Random Dance Workshop



		Ofarin workshop in Ferghana

	random dance workshop


	for leading Uzbek national Dance Theatre - Ofarin

Following the great and exciting performance in 2005 the Random Dance company (UK) came to visit Uzbekistan again in the beginning of 2007. This time with support from Dance department in London we have organised a 5-day workshop for local Ofarin dance company.

Ofarin dance company is an Uzbek national dance ensemble considering to be one of the most popular in the Country. They have performed in China, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Turkey and Japan. Odette Hughes and Antoine Vereecken from Random Dance made local dancers understand and feel and then create their own ‘random’ dance. Improvisations, on which the whole workshop was based, together with basic exercises and techniques of contemporary ballet were a brand new way for Ofarin in designing and staging the dance. By the end of workshop Ofarin dancers created their own 25-minute show which completely differs from their usual repertoire and strikes with mix of dynamics and static, with its innovation and charisma.

As an exchange of experiences and skills Ofarin dancers spent some time to show and teach Odette and Antoine to national Uzbek dances, which they in turn found very exciting but ‘complicated’ to learn.

BC Uzbekistan is now planning to organise a number of cascading workshops by Ofarin to other local dance companies starting in April 2007 in Ferghana.

Ofarin dancers

Aliya Shalkharova, Ofarin Chief Choreographer: We have been very pleased that British Council has chosen us for this amazing event and we get such an incredible opportunity to broaden our professional and personal experience. I have always been told that all the contemporary and modern culture born and spreads all over the world from Britain and now I had a chance to prove it to myself and see it with my own eyes. We will definitely work on this show we created together with Random Dance and put it in to our constant repertoire.

Odette Hughes, Random Dance Choreographer: We worked with Ofarin dance company, who are a traditional folk based company. They did know about us as Random Dance was in Tashkent in Feb 2005, and Ofarin Dance came to watch our performance. We also held a Master Class in which they attended. They were interested in learning Rep from the company, working creatively and learning a technical style of contemporary. I would absolutely suggest that The Ofarin Dance Company have an opportunity to create their own work, with guidance from Random, for a performance, so that their usual audience get to see them dance in a way in which they are not used to.