New dance show revolves around untold tale of Indian soldiers' sacrifices

A DANCE production based on a “major literary marker in Indian literature” begins

touring in theatres across India and the UK this month.

The Troth is based on Usne Kaha Tha, the first Hindi short story written in 1915 by writer and scholar Chandradhar Sharma Guleri.

The project is a new creation by Akademi, an organisation specialising in south Asian dance, and will begin its tour on Friday (26) at the Jaipur Literature Festival in western India.

The dance show focuses on Sardar Lehna Singh, a soldier in the First World War, and the sacrifices he makes to keep his promise to an unrequited love.

The production stars a number of talented dancers including Vidya Patel, a 21-yearold

classically trained kathak dancer from Birmingham, who was a 2015 finalist in the BBC Young Dancer of the Year show.

“It’s been so insightful working on my character Leila, but also observing [director

and choreographer] Gary Clarke’s choreographic process and how he churns out the real emotion which play a massive part in the piece,” Patel said.

“Coming from a classical Indian dance background which is very stylised, it was something which I had to trust and then learn to let go at the same time.”

“Through the process of creating and working with Gary, my body has gone through moving in unbound ways different to the stylistic ways in which I have trained.”

Clarke, who was first approached by Akademi director Mira Kaushik a year-and-a-half ago after she saw his critically acclaimed dance production COAL, told Eastern Eye he was pleased that the story was being brought back to life.

“It’s great that we can tell it in a physical, live form and bring it back from the page,”

he explained. “I’m really interested to see what the Indian audiences will take from it.”

The Troth will be touring until mid-March across India and the UK, including at venues in New Delhi and Bhopal in India, Leicester and Lancaster in Britain.

“For me, to get the Indian approval means so much but also, coming to the UK, which has a huge Indian culture and community, and being able to show the story that people might not know is so important too,” Clarke said.

The First World War is a pivotal point of The Troth’s story, something which Patel feels is not acknowledged enough in the UK.

“India’s part in the First World War which was due to British colonialism, in my opinion, is not told widely enough in Britain, including the horrors that took place during and after that,” she said. “The magnitude of soldiers from other countries which served for the UK in the First World War is something that isn’t touched upon in school, from what I remember.”

More than 1.3 million Indians were in active service over the course of the war.

Kaushik, who was awarded an honorary OBE for services to dance in 2007, confirmed the production was created to commemorate the First World War and would be recognised by communities already familiar with the narrative.

“When I realised that we were going to commemorate the First World War, this story came into my mind,” Kaushik said.

“I am not the only one who would remember this story – there are billions of Indians who have read it and when you talk about the war, you remember [Singh’s character]. The character is a piece of fiction, but he became the real face of the war and the sacrifice of Indian soldiers.”

Appointed as the director of Akademi in 1987, Kaushik has a wide range of experience working with Asian artists and stories.

However, she thinks Asian work can sometimes by overlooked by the arts.

“Most of the venues and people who are taking decisions now, once you have created that Asian moment, that’s it. There isn’t any more opportunities after that, it is just one ticked box,” she explained. “The opportunities for Asian work has reduced, certainly in the mainstream. It is not as prioritised as it used to be 10 years ago.”

Patel said although she believes there are opportunities to tell Asian stories within arts in the UK, there is always the chance to do more. “It’s about someone taking the initiative” she said. “[Someone being able to] deliver it with great craftsmanship and honesty which is something I know has gone into the choreography and all aspects of directing The Troth.”

For more information on The Troth, see here: https://akademi.co.uk/project/the-troth-usne-kaha-tha