Published: May 26, 2010
THE celebrated composer Nitin Sawhney joined LIPA students in London on the evening of May 19 2010 for Seven, a new piece of theatre he helped devise.
Creativity and passion united in the 50-minute collaborative production, which drew on the skills of dancers, musicians, designers and technicians.
John Hurt, Joe McGann, Gillian Lynne and Nickolas Grace were other special guests who attended the London debut of the show, which was first performed in 2009 in LIPA’s Paul McCartney Auditorium.
Based on the seven chakras, Seven took the audience at North Finchley’s Arts Depot on a journey through the stages of physical consciousness, each represented through its own dance sequence, score, costume, and lighting design.
The BA (Hons) Dance students are now in their graduating year and this performance at the Arts Depot in London to an audience of agents, VIPs, journalists, schools and friends and family was one of their final showcases before graduation.
Seven, which involved 19 dancers, seven musicians and an 18-strong team of technicians, managers and designers, is a perfect example of LIPA’s founding principle of collaboration across disciplines.
LIPA Companion Nitin said: “I have always believed that collaboration across disciplines is of huge benefit to artists in their development of the cathartic and communicative aspects of creativity.
“I am a keen supporter of any educational model that targets and facilitates the encouragement of young artists to transcend boundaries through partnership with other young talent. I also feel strongly that LIPA as an educational organisation upholds the same values.”
The production started out as an end-of-year project that was first presented to the students by LIPA lecturer Jacqui Jones, who is the director of the show.
Under staff guidance and with input from Nitin, who led a workshop for musicians and dancers, Seven came together over a period of six months.
Jacqui commented: “This was a collaborative project from day one, which was pivotal to helping the students develop a deeper understanding of their own art forms and what makes performance possible.”
Top: Nitin Sawhney and LIPA dancers, pictured from the left, Emily May, Joshua Cartlidge, Sarah Campbell-Jones, Lill-Charlotte Kaspersen, Faye Benson, Ady Thompson and Mark Andrew Robson
Middle: Nitin Sawhney, Joe McGann, Gillian Lynne and Nickolas Grace
Pictures by Simon Camper