Oblique – Flyer
| Series name | Dance |
| Description | This A5 flyer is for a dance performance entitled ‘Oblique’, which was commissioned in by Sampad in 1997. The production was choreographed by leading Indian contemporary dancer and choreographer, Ranjabati Sircar and was produced in association with Birmingham Jazz. The score, written by saxophonist and composer, Iain Ballamy provided a backdrop to the performance which examined perceptions of race and gender. ‘Oblique’ premiered on 29 October, 1997 at ‘mac’ Birmingham. |
| Date of Creation / Publication | 1997 |
| Creator | Sampad |
| Associated Person/ Organisation | Ray, Piali |
| Location | |
| Collection and Reference Number | Sampad Collection (GB 2661 SA) |
| Catalogue Number | SA/DA/11 |
| Copyright | The Creator and/ or the associated |
| Access to originals | The originals belong to Sampad |
| Series notes | Renowned dancer, teacher and choreographer Piali Ray established Sampad with the aim to provide a structured approach to South Asian dance and other art forms in the Midlands region. Alongside with well established dancers in the region, for example Kathak and Bharatanatyam dancers Nahid Siddiqui and Chitraleka Bolar, as well as Bhangra dancer Gurucharan Mal, the team founded a training group for a new generation of South Asian British dancers. The organisation works with renowned dance artists and produces high profile and community events. Sampad also addresses dance training and development needs of professional and emerging artists and provides a dance advocacy service, developing programmes and partnerships with promoters and venues. Sampad is a partner of SADA - the South Asian Dance Alliance, along with Akademi: South Asian Dance in London and Kadam in Bedford. |
| Collection notes | Sampad was founded in 1990, under the directorship of Piali Ray OBE. The arts organisation was established to strengthen the infrastructure of South Asian arts in the West Midlands and Birmingham region. Due to Director Piali Ray?s background as a dancer, this south Asian arts development agency has retained its strengths in dance, however its current remit is much wider, covering cross art forms of music, theatre, crafts and literature within education and community environments. Since its inception fourteen years ago, Sampad has grown into one of the UK?s leading arts development agencies, instilling a deep and distinctive structure of South Asian arts in Birmingham and Britain through its productions, education and outreach activities, employing and advocating for South Asian Arts and artists. In establishing Sampad, Piali Ray wanted to ensure that South Asian arts in the Midlands became an integral and distinctive strand of the social fabric of contemporary Britain. Its primary endeavour was to maintain the growth of south Asian arts, to stimulate and enable new ideas and ventures and to recognise opportunities for capacity building, whereby south Asian arts professionals, programmers and managers can effectively apply their talents. Presently, Sampad has core funding from Birmingham City Council and from the Arts Council, and while its founding purpose was to strengthen the infrastructure for South Asian arts in the West Midlands, its influence and remit are currently much wider. The word ?Sampad?, in Sanskrit means wealth, and the organisation translates this as cultural wealth to be shared as widely as possible. The Birmingham arts organisation has aimed to lead the way in promoting the appreciation and practice of arts originating from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Within these arts, Sampad engages in a multi-disciplinary approach. Its activities are a range of cross-art and cross-cultural initiatives and are rooted in the three main art forms: dance, music and theatre. However crafts, literature and storytelling have more recently played a strong role in the production of cross-art projects. Since 1990, Sampad?s programmes have fallen into three categories: performance arts programmes: which endeavour to develop, sustain and raise the profile of south Asian arts in the UK; education arts programmes: in which Sampad works with regional LEAs and artists in education agencies and develops programmes to reach young people outside formal education or those who have limited access to South Asian arts; and the capital development programme: involving efforts to raise financial resources for the organisations longevity. This has included an Arts Council grant of |