Dance theatre workshop exploring women’s lived experiences begins tomorrow

An intensive feminist dance theatre workshop titled “Re-membering Memories . Reclaiming bodies” will begin on September 17 at Charuta in Banani, Dhaka, exploring the relationship between memory, the body and lived experiences.

The workshop is being jointly organised by Shadhona — A Center for the Advancement of Southasian Culture and Nrityashilpi Foundation Bangladesh, with support from the British Council. The programme will continue until September 24, with sessions held daily from 4pm to 7pm.

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The workshop will bring together dancers, theatre practitioners and emerging artists to examine how memories are carried, fragmented and recovered through the body. Through movement, dialogue, personal narratives and collaborative creative processes, participants will explore how women’s bodies become spaces of identity, labour, faith, care, conflict, regulation, resistance and joy.

The title “Re-membering Memories . Reclaiming bodies” refers not only to remembering the past but also to reconnecting separated experiences, restoring silenced memories and linking personal histories with collective narratives. The organisers describe the body as a “living archive” where social histories are recorded, questioned and transformed.

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The workshop will be guided by an interdisciplinary team of mentors, including dancer, choreographer, researcher and Shadhona Artistic Director Lubna Marium; performer and movement practitioner Sohini Das Hartman; theatre-maker, director and arts educator Raymond Caldwell; and researcher, writer and interdisciplinary thinker Professor Imtiaz Ahmed.

According to the organisers, the mentors will help participants connect critical thinking with physical practice, translating feminist ideas and personal experiences into choreographic expressions. The workshop will not promote a single definition of feminism but will create a space for diverse perspectives, experiences and forms of knowledge to engage through performance.

The initiative is part of Shadhona’s continued efforts to strengthen feminist artistic practices in Bangladesh and expand the role of dance theatre as a medium for inquiry, testimony and social imagination. Ideas and creative processes developed during the workshop will be reflected at “WO | MAN: The WOW Festival”, scheduled to take place on September 25 at Aloki, Dhaka. The festival is being produced by Shadhona with support from the British Council.

The opening session will be attended by media representatives, cultural practitioners and invited guests, according to the organisers.