Bicycle with Barefoot is a piece of unique and inspiring original Asian dance theater presented by Annapurna Indian Dance to celebrate the historic occasion of Tour de France in Yorkshire.
- Shantha Rao, the artistic director of Annapurna Indian Dance
Bicycle with Barefoot has been selected as part of Yorkshire Festival 2014 – the first ever 100 day art festival to precede the Grand Départ in its 111 year history.
It involves printing the design of a bicycle on a large 4 meter square canvas cloth which is secured on a frame and laid on a surface sprinkled with powdered paint. Spectators will be witnessing a wonderfully imaginative printing process where dancers will be moving carefully on the canvas using various pressures of their feet and will see the printed art work when the frame is held upside down. There will also be traditional Indian dancing performed by local community children.
The concept and inspiration for the project has been taken from the ancient Indian classical dance style called Kuchipudi dance from Andhra Pradesh in India.
Based in Halifax Calderdale, Annapurna Indian Dance presented the original Asian dance Theater Bicycle with Barefoot at four major festivals in Yorkshire as part of Yorkshire Festival 2014.
Shantha Rao, the artistic director of Annapurna Indian Dance, said: “Bicycle With Barefoot is project which is a true celebration of community creativity.
“It is an amazing opportunity for us to engage new audiences and spectators through exciting and inclusive and as well as leaving a legacy for all artists, participants and audiences.
“We are really proud we have animated Yorkshire with our project by involving extraordinarily talented team of artists and local communities.”
The team also performed at Hebden Bridge Arts Festival andHalifax Arts Festival and two other locations in the UK recently.
Barefoot with Bicycle was one of nearly 50 events selected to be officially part of Yorkshire Festival 2014 which concluded on July 6.
- Shantha Rao with Kuchipudi dancer Kopal Vedam
Yorkshire Festival 2014 was the first ever arts festival to precede the Tour de France, the world’s biggest annual sporting event. It was backed by Welcome to Yorkshire, Yorkshire Water and the Arts Council England as well as Local Authorities across the county.