divisions the empire has sown
divisions the empire has sown is a multi-year project of pateldanceworks considering the intersections of embodied research and activism and questions of resistance and resilience, dominance and dissonance, and the shadows of colonization that we are all part of today.
Premiered: divisions the empire has sown
Nov 2019, Finnish Hall
Collaborators:
Choreographer:
Bhumi B. Patel
Performers in this project since 2018 have included: KJ Dahlaw, Jordan Wanderer, Danielle Galvez, Daria Garina, Katherine House, Chelsea Boyd Brown, Rachel Austin, Bhumi B. Patel, Europa Baker-Brathwaite, Sarah Wentling, Rachael Litzinger, Casandra Armenta, and Madeleine Monroe.
Sound composition:
Rachel Austin
Costumes:
Bhumi B. Patel
In divisions the empire has sown, dancers swept through the Finnish Hall’s cavernous spaces, manipulating and moving partitions, guiding audiences through different nooks of the space, and coming together for a culminating meditation on the violent histories surrounding the long history of colonization and the Partition of India. Sonic composer Rachel Austin created a live composition responding to the pace, tone, and energy of the performers and audience members.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, further iterations of this work were forced to change and take on new forms. This piece was performed as the following:
divisions the empire has sown
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November 2019; Berkeley Finnish Hall
divisions the empire has sown: the long shadow
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August 2020; dance video
divisions the empire has sown: the long shadow
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October 2020; Fort Mason
divisions the empire has sown: to leave the land
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June 2021; installation piece
Funding:
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Berkeley Finnish Hall
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California Arts Council
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CASH Grant
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Center for Cultural Innovation
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Deborah Slater Dance Theater Studio 210 Residency
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Phyllis C. Wattis Foundatio
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San Francisco International Arts Festival
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Zellerbach Family Foundation
divisions the empire has sown | nov 2019
"When the final teapot hits the floor with a crash, I understand that this is the end. I feel full, but incompletely sated. The structure, production, and soundscore of the work were stunning and impressively cohesive towards fleshing out such a complex and nuanced theme as colonialism and Partition."
- Molly Rose Williams, Life as a Modern Dancer, Nov 2019, on divisions the empire has sown
the long shadow (video) | aug 2020
the long shadow | oct 2020
to leave the land | june 2021
"This work is incredibly imperative at this cultural moment. To not be in motion, to not demand reparations, to not give voice to those that have been silenced, would mean continuing to live in a colonized body."
"As a queer, woman of colour, I have been marked enough – different, an outlier, unworthy, less than. And this work makes a different mark, one that requires the act of bearing witness to our lineages and histories."
- Bhumi Patel, on divisions the empire has sown
