Shahanara

Shahanara Begum, 21 performed at the Battersea Arts Centre, Poetry Café and received the Sharrell Black Award for choreographing with the Talawa Theatre Company where she has been performing for several years.Her passion is threefold and her writing, poetry and dance all reflect upon each other. “My performances cover my inner manifestations,” she explains. “I deal with my perceptions and ideas on issues such as the self, really starting from the inside and taking myself out, showing who and what I am.”Her first foray into dance came when dancing around the house as a child but since studying drama at GCSE and then dance at A-level she has developed an inner passion.She is motivated by the words of the Qur’an, the art of expression and enquiry and she asks, “how high does the sky lie?” when it comes to her passion and her work. Shahanara cannot be drawn on her future but she is certain that her outlook will definitely involve interdisciplinary art forms and the integral science of movement.Her choreographic process is an investigation on the Royal Bengal Tiger, as a means to help establish a ‘warrior’ within. She is concerned with three elements: land, air, and mind, each connecting to the way one breathes and heals to protect.Through the aesthetic/cosmic form of the Bengal Tiger, she witness intricate shapes within the Tigers behavior: triangles/circles/points. There are an infinite amount of patterns and these shapes create individually and dual shapes both horizontally and vertically.To arrive at motifs that will support and extend ideas creatively, are: Mystical Bengali poetry = feelings, moods, atmosphere Images representing the Bengal Tiger = shapes, patterns, textures The process of abstraction = to use immediate/symbolic positions, and then abstract within four stages.Shahanara undergoes various tasks to help project her movement vocabulary in ways that challenge and are not so familiar to her original scope of expression. Thus, the point being to allow oneself to experience simultaneously as the eyes perceive.My Art is About; 01 My art is in search for finding a deep understanding of unity and the pure rhythm that surrounds this. A way into: I can take my mind to fixed places and then actually find myself experiencing the essence. My art imagines the interior of my mother and this brings me to my roots. I listen inevitably to her words and use them as my blueprint to create dance. Beauty lies in a smile, be in unity with one, with self, soul and spirit. My art is in pursuit to understand the body as a means of connecting to a greater source. My art is creation so I can imitate the Creator. My art is storytelling.Through my work I explore the symmetry of shapes, the energy of a circle and all the space within, the construction of independent forms and designs. Meditating upon the universe and my impression of it, what am I going to leave behind? I explore the movement of birds, the way they connect with water, air, earth and space. All of creation works to protect ones state, province, preserve the condition. All things are pure. I am investigating the warrior idea; tracing instinctive rhythm. The weapon is the duration of each movement carried out thoroughly with intention and consciousness. I try to reason the mathematics of my domain and through intuition find ease and rest.My work deals with concepts that allow the mind to be released with no limitation and realize the existence of truth. Working with the floor “I drink the water from the floor.” To embrace what is keeping me sustained to survey the province. Carry out research on particular ideas, themes or topics: In depth, speak of my concerns within the topic under exploration. God created with rhythm. So I speak in response to Him with dynamic inclination.