Akademi, in partnership with DanceEast, announces the five recipients of new Akademi Artists Commissions 2024, fostering innovative practice in South Asian dance.
Akademi, the UK’s leading South Asian dance organisation, and DanceEast, a national leader in digital dance innovation, are delighted to announce the five recipients of the Akademi Artist Commissions 2024. The five artists are some of the most exciting talents working in South Asian dance today – Shivaangee Agrawal, Anjana Bala, Chandenie Gobardhan, Divija Melally and Kesha Raithatha.
The five new commissions will provide the artists with space and time to expand their practice and foster new collaborations in South Asian dance, importantly without the pressure of a fixed outcome. Promoting new thinking in South Asian dance integrated with creative technology is a special ‘Creative Technology’ commission, awarded to Shivaangee Agrawal.
Each artist receives £5,000, two weeks of studio space at DanceEast’s Jerwood Dance House in Ipswich, and mentoring from Akademi’s Artistic Director and Joint CEO Subathra Subramaniam and DanceEast’s Artistic Director and CEO Brendan Keaney OBE. Each commission looks to the future, exploring the themes of climate change, sustainability and health & wellbeing, that align with Akademi’s artistic vision.
About the artist commissions
Shivaangee Agrawal
Shivaangee will start from the proposition that our lack of climate change activism is rooted in a sense of deep hopelessness and powerlessness about its inevitability. She will use group chorus to invite audiences to recognise their fatigue but also feel hopeful.
Anjana Bala
Anjana will explore themes of rest, leisure, work, and labour. She will take inspiration from the notion of “weathered bodies,” and play with how weather and atmospheres can serve conceptual and aesthetic metaphors.
Chandenie Gobardhan
Caught Again in the Net of Rebirth will reflect the paradox of time through the lens of Trimurti—a layered cosmogonic concept rich with symbolism. Chandenie will explore the idea of ego death to create space for transformation.
Divija Melally
Divija will explore the role that dance and movement plays in positively impacting people’s lives physically, mentally, emotionally and socially, through Bharatanatyam, text and stories, with collaborators.
Kesha Raithatha
Kesha will delve into the intersection of fashion, culture, and sustainability by investigating the rich tradition of passing down clothing and jewellery within British South Asian culture and juxtaposing it with the contemporary era of fast fashion and disposable trends.
Subathra Subramaniam, Artistic Director and Joint CEO, Akademi said: “We developed these 12-month commissions in response to artists passionately expressing the need for more time and space to foster their creativity and innovation. Together with our partner DanceEast, these commissions will provide five brilliant artists with a new type of support framework, with invaluable state-of-the-art studio space, access to new creative technologies and the opportunity to test ideas with local communities and audiences. We’re very excited to see how these artists can push the boundaries of South Asian dance in the UK. I cannot wait to see what they will come up with and I look forward to supporting them.”
Brendan Keaney, Artistic Director and CEO, Dance East said: “We are incredibly pleased to be collaborating with Akademi on this initiative, as it addresses so many of our priorities. We are genuinely excited by the new opportunities that are being created through digital technologies and are particularly interested in how they might enhance live performance. Consequently, we have created an amazing digital facility at the Jerwood DanceHouse which we really want to share. Most critically, we are committed to nurturing and creating a platform for the next generation of choreographers working in South Asian Dance. We could not imagine Akademi as a better partner to work with.”