Stunning light show bringsdancers out of the shadows
GLORIOUS SWIRLS of colour light up the darkness as dancers dressed in their traditional costumes go through their paces.
Stunning images of performers turning coloured lights into calligraphy in the semi- darkness have been captured using long exposure photography in a new exhibition which goes online from Saturday.
The Yorkshire Sculpture Park ( YSP) exhibition grew out of research by Huddersfield- based practitioner Hardeep Sahota, who is a specialist in Bhangra, a form of folk dance and music that originated in the Punjab region of India.
It has involved dancers from different disciplines including Irish dancing and break dancing with the images taken in the evening at the sculpture park near Wakefield and other locations across
Yorkshire by photographer Tim Smith.
Usually when using “light painting”, the person performing the action remains anonymous in the shadows, with the sole focus being on the light.
However, Sahota believed that the costumes and cultural identities of the participants played an equally important role, so they are also lit up using targeted flash.
Sahota said the creative collaboration between himself, photographer and dancers was “empowering for the participants, working together to enmesh different disciplines and increase understanding of each artform”.
Once mainly performed by Punjabi farmers during the harvesting season, Bhangra now has a global reach, and has become part of modern British culture, through the development of British Bhangra.
YSP, which occupies the 500acre parkland of Bretton Hall, was the UK’s first sculpture park when it opened in 1977.
The project was funded by an Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant.