Ensemble (Together) R& D, Workshops & Studio Sharing

The research has evolved from written research that I did as part of an MA in Arts Policy and Management. My essay titled, ‘Networking Nuances, Analysing Systemic Racism in the Arts’ won the Lorraine Lim runner up award for it’s contribution to cultural studies. It was written as an autoethnography that helped me understand the power of solidarity despite the racist encounters I had suffered. This is how the concept for this performative work arose and I wanted to use a combination of art forms to reach a wider audience. Developing on my initial ideas, I want to explore the subject with a diverse engagement of people both with and without migration experiences to reflect on the value of solidarity and advocate for this so that the migrant story can be one of more joy and less strife.

The R&D will cover two weeks of studio research at Centre 151, with 2 open rehearsals and a sharing for local audiences. There are 4 open workshops in movement and sound at Centre 151 with additional events at House of Annetta and Chisenhale Dance Space.

The movement workshops will use improvisation based techniques in a morning warm-up session open to dancers/movers of all backgrounds. These sessions will be led by Vanessa mirza and the ensemble project artists. The sonic meditations workshop is based on American composer Pauline Oliveros' deep listening techniques facilitated by Artur Vidal.

This project is supported using public funding by Arts Council England with further support by Centre 151, House of Annetta and Chisenhale Dance Space.

Events are free of charge but donations welcome. If you would like to make a contribution please use the paypal link here https://vanessamariamirza.in/ensemble/. For patrons who would require an alternate means please send in a request to [email protected]. Thank you for your support!

Movement/Sound workshops at Centre 151

12th May (Sun) 10-11.15 Vanessa Mirza

19th May(Sun) 10.11.15 Vanessa Mirza

28th May(Tue) 10-11.15 Ensemble artists |11.30-12.30 Open rehearsal

29th May(Wed) 3.30-4.30 Open rehearsal |4.30-5.30 Sonic Meditations by Artur Vidal

31st May (Fri) 7.30-8.30pm Sharing & Feedback session

More details at https://vanessamariamirza.in/ensemble/

Venue Information-https://www.centre151.com/

ARTIST PROFILES
Vanessa Maria Mirza is a London-based contemporary dancer, choreographer and visual artist of Anglo-Indian heritage. She trained professionally in contemporary dance at Taipei National University of the Arts. She has also had further training in masterclasses and workshops in Hong Kong, India, Germany, France, UK and USA. Her choreography has been performed in Taiwan, UK and India. She has choreographed for UK based physical theatre artist Imogen Butler-Cole and US based music artist Zachary Ray. Vanessa has performed in live works by artists such as Sheenru Yong (USA), Leng Poh Gee (Malaysia) and I-Fen Tung (Taiwan) and collaborations with Dane Hurst and Dam Van Huynh (UK).Her paintings have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at Sixfoot Gallery(Glasgow) Ugly Duck Gallery (London) Taj Bengal Hotel, Mirage Art Gallery and The Country House Cafe (Kolkata) and are available online in the Saatchi Art Collection. She has taught workshops for House of Annetta and Centre 151 and collaborated on movement interventions for artists Artur Vidal, Ilinca Diaconescu, Hasan Suida and Cath Carver. Vanessa has a degree in Arts Policy and Management from Birkbeck, University of London 2021-2022. She is also the founder-director of Dance Bridges Festival, an international contemporary dance biennale in Kolkata, India.

www.vanessamariamirza.com

Artur M. Vidal is a London-based and Spanish-born saxophone player who grew up in Paris where he studied music, philosophy, and history of Art. His work involves field recordings, sound walks, dance, and improvisation. He has been doing academic research on improvised music and environmental sounds and has become a certified teacher of Pauline Oliveros’s Deep Listening practice. He has published two collections of text scores: The Hum in the Valley (2021) and Friendly Algorithms (2018). www.arturvidal.com