Shezad Khalil on Sonia Sabri

The British Space: An Examination of Sonia Sabri’s Artistic Endeavours

By Shezad Khalil, University of Loughborough, September 2009
This exposition is a condensed adaptation of a submission for a journal article, the details of which will follow in Autumn 2010.

I use Kathak as a language to explore different subjects, to say new things and for me it... [is] important to use... [this] technique to reflect British culture of the here and now, in which I live in and have been born and brought up with. (Sabri 2009 cited in Eustice 2009; emphasis mine)

The revolutionary articulations of the contemporary choreographer and dancer Sonia Sabri are emerging as illustrations of "new meanings and new identities" (Briginshaw 2001, p. 108). Based on the belief that her artistic creations are symbolic of the contemporary climate that she resides within, Sabri's dance compositions are embedded in the fundamental rules and notions of the north Indian classical dance form of Kathak. Even though Sabri's inventive aspirations have continually remained loyal to the essential ingredients of Kathak, her personal signature to the form has allowed her to extend the language and vocabulary of classical Kathak. It is this individual and distinct imprint that has permitted Sabri to develop her "contemporization" to the systems and regulations of classical Kathak. In fact, Sabri herself identifies her artistic ventures as signifying an "urbanization" to the conventional style of Kathak (personal correspondence). Whilst the British South Asian choreographer and performer Akram Khan [1] avoids an intrusion to the rudimentary structures of Kathak, Sabri, however, welcomes an intentional interference to the dance discipline. It is this disturbance that permits Sabri's work to progress and advance in many directions.

The theorist Stuart Hall (1992) affirms that the postmodern subject, in particular the migrant and his or her offspring is confronted with two choices in connection with his or her contemporary identity (p. 310). The first allows the South Asian and/or British South Asian to select the characteristics of "tradition," that is the individual yearns for a reconstruction of the cultures and customs of the past (p. 311-14). In contrast, the subsequent preference allows for the subject to accept the traits of "translation." This agrees to persons maintaining "strong links with their places of origin and their traditions, but… without the illusion of a return to the past" (p. 310). Furthermore, "translation" permits the South Asian and/or British South Asian to occupy "at least two identities, to speak [at least] two cultural languages, [and] to translate and negotiate between them" (p. 310; emphasis mine).[2]

Nevertheless, in opposition to Hall, Sabri's dance structures embrace an identity that communicates neither "tradition" nor "translation." In effect, Sabri's dialogue transmits a "contemporization," a modernization and an urbanization of a classical tradition.

Sabri's "contemporization" of Kathak can be illustrated in her solo composition "Spill" from her production Parallels, 2008. In this creation rather than Sabri utilizing a series of tukras; the rhythmic foot patterns of classical Kathak, Sabri decided to make modifications to this standard practice. This adjustment involved Sabri striking specific bodily parts rather than continually utilizing tukras according to the standard conventions of Kathak.
Thus, for Sabri, her choreographic creations attempt to exemplify "culture… [as dance] always embodies… cultural realities" (Polhemus 1998, pp. 176-77) that is Sabri's work denotes an understanding of "what it means to be a member of a particular society" (p. 173). Further, the purpose of Sabri's "contemporization" of Kathak is to continually seek and strive for "wholeness and coherence" (Robins 1991, p. 42) throughout each of her creations. In addition, Sabri's "urbanization" to the classical form depicts that as an artistic practitioner she is positioned within the bounds of constant growth, perpetually changing and developing her vocabulary as she readjusts and amends her existence as a product of the British space.

Notes
1. Akram Khans choreographic constructions are influenced by his training in Kathak and contemporary dance. His compositions are hybrid as they embody both Western as well as non-Western influences. Lucy Smith provides an in-depth study of Khan’s investigative approach towards understanding and articulating his identity as being positioned amidst an “in-between” space (2008, pp. 79-86).

1. Stuart Hall’s theories regarding the identity of the modern subject are based on the speculations of Kevin Robins’ notions of “tradition” and “translation” (1991, pp. 21-44).

References
Briginshaw, Valerie. Dance, Space and Subjectivity. Palgrave: Hampshire and New York, 2001.

Eustice, Kerry Ann. “Dancer/Choreographer Sonia Sabri talks about Modern Kathak and her new show Parallels.” Asian Image: The Voice of the Asian Community. http://www.asianimage.co.uk/profiles/4080008.Interview__Sonia_Sabri _on_Kathak/ (accessed 11 August 2009).

Hall, Stuart. “The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power.” In Formations of Modernity, edited by Stuart Hall and Bram Gieben, 273-332. Oxford: Polity Press in association with Blackwell Publishers and The Open University, 2003.

Polhemus, Ted. “Dance, Gender and Culture.” In Dance, Gender and Culture, edited by Alexandra Carter, 171-79. London and New York: Routledge, 1998.

Robins, K. “Tradition and Translation: National Culture in its Global Context.” In Enterprise and Heritage: Crosscurrents of National Culture, edited by J. Corner and S. Harvey, 21-44. London: Routledge, 1991.

Smith, Lucy. “In-between Spaces: An Investigation into the Embodiment of Culture in Contemporary Dance.” Research in Dance Education: Innovations in Arts Practice, 9, no. 1 (March 2008): 79-86.