COMPANY: SANSKRUTI DANCE
“I search for dance that connects me to my soul”- Krishna Zivraj-Nair, artistic director, Sanskruti Dance
ABOUT SANSKRUTI CAMBRIDGE CIC
OUR VISION
We want to create work that has an impact on our audience to change lives by nurturing excellence in classical, contemporary, popular, and participatory South-Asian dance. Our vision is for South-Asian dance to thrive at the centre of the British cultural life. We create work that engages with our audiences in diverse settings- theatres, libraries, schools, museums, hospitals and outdoors.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to inspire, educate and engage people, especially families and children, in South-Asian artforms, to propagate South-Asian culture and heritage. With dance at the forefront, we do this through workshops and performances in a range of venues, and for different occasions.
OUR WORK
Our professional dance company, Sanskruti Dance, was initiated in 2017, following a growing number of one-off events, including: the Cambridge Big Weekend Festivals and a Bharatanatyam Flashmob performance for Mill Road Midsummer Festival. Our Sanskruti Dance was officially registered to Companies House as a CIC in October 2021.
The company was formed to develop choreographic exploration, using south Asian classical dance technique as movement vocabulary. We received our first seed funding as Uttkarsh runner’s up from Akademi, which was then used to secure Arts Council Funding to develop our first choreographic work; Apple ‘n’ Spice.
APPLE ‘N’ SPICE
“Mummy, is Ram’s stepmother queen the same as Snow White’s stepmother queen?”
Apple ‘n’ Spice was born from the above question, innocently asked by Krishna’s daughter when she was three years old. The show imaginatively brings together the story of Snow White with that of Ramayana, to present a brand-new fairy tale through a combination of Bharatanatyam, contemporary dance, Indian storytelling, and shadow puppetry. Apple ‘N’ Spice has completed 50 shows as a part of two national tours and is the winner of Best Family Arts Activity Award 2023.
4 stars “… is superb…”
– British Theatre.Com
“It’s a successfully interactive piece that really encouraged participation in a gentle way”
– Paul T. Davis, British Theatre.com
“Children and families watched in awe…”– Colchester Gazette
“In a world that’s actually quite divided, I think it demonstrates that it’s possible to bring cultures together & that we have more in common than we have apart”
– Audience member
MAGICAL HONEY
Thanks to seed commission by Akademi in 2020 and further funding from Arts Council England, our second work, Magical Honey, completed production followed by show premiere at Cambridge Junction on 7th May 2023. With young and professional dancers and musician, this story, full of music, dance, and magic, revolves around book-loving Maya, and her meeting with the celestial being Saraswati, who helps her to discover her own magic to overcome a rather frightening foe. Since the premiere, the work has toured nationally to theatres and libraries with over 20 shows so far. Magical Honey has received the Stobb’s New Ideas Award in 2022 and has received 4 star review by British Theatre
Top panel- Still from Magical Honey R&D Phase 1 sharing in 2021
Bottom panel- Phase 1 R&D with four young performers in 2020
We create professional choreography using South-Asian dance and music vocabulary. The work connects with children and families of different ethnic backgrounds and contains strong participatory elements to engage and excite our audiences.
The pieces are very adaptable to different types of venues from traditional theatres to community centres, libraries, hospitals, outdoor festivals, and museums. We cherish this format and versatility, which allows us to connect with our target audience, and plan to continue creating shows of this kind in the short and medium terms.
“Graceful, fun, highly recommended”- Paul T. Davis, British Theatre
“Impactful storytelling and mesmerising music. But, of course the dancers were magical” – Funder Feedback
“An uplifting and entertaining performance. My daughter enjoyed the headmistress’ performance and young Maya’s dancing in particular. Well done!”– Audience, Ely Library
“I enjoyed it a lot and think the dancing is lovely because it has a hidden meaning. Please keep going.”
– Zoe, Age 12, Audience, Ely library
“The storytelling is of the highest order. Our students loved it”– Teacher, Castle School, Cambridge
TREE OF LIFE
What do you see when you look at a tree?
Leaves and twigs and branches?
Or do you see a living thing
That moves and sings and dances…?
Aranyani, Goddess of forests and the wild, is dying. To recover – and for the plants and animals that she supports to thrive – she needs nourishment and balance in the world. It is down to a spiritual Sage and a Scientist – and you, the audience – to discover how to save her.
Tree of Life is a children’s dance theatre show, suitable for children aged 7+, which can be performed indoors or out. The show explores the connection between science and spirituality through the medium of trees and dance. It includes South Asian Bharatanatyam and Karanas, contemporary Western dance, as well as an ethereal, original music score and spoken word. There is also some ingenious audience participation using the latest in Microbit technology.
Drawing inspiration from Buddha attaining enlightenment under a Bodhi (fig) tree in India and Newton discovering gravity from an apple tree in the UK, Tree of Life weaves a tale of how these two events lead to a deepening of human understanding of our natural world, spiritually and scientifically.
Tree of Life is supported by Arts Council England, Akademi, Cambridge Junction, DanceEast, Mercury Theatre, Hertfordshire Libraries, CUH-Arts and Cambridge Imagination and Curiosity.
Beautiful to see amongst the forest… another artform celebrating nature- Audience Member
Stills from Tree of Life R&D sharing at Wandlebury Country Park on 30th November, 2024 as part of Tree Charter Day.
Images by Simon Richardson
Tree of Life R&D Trailer
Tree of Life R&D Audience Feedback
Making of Tree of Life. Film by Amit Kaur