Breaking new ground in dance

Get yourself in the mood for Valentine's Day with My Stamping Ground, an exhilarating story of love, passion and heartache, showing at Edge Hill University's Rose Theatre on Thursday, 5 February, 2009.

Whether it's Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story or Bollywood's Josh, forbidden love has always made for thrilling and heartbreaking entertainment. Innovative South Asian dance show, My Stamping Ground, offers a fresh take on these classic stories with a heady mixture of torrid affairs, feuding gangs and obstacles which seem impossible to overcome. Love may not conquer all in this fiery dance battle...

With a predominantly male cast, the show tackles the issue of gang culture in the UK through Bharatanatyam, a traditional dance from South Asia. It also celebrates the friendship and solidarity that exists between groups of ordinary lads, often mistaken for gangs.

Featuring breathtaking aerial work, film, choreography by award-winning artiste Nina Rajarani and a magnetic score composed and performed by Y Yadavan, the show itself is an exciting battle between classical and contemporary music and dance. Fusing Bharatanatyam and Indian Karnatic music with modern rap, My Stamping Ground is a unique theatrical experience that shouldn't be missed!

My Stamping Ground is produced by London-based dance company Srishti which aims to create and present dance work that maintains the authenticity of Indian classical dance and music while presenting these forms in innovative ways and within contemporary contexts.

Srishti founder, Nina Rajarani, was awarded the Place Prize in 2006, the dance world's equivalent to the Turner Prize, making her the first Indian classical dancer to win Europe's most prestigious award for choreography.

My Stamping Ground is one of a number of events to celebrate Diversity Week at Edge Hill. The programme also includes lectures and taster sessions on subjects such as Urdu language, designed to combat social exclusion on campus and raise awareness of diversity issues.

Performance starts at 7.30pm and tickets are £8.50/£6.50 concessions.

For more information please contact the Box Office tel: 01695 584480