WELCOME to SALIDAA’s December newsletter.
Read
the
SALIDAA News
, check out the
Voicebox
, and
see the
Spotlight
on featured artists. Get
In the
Picture
about recent launches and browse the extensive
December Events Listings
. View information for students,
researchers, academics and arts practitioners in
Calls for papers
/Opportunities
– this month there are notices for playwrights,
researchers, and dancers.
Deadeye at Soho Theatre…
The Kali Asian
Women Talk Back Festival took place at the Soho Theatre in London from 14–25th
November (with alternative regional tour dates) and kicked off with a
performance of Deadeye, written by Amber Lone and directed by Janet Steel. The
play took us right into the lived spaces of a Birmingham community: the Asian
family home where the tense balancing acts of a family marked by generational
and cultural differences take place, mirrored in the sparse garden where a
re-rooted Kashmiri plant struggles to flourish; the bare room where young
second-generation Kashmiris and Irish mix up ideas of belonging, commitment and
family in a dope-filled haze; the littered public spaces inhabited by both
material refuse and human outcasts. A finely understated performance was given
by Chetna Pandya as the central character Deema, the young woman who struggles
to hold the quiet centre of her disintegrating family while also trying to mark
out her own way in life. Deema’s junkie brother Tariq, whose dual fragility and
recklessness were conveyed well by the physicality of Shane Zaza’s performance,
constantly threatens the family balance while father Rafique’s
self-aggrandizing dreams of buying a country estate when his house is about to
be repossessed drive her stooped and embattled mother Zainab, played
brilliantly by Sakuntala Ramanee, to moments of short-lived yet startling
rebellion. Pushpinder Chani as sleazy cousin Jimmy, a snaky drug-dealer, who
manages to dupe Deema’s parents into thinking he is good husband material for
their independent daughter and Beth Vyse as Kerry who has deluded dreams of
becoming Jimmy’s Asian wife in plasticky stilettos and cheap gold hoop
ear-rings round out the excellent cast. Leaving the Soho Theatre, my impression
was of honest and compelling acting, fluid and professional production, and a
fresh and bold voice in British theatre that I hope we get to hear much more
from.
Click
here
to see the Kali call for the Talk Back Festival 2007
Do you have a review of a recent event, book or film that you’d
like to share with the SALIDAA community? We invite you to sound out the
Voicebox for yourself. Write in with 200-300 words to sharanya@salidaa.org and
let us hear your voice. Please write in before the 21st December 2006 for
January’s issue.
Bollywood
Breaks Sampler - CD Sleeve, 2000 Outcaste Records
(1994- )
Copyright: Outcaste Records
This full colour CD
compilation album was released in January 2000 by Outcaste Records. Entitled
Bollywood Breaks Sampler, the album features eight renowned Indian film
soundtracks combined with break beats, western-style drums, bass lines and
guitars. This CD album sleeve includes three digital images.
Click here to see the Outcaste Records Collection
*NEW COLLECTION: RAVINDER
RANDHAWA*
Writer Ravinder Randhawa moved to England at the age of
seven. The founding member of the Asian Women Writer’s Collective, Randhawa has
also written three novels and numerous short stories. The full collection
contains digital extracts of her novels and of several short stories,
manuscripts for a poem and a play, posters, and a launch invite.
Click here to see the Ravinder Randhawa Collection
An urgent notice from the Guardians
of the Theatre Museum
We have until January 7 2007 to save the
Theatre Museum’s building in Covent Garden in the heart of London’s
Theatreland. Most of the UK’s major theatre organisations are backing our
campaign. Will you join us? You will find the background to our campaign on our
website
www.theatremuseumguardians.org.uk
We are not asking you for money or effort, just your voice:
what we want is for you to complete the simple form you will find on the
website.
Researcher’s Directory:
We aim to provide a
forum for ongoing engagement with our collections, and invite all those
interested in South Asian Diaspora literature and arts to contribute to a
Researcher’s Directory that will appear on our website. The list may be used as
a point of contact for those interested in debate, discussion and collaboration
with others and it will foster a research community around the SALIDAA digital
archive. If you are interested in being included in the directory, please send
your name, affiliation, areas of research/interest, and email address to
sharanya@salidaa.org.uk.
Forthcoming Events:
If you would like the
SALIDAA Newsletter to list your forthcoming events please email
sharanya@salidaa.org with all details including Event Title, Dates and Times,
Location, Description (max. 200 words), Admission Fees. Please notify us about
your forthcoming event by the 25th of each preceding month, i.e. to have your
event listed in January’s newsletter, please send information by 25
December.
The Queen’s Hinglish: How to Speak Pukka by Baljinder
K. Mahal (Collins, November
2006)
Baljinder Mahal, a teacher and novelist from Derby, has
compiled this dictionary of “Hinglish”, a blend of English combined with Hindi,
Urdu and Punjabi. If you want to learn how to speak pukka then you can find
older usages that have long been incorporated into the English language
(shampoo, pyjama, pundit, dungarees, bungalow) alongside newer terms including
such gems as “air-dash” (to travel by air at short notice), "prepone" (the
opposite of postponing or to bring something forward), and the verb “to
bangalore” in the sense of the Times of India reporting that “Brand India has
shaken, stirred and otherwise Bangalored the world's consciousness." As Mahal
says, "There might be puritans in any culture who say you can only be the
master of one language, and that you shouldn't try to cross two languages. But
do we only have one fixed identity? I don't think so, I think we can step in
and out of different identities - and we can do the same with languages.”
Kali TalkBack Festival 2007
Kali is looking
for innovative and inspiring short and full length theatre scripts by Asian
women for the TalkBack Festival 2007. Submitted plays must be original works
and not previously performed or performed professionally. For more information
visit
www.kalitheatre.co.uk
Deadline: 02 February 2007
New Writing Workshop - Tamasha
This is an
outstanding training opportunity for emerging or aspiring British Asian
playwrights. This fully-subsidised course, run in partnership with the British
Library, will offer eight writers intensive training in Tamasha's innovative,
research-based approach to developing new writing for theatre. Participants
will benefit from a varied programme of workshops exploring a range of
techniques, as well as guest lecturers, theatre trips and the chance to focus
on their own writing with a professional dramaturg. The two-week course is
offered free to successful applicants. Participants will receive a weekly
allowance towards lost earnings, and can also apply for money towards
relocation expenses if travelling from outside Greater London.
Click here
for more information or email info@tamasha.org.uk for an
application pack.
Deadline: 04 December 2006,
17.00
Bengal Diaspora Project. Fixed term appointment: 24
months full time. Salary: £28,186 pa, LSE
Applications are invited
from candidates who have a doctorate (or equivalent research-based
qualifications) in a social science, with experience of qualitative and
quantitative research methods and analysis, and with an emerging track record
of high-quality research and publication on Bengali communities in the United
Kingdom. You will join a research team working on a comparative
inter-disciplinary research project on the Bengali diaspora in South Asia and
the United Kingdom. You will have an excellent command over Bengali and
Sylheti. Researchers with an interest in migration and diaspora are
particularly strongly encouraged to apply. The successful candidate will be
expected to start work on 1 April 2007, or as soon as possible after that date.
For a full application pack, please email HR.Recruit.Res@lse.ac.uk or phone 020
7955 6737. Reference 11/06/RES
Deadline: 19 December 2006
Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship
Fund
Supporting individual journeys in movement and dance.
Enabling movement and dance practitioners to travel to enrich their practice
and pursue a personal passion. The aim of this small charity is to provide
financial support to individuals who wish to travel abroad or in the United
Kingdom to attend a conference, to pursue a research project or undertake a
short course of study in the field of movement of dance. Successful applicants
will have convinced the Committee of the importance of their journey and what
it means to them to undertake it at this time. The impact of the journey both
personally and/or for the wider dance community will be considered. Each
application is considered according to its merit and the decision of the
Management Committee is final. ELIGIBILITY: Applications must be from
individuals, not institutions, groups or companies; Support is for TRAVEL ONLY.
LUTSF does not pay fees; LUTSF does not pay subsistence; Travel must originate
in and return to the United Kingdom; Applicants must have been resident in the
UK for a minimum of two years; Support is not given for travel to and from
institutions for fulltime or 'long courses', that is courses extending over 1,
2 or 3 years; these include most degree and post graduate courses; projects
which directly support the work of institutions and professional companies, and
which should most appropriately be funded by them, are not eligible for
support; Scholarships are not given for setting up projects or festivals;
Applicants must be at least 18 years of age. Print your application form from
the website or send an A5 SAE to the Secretary, LUTSF, 24 Cuppin Street,
Chester, CH1 2BN.
Deadline: Application Forms must be sent BY POST
to arrive by 25 January 2007
Auditions for Bollywood Dancers
Calling
professional and versatile dancers to audition to be part of a Bollywood dance
production which will tour around Europe during 2007 with the Dancing Nikita
Company! THE DANCING NIKITA COMPANY are an established Indian & Bollywood
dance company based in West London. They have an outstanding troupe of
professional dancers who represent the company by performing regularly at
private and corporate events in the UK. They have an impressive portfolio of
performing at high profile events for clients such as Ford, BMI, Phyzier
Pharmacutical, BBC, Sukshinder Shinder, Kemal from Big Brother and many more.
In 2007, Nikita and her professional dance troupe will be putting together
their own Bollywood dance production which they will tour across Germany,
Austria and other countries of Europe. The company are auditioning for
versatile & professional standard dancers to join their company and perform
as part of this production, which will tour all over Europe during the year
2007. If a dancer cannot commit to such a project they are still welcome to
audition to perform as part of the company’s professional troupe based in West
London. Ideally, the applicant will be ethnic, versatile and will have strong
techniques and experience of Classical Indian / Bollywood / Modern-Western
dance forms. It is vital for the dancer to have extremely strong pick up,
grace, expression and stage presence. The dancer will need to be committed to
rehearsals which will take place in West London and be available to take on
long term contracts. Dancers who are not well trained or experienced but are
interested in training up with our company please see our website for class
details. If you are interested in any of these opportunities with the Dancing
Nikita Company then please e-mail your CV/profile and photographs to: E-mail:
admin@Dancingnikitacompany.com Website:
www.dancingnikitacompany.com
Apply before 01 January 2007
Open Auditions: Beyond the Five Senses
Nupur
Arts are holding open auditions for our next dance production Beyond the Five
Senses. Dancers will have the chance to work with the leading dance exponent of
Bharat Natyam, Chitraleka Bolar who will be choreographing the production dance
pieces. Dancers should have basic experience in Bharat Natyam or Contemporary
Dance and should be able to demonstrate good dance technique. This dance
project will be ideal for dancers who are looking for further performance
opportunities and would like to further their dance skills in choreography.
Auditions will take place on
Saturday 09 December between 18:30 –
21:00
at Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre, Rothley Street, Leicester. The
production will be performed in April 2007 (TBC) and you will need to be
available for dance workshops and rehearsals from January to April 2007. Please
contact Nupur Arts for an audition form and for further information. Email:
info@nupurarts.org.uk / Tel: 07801365779/ web:
www.nupurarts.org.uk
Please note: This archived version of the SALIDAA
newsletter does not contain the monthly events listings. If you would like to
be signed up to receive the full newsletter please email
sharanya@salidaa.org.uk.
