Sampad South Asian Arts and Heritage, FABRIC in England and Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa, India are working in partnership to build relationships between artists from the two countries.

A new dance work named Damaru was commissioned by Sampad, FABRIC and Serendipity Arts, which premiered at the Serendipity Arts Festival in December 2023.

Alongside the premiere, a delegation of dance organisations and artists based in England attended the festival. In addition to building long-term reciprocal relationships, the delegation was also seeking to develop a relationship between the dance organisations and the artists that they invite to accompany them to Goa.

Paul Russ from FABRIC led the delegation with Piali Ray, Artistic Director of Sampad

The other delegates were:

• Rob Jones, Associate Artistic Director, Sadler’s Wells

• Joe Bates, Executive Director, Dance Consortium

• Cath James, Artistic Director, South East Dance

• Alex Anslow, Producer, Dance City

• Yuvel Soria, Dance City Supported Artist

• Kloe Dean, Sadler’s Wells Supported Artist

• James Cousins, Dance Consortium Supported Artist

• Shyam Dattani, FABRIC/ SAMPAD Supported Artist
• Divya Kasturi, South East Dance Supported Artist

India delegation aims and objectives

The main aim of the delegation to India is for organisations and artists from England to start new (or build on existing) relationships with local and international colleagues who are in attendance or presenting as part of the festival.

Dance from England programme aims:

• To support independent artists and producers based in England to target global marketplaces through a variety of soft approaches.

• For artists to build long-term relationships to deepen and broaden the presence of independent artists across the world.
• To bring international perspectives back into the dance ecology in England.
• To support artists to develop an understanding of where their work fits internationally, and who might be interested in supporting it.