HUDDERSFIELD-based Balbir Singh Dance Company has been invited to perform a spectacular flash mob performance at the Houses of Parliament.
The event tomorrow will be part of an Arts in Parliament day.
The flash mob – a new dance performance by young people from Leicester who have been working with the company – is part of a Cultural Olympiad event titled Stories of the World and is inspired by an exhibition called Suits and Saris which celebrates and debates the fusion of British and South Asian fashion traditions.
Choreographer Balbir Singh, who established his company in Huddersfield in 1997 and specialises in creating a synthesis of Kathak (a classical Indian dance form) and contemporary dance, worked with the young people, musicians and a costume designer to devise this brand new short performance which brings together Eastern and Western influences.
He said: “We have already performed the flash mob to Saturday shoppers in Leicester and at the city’s Olympic Torch celebration and are delighted to now be bringing it to the Houses of Parliament. The young people involved have worked very hard and are really excited to be performing in Westminster.”
2012 has already been a busy year for Balbir Singh Dance Company, premiering Synchronised – a dazzling pool-based production which combines synchronised swimming and Kathak and featured more than 100 dancers, swimmers and musicians – at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge Sports Centre last month and performing in the UK and abroad.
The dance company also received welcome additional support from the Arts Council this year, being accepted as a National Portfolio company and awarded the largest uplift in funding for any dance organisation in England, seeing their grant increase by 180% for the current year. The company is also regularly funded by Kirklees Council.
Future plans for Balbir Singh and his company include the creation of a new production for children later in the year, a national tour in 2013 and more water-based dance with the continuation of the Synchronised project including creative water workout classes in local pools.
