Sonia Sabri Company announce UK & International artists for week-long free online arts festival
Dynamic dance and music company Sonia Sabri Company has announced details of the first online version of its popular Lok Virsa Festival this year.
Lok Virsa first premiered at London’s Royal Festival Hall with 8,000 participants and is quickly becoming one of the leading festivals of its kind in the UK.
Now in its 7th year, the festival celebrates some of the rarely experienced traditional and folkloric art of music, crafts and dance rooted in the lands of the Indian subcontinent.
Having to adapt the festival to work online during lockdown has meant the company have been able to transform the festival into a virtual world-class stage of workshops and performances over 7 days.
The free events will provide adults and children from diverse backgrounds with the opportunity to experience an array of arts and crafts workshops and participatory activities including Rangoli (using coloured rice, lentils, and flower petals to create eye-catching designs on the floor) Henna Painting, Block Printing and Weaving from award-winning artist Nilupa Yasmin.
The Festival’s dance offer features Festival Founder Sonia Sabri performing her own form of Kathak dance, Bengali folk-dance performance with Shadhona Dance Company; Indian folk dance with Kinga Malec; Folk Dance of Bangladesh workshop by Arthy Ahmed; Silk scarf dance workshop of Afghanistan led by a member of the Sonia Sabri Company and Afghani folk dance performance by Kathakaars.
Artistic Director and dancer-choreographer Sonia Sabri said: “This year, LOK VIRSA; GOOD VIBRATIONS truly is an International Festival. As well as artists from the UK, we are delighted to welcome artists from Iran, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Afghanistan, India, and Bangladesh. Each will come together across the week to bring colour, energy and high-class performances and events into our homes at what continues to be a challenging time for everyone.”
LOK VIRSA: GOOD VIBRATIONS is supported by Birmingham Hippodrome and runs from Monday 15 – Sunday 21 February.
The Festival will open with a dance workshop on the Birmingham Hippodrome Facebook page and events will be broadcast across Sonia Sabri Company’s social media platforms. All workshops and performance details will be available via Facebook.
