First sparks ignited!
It all began as I took my first steps onto the stage after graduating from Laban. I was fortunate enough to perform with some really fun dance, theatre and circus companies, an experience that left me awed and inspired. However, beneath the shimmering lights and the applause, I carried with me a vision – a vision that became a strong urge to carve a unique path that blends all my ethnicities and curiosities with the world of performing arts.
I longed to be part of something profound, as well as fun and enjoyable. I wanted to explore, discover, and make works that would not just entertain, but also challenge and provoke, while igniting a fire of introspection in the audience! I wanted to create performances that dared to question the core foundations of our innate, socialised, and personal existence – unpacking our perceptions, our logic, our mundane and awe-filled experiences and also our all-pervading socio-economic structures.
My urge to express this multiplicity of ideas through the universal language of dance was fed by everything from the intricacies of marketing to explorations of contemporary societal values. It felt like expressing this complexity demanded a multi-media setup.
As always, I am interested in exploring what lies beyond traditional conventions. My vision demands an interdisciplinary approach: film, projection, interactive design, and the newest digital technologies available to create a harmonious experience of immersion; a creative blend of artistic forms that transcends boundaries.
Yet there is so much more to my creative journey than the pursuit of innovation. I still work to dissolve the partitions that divide us within the theatre’s walls. I like to work between the lines and spaces that separate performance from audiences, the MA what is MA? that separates stage from audience.
Pas de Cinq
The multidisciplinary performance, Pas de Cinq offered an immersive experience where everyone present was an active participant in the unfolding narrative. The choreography called for a unique setup without traditional stages or seats, with the audience at the centre of an open space. Surrounding them, four walls displayed underwater dance films, while dancers performed in close proximity to the audience and a Butoh dancer descended from the ceiling on a Perspex table. Circus performers used aerial silks and cocoons in the vertical theatre spaces around the audience. This setup encouraged the audience to actively engage by walking around, exploring, and fully immersing themselves in the performance.
This mash-up of styles and format went further! I began to infuse neo-classical ballet and contemporary dance with the polycentrism, polyrhythmic and poly-architectural essence of Raqs Sharqi. Using the body’s geometry, I allowed this rich mixture of cultures to lead on the aesthetics and the dramaturgy of the narrative.
The Poetry of Choreography
The poetry of choreography is whispered through every articulation of bones, and expressed through what is seen or felt from the linearity of muscles, all the way through to the spaces a performance inhabits. I longed for the sensuous sway of hips to be a brushstroke on the canvas of IJAD’s performances.
The stories IJAD collates are those of authenticity and communities. They are collected secrets, shared fairy tales and gathered dreams, from refugees, or small villages in Cambridge, Colchester, Ely, Taipei, Perugia, Dusseldorf . . . I am still on the enriching journey of seeking new ways to gather and share stories and build communities in digital spaces.
This incredible journey has given me the opportunity to discover new narratives, not just from my own experiences but from the hearts and minds of the audiences who become part of the performance. Their stories are notes of authenticity, the hidden pens that inscribe the rich tapestry of human experience onto the stage.
So, what inspired me to create IJAD?
It was the relentless pursuit of the unexplored, the powerful creative energy for artistic evolution, and the innate desire to connect with humanity’s deepest emotions. IJAD became the vessel through which my thoughts, ideas, and challenges found their expression, and it continues to be the stage where the narratives of countless individuals and communities come to life through the mesmerising language of dance. It’s a journey that invites you to join in, to dance to the rhythm of authenticity, and to unlock the stories hidden within us all.
