In the second half SSCo look forward to the next stages of Sonia’s creative journey, with a new specially commissioned work made with acclaimed guest artist and performer Ash Mukherjee. Sonia and Ash are acclaimed as virtuosic performers and pioneers. Surprising and explorative, their collaboration will encompass solos and duets which trace a journey through and between the classical and contemporary worlds, challenging the boundaries between these concepts, and their respective dance styles.

The live music is arranged by the company's musical director and tabla maestro, Sarvar Sabri. Joining him will be Dan Nicholls on piano / keyboard and Shoma Dey on vocals.

“Ash and I are creating a piece which was initially inspired by Woody Allen’s brilliant ‘Death Knocks’, a one-act play he wrote in 1968,” says Sonia.   “The play, which was part of Woody’s famous stand-up routine, featured two characters, a grumpy old guy called Nat, and Death; it’s really a monologue about our fear of dying, but it’s also extremely funny!  The dance languages work in dialogue and are based on opposites: dark and light, negative and positive, etc.”

Always keen to find new ways of expressing the North Indian classical Kathak dance, Sabri has been at the forefront of contemporary dance, working in a range of collaborations and creating a very large body of work for such a small company.

Beginning with a group piece, Dayyari Ri from Sabri’s 2007 Nisbat; this was a light-hearted and playful piece bringing together synchronised and mirroring dance forms.
This was followed by a much starker and bolder work of dance, Neon Dream from Shobana Jeyasingh’s 2009 work Parallels. Here Sabri took centre stage amid pinpointing squares of light. Shifting between the squares, her jerky and powerful moves were made all the stronger by the harsh electronic music which echoed heartbeats and static.
Sabri’s popular 2005 work Red was then revisited with a fervent dance of Shiva. Packed full of drama and characterisation, this piece, Baje, showed Sabri at her finest.
These works were interspersed with bits of video from other shows from the past ten years. While this was an effective way to remind audiences of other productions it was also a little distracting and did not carry any of the intensity of the live performance.

Finally the audience was treated to a new work Labyrinth, choreographed by Sabri and Bharatanatyam dancer Ash Mukherjee. Inspired by Woody Allen’s Death Knocks and Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, the work aims to take us into a maze where we see dark and light, negative and positive. Sabri and Mukherjee work brilliantly together with their styles of dance sometimes blending and sometimes jarring in an echo of those contrasts.
At times totally mesmerising, it may only be 45 minutes long but Labyrinth certainly takes us through a rollercoaster not just of emotion but also of energy. It was a fitting finale to this celebration of Sonia’s work so far and leaves us wondering what the next decade will bring.
Diane Parkes