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LAHORE: Wahab Shah Dance Company, an institute for learning various forms of dance here, has been invited by the Natya Ballet Centre to perform at the Natya Ballet Dance Festival in New Delhi, said an ecstatic Wahab Shah, contemporary dancer and the brains behind the dance company.

The festival will be held from Dec 1 to 3 at the Sangeet Natak Akademi in association with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

He claimed the invitation was an outcome of their troupe’s performance at the Art of Living world culture festival in New Delhi on March 13 along with Nighat Chaudhry. The centre, he said, primarily focused on classical Indian dance till the 90s when it began to foray into contemporary Indian dance. It produces its own ballets as well as sponsors established and upcoming talent.

The Natya Ballet Dance Festival is aimed at devising multiple ways of discussing and experiencing the varied dance vocabulary of India and the subcontinent, from classical to contemporary. While maintaining established dance forms, the centre aims to expand audience engagement by hosting a series of conferences, interactive talks, master classes and performances by both established and emerging artists.

Moreover, Shah said his dance company was setting up a studio space in Karachi that would be operational by July end. They were working on a new production to open at the Natya festival. “The production is a 30-minute piece titled ‘Matti’. It’s a journey of the soul seeker. Exploring natural paths of life questioning the self and seeking answers. What does it mean to be alive? What is the connection with the Earth? Why is it mother Earth? This production is intended to have original music, poetry of some contemporary artists and of Sufi saints,” he elaborated.

Wahab Shah Dance Company represented Pakistan at the Art of Living festival in March along with Nighat Chaudhry. It was attended by over 3.5 million people from around the world and featured the largest stage ever – a seven acre platform.

The vision of the company is to produce and present inspiring new dances for Pakistan and the world. “We exist with the genuine desire to change the way Pakistanis see and experience greater forms of dance, to stretch the boundaries of what dance can be and to share its power, beauty and humour with a broader audience,” Shah said, adding: “Our aim is to create new connections to dance by staging compelling works in highly engaging ways that not only entertain, but resonate emotionally with the audience.”

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2016