A small dance company in Yorkshire has taken on the ambitious mission of bringing about awareness in the community about the environment and planting trees through a unique and creative way.
The ‘Tree in Time’ project is a dance performance choreographed by dancer and Annapurna Dance Company’s founder and artistic director, Shantha Rao, who was inspired by the real-life story of Saalumarada Thimmakka.
Thimmakka, now believed to be 112 years old, has been awarded the civilian award Padma Shree by the Indian government. Hailing from a remote Indian village in Karnataka, she was recognised for creating a 28 km avenue of banyans near her village. She planted 385 banyan trees, carrying water to them daily, and eventually planted an additional 8,000 trees of various species throughout the area.
The dance company has encapsulated Thimmakka’s inspiring story – which is now more relevant than ever with the global environmental crisis - in a dance performance. As someone who has met and spoken to Thimmakka, the story holds a special place in Rao’s heart. It was that meeting that inspired Rao to create this dance project and take Thimmakka’s message to the world.
After securing a small funding from the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, the company took their performance to many local schools, raising awareness about the importance of planting trees, planting trees with them and even encouraging them to plant more trees with their parents.
“I rang them up and explained that we can plant a tree in schools and go talk about our culture. It’s the story of an Indian woman and I think it will give children an extraordinarily good awareness of tropical countries, how difficult it is to grow trees and what other countries are doing in other parts of the world. And hopefully they can be inspired to plant some trees themselves.” Rao told iGlobal News.
Although the trust primarily issues funding for planting trees, Rao was able to secure funding for her passion project. The group’s most recent performance came at the Himalayan Gardens last Saturday which saw over 70 people dance along and take part in the performance which culminated in planting trees in garden.
MORE LIKE THIS…
“So far in the project, we have worked with Bharatanatyam dancer Priya Sundar, Manipuri dancer Noel Datta, Kathak dancer Jaymini Sahai and Reshma Nair, Kuchipudi dancer Abhinandana Kodanda, dhol [drummer] player and Bhangra dancer Davinder Singh Romana, Indian marionettes puppeteer Diana Bayliss, musician Kirpal Singh Panesar, tabla [Indian drum] maestro Sanju Sahai, young student musician Harini Ganapathy and storyteller Ian Clayton,” said Rao.
Rao hopes to take the project to schools and communities around the country in the coming months.
“Her story is not only inspiring but also extremely relevant to our times today. Planting trees is a cornerstone of dealing with the current environmental crises. What’s more is in doing so we are also spreading awareness about India’s own, native environmentalist,” Rao concluded.
*Info: Annapurna Dance Company