Kolkata has it all: movement practitioners, street dancers, hip-hop musicians, beatboxers, and performance arts. The city has been brimming with new artists from the hip-hop circuit and we are witnessing many never before seen acts that were underground but are steadily stepping into the limelight. This is where the art space created in Kolkata by Pickle Factory has proved to be a wonderful launch pad for such artists.
The Pickle Factory is all about the live performance experience and the spaces that host them. Its latest project, #TakeTheCityKolkata launched in November 2022 and will continue until February 2023. Over the span of three months, it has hosted several artistic endeavors starting from wall art projects, performance art pieces, and workshops surrounding topics of modernity, contemporary art, wellness, and gender. Pickle Factory’s upcoming initiative is an exciting workshop calling all Kolkata-based hip-hop heads, and street and contemporary practitioners for a workshop under the direction of renowned French choreographer and dancer, Amala Dianor.
Amala Dianor is a performer and choreographer with sensitive body language and his oeuvre offers a versatile and hybrid choreographic work where hip-hop and contemporary dance entwine. Through his art, he has been developing his own language, flexibly combining hip-hop energy, abstract contemporary dance, and elegant neoclassicism. His work deconstructs hip-hop and traditional African dances, channeling the energy he finds there into contemporary dance. The workshop taught by Amala Dianor will be in the same vein, allowing its participants to immerse themselves in his hybrid choreographic universe.
Initially, Dianor will work with the participants on the essentials of hip-hop dance. He will then expand the work into contemporary dance techniques, while also exploring the participants' ability to tell their own stories. He seeks to take the participants beyond the sole parameters of just technique. He explores the questions of how one can use movement parameters to find meaning and the contours of choreographic composition.
The workshop will be from 13th to 17th February 2023 and is open to participants from all age groups and genders. They must have prior two to three years of experience in hip-hop, street, or contemporary dance and must be dancers who wish to explore the intersection of these movement styles. The workshop of six days is priced at a reasonable ₹ 2,000. The applicants must be Kolkata-based or be able to support themselves in the city till the completion of the workshop period. This project is supported by Alliance Française du Bengale.
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