A development initiative for South Asian Dance in the North West

Welcome to Chaturangan

DoNotYet

Chaturangan have been invited by St Helens Council to present 'Traces of Wings' as part of a day of events at St Helen's Central Library on Monday 16th May. Traces of Wings is a further development of Chaturangan's dementia and family friendly performances. We're delighted to be working with St Helen's Council to lend support to this event which is part of Dementia Awareness Week (15-21 May). An excerpt of the full show will be showing at 11am and 3pm. Further information about the day can be found at http://www.sthelens.gov.uk/newsroom/2016/05/09/libraries-support-dementia-awareness-week/


Chaturangan believes culturally diverse dance to be an integral part of the social and cultural fabric of 21st century British culture.

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[Photo by Vipul Sangoi]

Chaturangan's initiatives support the development of South Asian dance in particular and other dance forms in general.

Chaturangan delivers

  • health and well-being initiatives with particular focus on older people
  • community and educational projects
  • cross-arts dance-theatre productions for touring
  • specially developed resources to support on-going activities
  • international conferences on issues of major contemporary concern

Chaturangan works in partnership with

  • Liverpool Hope University
  • Foundation for Community Dance
  • National Museums Liverpool
  • Sampad
  • Foundation for Arts and Creative Technology
  • Merseyside Dance Initiative
  • Liverpool John Moores University
  • Akademi
  • Kadam

Chaturangan acknowledges support from the Arts Council England for their generous support throughout its development.

Chaturangan's artistic director is Bisakha Sarker.

See elsewhere for a more formal statement of our aims and objectives.

Latest news March 2019

Unseen Designs

Wednesday 27th March

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See here or here for further details.

 

red squareWinston Churchill Fellowship 2013

Bisakha's report on her visit to Canada on a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust fellowship is here.

red squarephotoFleeting Moments

Chaturangan presented the second culturally diverse cross arts performance as part of Phase II of the Fleeting Moments project. The performance specially welcomed people living with dementia, and their companions, with the aim of enriching their quality of life.

This family and dementia friendly professional public performance was produced through a 3-day choreolab bringing together dancers, musicians, artists, those living with dementia and their care-partners at the Bluecoat, Liverpool. It was a heart warming joyous dance and music performance enjoyed by all.  
 
photoFleeting moments was a performance to lift our collective spirits.

It includes short sections of Indian, Chinese and Contemporary dance to live music, with two breaks and opportunities for sensitively led audience participation.

Artists taking part: Fenfen Huang, Anusha Subramanyam, Mary Pearson, Steve Boyland and Chris Davies.

See summary here and more information here.

The Impact of this artistic initiative for the care of dementia will be evaluated by Julie Hanna.

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Landmark initiatives

the first national dance and dementia conference

In December 2010 Chaturangan, in partnership with MDI and the Foundation for Community Dance, held the first national dance and dementia conference in Liverpool, with particular focus on the rôle of dance in the care of dementia.

This innovative conference was a multi-disciplinary arts event combining academic papers, keynote dances, presentations of art based research by leading practitioners and specially commissioned dance performances and films.The conference celebrated best practice in this field and brings together a diverse range of artists, health and medical professionals, care staff, biomedical researchers, arts organisations and friends and families of those living with dementia.

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Flyer fronttransition was a two-day conference investigating heritage through dance held in partnership with Sampad and the National Museums Liverpool 7th & 8th March 2008 at the World Museum Liverpool

Nationally acclaimed Artistic Director, Bisakha Sarker, presented a full programme of events with thought provoking lectures and challenging debates. Taking dance as its focal point this two day conference explored and examined what heritage means in today's society.

For an archive of conference information, see here.

The conference was managed by the Aspire Trust Ltd. Email Aspire Trust.

 



2006 was designated "Year of Performance" by Liverpool Culture Company as part of the build-up to the Liverpool European Capital of Culture 2008. In response to this, Chaturangan ran a conference entitled Marks of time in partnership with Hope University. The conference explored appropriate performance practice in advancing years, and was held on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th January 2007.

"The Marks of Time conference was a great success. We had over 80 participants as well as many performers, and the event was inspirational for all concerned. The highlight was the performance by Bisakha Sarker on the Friday evening, with musical accompaniment by Chris Davies. A few phrases from the conference will remain in my memory: "Brightness of Life"; "Add life to years as well as years to life". Thanks to all of Chaturangan and Aspire Trust for the work they put into the organisation. " - Eric Foxley

For the conference schedule and an archive of conference information click here.

For links to some of the submitted papers click here.

Videos from the conference can be found at the Marks Of Time blog - www.marksoftime.blogspot.com.

All 13 of the Marks Of Time 2007 performances are now archived as a set of 3 DVDs. For more details contact marksoftime@luden.co.uk .

 

Arts in Health

Waiting A project in conjunction with Liverpool Primary Care Trust. Chaturangan has provided a creative approach responding to the differing needs of people in ‘waiting’ settings. We worked with artists experienced in working sensitively with people in different situations. The first phase of the project comprised six sessions in different in six different situations (for example a hospital ward, a clinic, a hospice and a patient support group) and the making of a film "Precious" by Gina Czarnecki suitable for showing in waiting rooms. The second phase will focus on the mental health area, and the development of an interactive installation of the film "Precious". The film was shown by the Liverpool Culture Company at the UK Public Health Conference at the Echo Arena in Liverpool in April 2008.

The full Waiting project was delivered by Fact, Comedy Trust and Chaturangan. Liverpool Culture Company has produced a "coffee-table" book summing up the work of the whole project, and distributed it to all GP surgeries in Liverpool.

Warrington film project for residential homes

Warrington Borough Council commissioned Bisakha to create an exercise video suitable for use in residential home, and dance groups for the over-50s. As part of the project Chris Davis and Bisakha worked in residential homes and with local mature dance groups. There will be four films, three suitable for chair-based exercise and one for more mobile participants. The emphasis is on creativity. The films will be webcast when ready.

Dignity

Bisakha provided a one-day workshop for "The Place" theatre.The project looked at working with older people in hospitals.

Blythe House Day Hospice

See here for details of Chaturangan's performance at Blythe House Day Hospice in Buxton.

Sacred Move

2004 was celebrated as year of "Faith in one City"by Liverpool Culture Company. In response Chaturangan produced "Sacred Move", a soulful production of new dance, live music and spoken words. Chaturangan has created an initiative that celebrates Liverpool’s diverse cultural and devotional heritage. The first two performances took place in Liverpool's two cathedrals in 2004.

In 2005, Liverpool Culture Company's "Year of the Sea", Chaturangan toured "Across the Sea", a programme of extensive community projects together with a performance of "Sacred Move" to Cork (European Capital of Culture 2005).

In January 2007, at the invitation of Liverpool Culture Company, Chaturangan performed “Sacred Move” at the St George's Hall, Liverpool to launch their cultural programme for 2007.

Dance of the Night Sky

Dance of the Night SkyThis is a Planetarium show based on an ancient Indian myth about the origin of the Plough, the Pleiades and the double stars Alcar and Mizar.

It was produced as a collaboration between Bisakha Sarker, William Radice, Arun Ghosh, Dan Soul and Kali Dass.

The installation was shown every Sunday afternoon through 2006 and 2007 at the Planetarium.

Our work is supported by, among others

Arts Council Esmee Fairbairn Contact theatre Octogan theatre MDI Arts Council Ryan Air Renewal ICD Lpool cathedral

















Photos by Simon Richardson

 


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Website at Chaturangan.co.uk
Page last updated 22-Mar-2019 - Comments on the website welcome by Eric Foxley at the Dunkirk Arts Centre
Eric also manages web sites for
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