Akademi at 40 (2019)
Celebrating 40 years of work at the heart of South Asian dance in the UK
History
Akademi has been working for over 40 years at the heart of South Asian dance in the UK. We’ve had an amazing journey coming to where we are today.
Akademi was founded by Tara Rajkumar OAM in 1979 as Academy of Indian Dance. Under the leadership of a succession of dynamic directors – Tara Rajkumar OAM, Bharati Kansara, John Chapman, Pushkala Gopal, Naseem Khan OBE and Mira Kaushik OBE – Akademi flourished. We are now a leading producer of South Asian dance in the UK.
In January 2020, Subathra Subramaniam was appointed as Artistic Director and Kirsten Burrows as Executive Director; and both as Joint‑CEOs.
Explore our journey through images from the archive.
Timeline
Tara Rajkumar founded The National Academy of Indian Dance, based at Commonwealth Institute and later October Gallery. Organisation gains status in 1980. Focus is on providing dance classes and running seminars. Early education work includes specially devised slideshow on Ramayana.
Two conferences, The Contribution of Indian Dance to British Culture (1982), The Place of Indian Dance in British Culture (1983) at the Commonwealth Institute. Bharati Kansara and John Chapman and joint-directors of The Academy, now a touring company. Dance of Shiva at The Place. A season of Indian dance at the Purcell Room.
The Academy of Indian Dance presented Nrittya Sammelan (Festival of India), a festival of Indian Dance and Music at the Commonwealth Institute.
First national production, The Adventures of Mowgli, is the first major Indian ballet to receive Arts Council funding. The performance features a young Akram Khan as Mowgli. Pushkala Gopal and Naseem Khan become co-directors of the organisation in 1985.
UK tour of The Return of Spring. The Academy moves to the London Contemporary Dance Trust (The Place). Image credit: Alan Dilly.
Mira Kaushik appointed director of The Academy. Organisational review leads to creation of education and community, dance training, and resources and information departments.
Dance classes – from karthak to kathakali – on offer. Kal Ke Sitare, annual showcase of dance. Education and community project cover prisons to pensioners. Youth summer school for young people aged 15-25.
Chipko, education project tackling environmental issues, is The Academy’s first theme-based education project tailored to National Curriculum. Study days for artists on stagecraft, lighting design, costume and make-up. Open forum on South Asian dance traditions on the move.
Natya Yantra, conference on health and well-being of the dancer. River Journeys, cross disciplinary workshops exploring theme of rivers through dance, culminates at Southbank Centre when The Academy curates day of dance as part of Ballroom Blitz season. Day closes with public procession honouring the Thames.
Ballroom Blitz day closes with public procession honouring the Thames.
Students from South London schools perform in Samsara – The Circle of Life, dance-drama produced in association with Horniman Museum and Royal Ballet.
Evening classes cease as organisation begins researching syllabi for kathak and bharata natyam. National audit of South Asian dance provision follows, includes Mantrana conferences – consultation sessions with South Asian dance providers. Masterclasses with visiting artists from India continue.
The Academy of Indian Dance is re-named Akademi.
ImprovisAsian, season of professional dance workshops with Western contemporary choreographers, at Southbank Centre.
Akademi’s 21st anniversary celebrated with Coming of Age, large-scale site-specific production staged at Southbank Centre.
Spirit Unleashed, multimedia performance for patients, staff and visitors at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. South Asian Dance Alliance (SADA) website launched.
Shifting Footprints, major education and community performance at Stratford Circus, bring together Migrations, workshops exploring themes of exile and migration, and performing arts project Dance Connect.
Symposium, South Asian Aesthetics Unwrapped! features renowned arts professionals, including Anish Kapoor, Talvin Singh and Shobana Jeyasingh, debating definitions of South Asian aesthetics at Royal Opera House.
Escapade, Akademi’s second large-scale production, draws audiences of some 16,000 to Southbank Centre. I-Together, bharata natyam choreography lab with Leela Samson and performance at the Royal Opera House.
Akademi transforms Somerset House into a 18th century Mughal Court with this Kathak production, Waterscapes. Photo credit: Richard Haughton.
Ekatra (“Together”) featuring Kumudini Lakhia and new generation of UK-based kathak dancers. Image credit: Franck Toto.
BA(Hons) degree programme with specialist training in South Asian dance launched at London Contemporary Dance School.
No Man’s Land, seminar exploring definitions of South Asianness at Institute of Contemporary Arts. Designer: James Bates.
New generation of British artist present kathak, bharata natyam, odissi and South Asian martial arts at Purcell Room, Southbank Centre in Daredevas.
One-day symposium, Negotiating Natyam, unites debate, performance and film in critical exploration of bharata natyam at Royal Opera House.
Twenty Kathak, Bharatanatyam, ballet and modern dance artists present Sapnay-Dreams, commissioned for Trafalgar Square summer festival, City of Dreams. Image credit: Franck Toto.
Akademi collaborates with sculptor Naresh Kapuria and Belgian Theater Tol to create Bells, a theatrical spectacle at Trafalgar Square Festival. Photo credit: Pete Schiazza. Design: James Bates.
Specially created for Trafalger Square Festival, commissioned by the Mayor of London, Dreaming Now juxtaposes the lyricism of Kathak and ballet with the spirited dynamics of Bharatanatyam, modern dance and circus. Photo credit: Pete Schiazza.
Frame by Frame, a half day symposium, charts the history and evolution of the dance of Indian cinema. Photo credit: RJ Fernandez.
Initium at Queen’s Crescent Community Festival. A fusion of circus, South Asian and contemporary dance, Initium was a collaboration with MA students at University of the Arts London – London College of Fashion, with choreography by Gauri Sharma Tripathi.
Sufi:Zen premieres in Greenwich.
Song of the City premieres at Southwark Playhouse featuring ballet, Bharatanatyam and contemporary dance.
Commissioned by Arts in Parliament to mark the London 2012 Olympic Games, Maaya was the first South Asian dance work to be performed in Westminster Hall, Houses of Parliament. Photo credit: Peter Schiazza.
First Light was commissioned by John Bruges Studio and Havells-Sylvania. A collaboration between the 21st Century light and space modulation and Indian contemporary dance and Bharatanatyam. Photo credit: Vipul Sangoi.
Akademi produces an outdoor performance Ascension, inspired by Dante’s ascension to heaven as described in Paradiso, while drawing on Hindu astrology and the nine planets of Navagraha. Photo credit: Bethany Campbell.
Umrao Jaan, Akademi’s first fundraising gala in aid of its Learning and Participation work. Photo credit: Simon Richardson.
Akademi launches Dance Well, a Big Lottery funded three-year project focusing on improving health amongst older adults with the help of dance and movement.
An international creative team comes together to create Paradiso: Man’s Enduring Search for Perfection. A work-in-progress showcase takes place at The British Library amidst Anthony Gormley’s sculpture Planets.
Akademi recreated dance numbers from Bollywood classic Mughal-E-Azam and other films in the sprawling gardens of Hyver Hall for a private commission.
Akademi launched Reach Out and Reveal, a pioneering new initiative to explore how movement vocabulary of South Asian dance might support communication needs of young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders.
Akademi produced a proscenium style production after two decades of creating outdoor spectacles. With The Troth, Akademi took its work for the first time to tour internationally. This war-time story was choreographed by UK Theatre Award winner Gary Clarke.
Akademi celebrated 40 years of imagining, inspiring, connecting and creating with an exciting programme of events and opportunities.
Akademi appointe Subathra Subramaniam as Artistic Director and Kirsten Burrows as Executive Director; and both as Joint‑CEOs. The Akademi Heritage Project unearthed and celebrated Akademi’s vital contribution in establishing the dynamic South Asian dance sector that exists in the UK today.
Akademi Dance Film Festival 2021, our first film festival, celebrated some of the most creative digital collaborations with South Asian dance cultures and forms.
Plastic Drastic Fantastic toured the UK – a contemporary dance theatre work for children and their families, exploring our complex relationship with all things plastic.
Akademi’s promenade performance Pravaas toured the UK – a unique show using dance work around the theme of human movement triggered by climate change.
Explore our journey through our archives
Akademi has a wealth of archival material documenting the organisation’s work and the history of South Asian dance in the UK, including footage, images, journals and reports.
In December 2019, The National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded us £98,700 to archive 40 years of our South Asian dance heritage in the UK at the Victoria and Albert Museum. This 13-month project with the V&A, from December 2019 to December 2020, explored the evolution and impact of Akademi in the UK. As a result of the project, Akademi Chronicles was created, outlining the milestone moments in Akademi’s journey. Further material is stored in the South Asian Diaspora Archives.
See also
Akademi Heritage Project (2020)
Unearthing and celebrating Akademi’s vital contribution in establishing the dynamic South Asian dance sector in the UK
Oral History Project (2020)
A unique project drawing on the practices of both choreography and oral history