After the successful running of Nirbhaya, The Cultch and Diwali Fest partnered together to present Sunya, a celebratory and spiritual journey merging contemporary dance, music of Persian, and interactive real time video.
Guided by the Indo-Armenian dancer and choreographer, Roger Sinha, and Iranian-born gatherer of musical pearls, Kiya Tabassian, four dancers, three musicians, a sound designer, and a video artist broke boundaries to create a truly unique artistic experience.
Every sound stems from a gesture, but in an abyss of silence, can movement take place? Every expression is based on a memory, but when memory is plural, how does it resonate?
What happens when two artists, a choreographer and a composer, each at the crossroads of cultures, join forces? Starting from both nothing and everything they are made of?
Sunya refers to this fundamental paradox of being, of language, of movement – the movement of exile, the movement of art-hybridization.
“This is a true reflection of the cultural diversity of our city,” says Diwali Fest co-producer Chokhani. “Music, dance, and fusion art forms have always been at the heart of our festival’s artistic programming. In Sunya, we have a truly unique artistic experience through Indo-Armenian choreography and dance with Iranian musical pearls. This is the true representation of the colour, flavours, and spice of Diwali.”
“Sunya is a fusion of cultures, genres, and artist impulses,” says Heather Redfern, Executive Director of The Cultch. “The musicians and dancers riff off each other, creating an intense and dynamic physical and musical dialogue. The staging is beautiful, featuring vivid colours and patterns created with lights, movement, and sound. Sunya is a feast for all of the senses. It takes you to a place of great spirit.”
Diwali Fest, an annual South Asian arts and culture festival that celebrates the universal light that exists in everyone held a number of events around Vancouver promoting the celebratory essense of Diwali. Produced by the Diwali Celebration Society, this growing Vancouver event has shown increasing interest from the general public. Each year’s festival engages dozens of artists in events across the city.
Sinha Danse is a dance company created in 1991 by Roger Sinha, in Montreal. His work merges contemporary dance and storytelling with martial arts, new technologies, digital performance,spoken word and Bharata Natyam,a dance from southern India.Sinha Danse’s mission is to continually break boundaries and forge new creative paths by incorporating new media such as film,interactive technologies,and sound. Sinha Danse produces highly energetic hybrid dances, which explore the cultural collision of East and West; the harmony, dissonance, and tension. www.sinhadanse.com
