Find Me Amongst the Black
Mixed Media Dance Theatre. Video Artists. 2007
Find Me Amongst the Black was a bold and innovative dance/theatre work, co-commissioned by the Southbank Centre. It reunited the talents of Director / Choreographer Darshan Singh Bhuller and writer Parv Bancil, following their 2001 ’strip club’ drama, Recall. This time, together with KMA, they explored issues of racial identity and prejudice in Britain.
A bold synthesis of dance, drama, and film, Find Me Amongst the Black was inspired partly by the racial tensions that led to the Birmingham riots of 2005. With a cast of five, this moving and disturbing tale focused on the breakdown of family and community relations when a young Asian woman falls in love with a black man. The narrative examined the complexities of the fragmentation of identity politics post 7/7 and looked into the psyches of the key protagonists as they wrestle with notions of love, honour, family and self.
Find Me Amongst the Black was a full-length (ninety minute) piece with projections throughout. Building on the highly stylised look of their hugely succesful Eng-er-land, KMA added new, and sophisticated, techniques learnt whilst creating the visual effects for the Hollywood feature film The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. These included filming the performers in a green-screen studio during the rehearsal period, and then placing these life sized ‘characters’ into the ‘Pollock Theatre world’ of two-dimensional flat planes that made up the projected set. The result intentionally blurred the distinction between set and performer, and film and live action.
Performance History
2007 The Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London and The Mac, Birmngham.
Press & Media
“the stylish projection designs by Kit Monkman [and Tom Wexler] give an equally televisual accessibility. This is a slick production.”
The Telegraph
“Conveyed through dance, voiceover dialogue and a highly stylised video backdrop… Find Me Amongst the Black, which had its premiere at the Purcell Room on the South Bank, is one of [Bhuller's] most accomplished productions.
The romantic interlude when Simmi and Michael make love for the first time is a luscious idyll. It’s pure Disney with animated flowers and butterflies and Simmi now dressed in revealing red rather than virginal white. The symbolism may be blatant, but it works.
…the whoopingly enthusiastic opening-night audience was one of the most ethnically diverse I’ve encountered.”
The Times
“…with choreography by Darshan Singh Bhuller and some really fantastic video work by KMA. It’s very edgy, very current, and manages to bring traditional forms into the present moment without being at all self-conscious about the fact.”
BorderCrossings (blog)