange imbues the show with a huge amount of creative energy. We learn different skills from each other, share stories, creative impulses, ideas and ways of doing things.”
Catherine Daniel was supported by the Australian International Cultural Council (AICC) to develop this production. The AICC is the Australian Government’s key cultural diplomacy body.
Ms Daniel said the purpose of the project is to impart knowledge of aerial dance and physical theatre to the artists the Kalakar Trust supports. “It aims to fuse these art forms with the Indian artists’ existing skills in traditional and contemporary forms,” she said.
AAKASHAN culminates in five professional shows in schools and other venues, including at 6.30pm in the Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi, on Thursday the 13th of March. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations is also partnering with the Australian Government to present the Kamani Auditorium performance. (Free passes available at Gate 1, Australian High Commission - Entry on first come, first serve basis)