UK’s foremost performance-parkour company in collaboration with the Chennai based Parkour Circle will be touring Tamil Nadu
Chennai, January 27: From 16th January - 11th February 2017 the UK’s original and foremost performance-parkour company; The UPG Team, will tour Tamil Nadu in collaboration with the Chennai based Parkour Circle. Together they are working to produce INDIAN STEAM - a show, a tour, a project, a legacy - An official UK-India 2017 Year of Culture event, supported by the Arts Council of England’s Reimagine India Fund and the British Council.
The tour takes the form of five residencies with local partners based in Coonoor (17th - 20th Jan), Coimbatore (21st - 24th Jan), Namakkal (26th - 29th Jan), Puducherry (31st Jan - 3rd Feb) & Chennai (6th - 11th Feb). In each place the company will create, perform, teach & offer opportunities for anyone to try Performance-Parkour for themselves.
The INDIAN STEAM collaboration partners two companies as they progress a new art form - performance-parkour; the combination of dance and physical theatre with the art of Free-Running. The UPG Team have been performing, teaching and touring their work over 5 continents for the last 10 years. The team includes dancers, actors, stunt performers, and one of parkour’s co-creators. Parkour Circle are a new organization founded in 2015 by members of the well-established Chennai Parkour community. They teach, perform and share their discipline across Tamil Nadu. Later this year they will accompany the UPG Team on a tour to Indian Diaspora audiences’ resident in the UK. Together the two companies undertook a research and development from Ooty to Chennai by rail in January 2016. Over 10 days they taught nearly 600 participants through 17 workshops with 11 partner organizations. Now they return with a steel scaffold train of their own upon which they will dance, leap, entertain and teach. Do not miss this chance to see world class performers create something entirely new just for you!
On their support for the project, Peter Heslip, Director, South East, Arts Council England said: “We’re really excited to be able to support The Urban Playground Team as they raise the profile of British arts and culture abroad… I am really pleased to see how The Urban Playground Team is infusing Indian culture into its ‘Steam’ performance to create ‘Indian Steam’. We look forward to seeing them strengthen their international connections, creating a bigger global audience and establishing new commercial opportunities.”
Alan Gemmell OBE, Director British Council India said: “India and the UK have years of shared history and the UK-India Year of Culture seeks to promote this spirit of cultural partnership. This marks the culmination of four years of Re-Imagine, which was designed to build new creative connections between India and Britain that celebrate, connect and inspire. Throughout the year, we will be bringing together major UK and Indian institutions and artists of all fields to showcase British and Indian creativity and strengthen cultural ties.”
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