Sonia Sabri breaks down youths’ pre-conceived ideas

Jul 14 2009 by Diane Parkes, Birmingham Mail

SONIA Sabri’s involvement has been a short-term project linked to a public performance of her own work Parallels at the theatre tomorrow.

The internationally-renowned Kathak dancer was keen to engage children from different backgrounds in her cultural heritage – but admits there were a few barriers to overcome.

“When we decided to set up the workshops we realised we needed to break some of the pre-conceived ideas that the young people had,” Birmingham-based Sonia says. “When they speak about Indian dance they tend to think it is all Bollywood and when we said we were talking about classical Indian dance they thought it would be boring.

“When we did our first workshop it was listed as Asian dance and no one signed up for it. But we found that by fusing it with urban dance and by ensuring the young people knew what Kathak actually was we were able to encourage more young people to come along.

“Urban Kathak taps into where people are in their lives. It is about the person walking along Broad Street.”

After a couple of months of rehearsals, those young people are ready to share what they have learned with an audience at The Drum. Sonia says: “Their piece is the curtain-raiser at Parallels and it gives them a chance to show their friends and families what they have been learning. It gives a showcase to Young Gifted Brum which can be built on with future activities.”