Written by Mia Goldberg
Photo by Asif Musaddeque
Today I sat down with Anandita, who is spending three weeks with Sampad, as we collaborate on the British Council funded Neel Akash [Blue Sky] project, using a combination of dance and language to contribute to the conversation on climate change.
What is your favourite meal?
It changes with my mood. At the moment I love fast food, pizzas, burgers… it’s a big problem. My favourite cuisine is Korean though.
What’s your favourite Korean meal?
Bibimbap. Just leftovers and rice, and with an egg on top. It’s delicious!
What’s your favourite song right now?
Bruno Mars – Die with a Smile
What was the last film you watched and what did you think of it?
I am not a big movie person. Avengers Endgame maybe… my sister forced me to watch it but I did like it. I prefer series. I have a list on my phone, for the 100 K-dramas I watched during co-vid!
Where do you like to travel to?
I studied tourism and hospitality management at university, so I was always travelling across Bangladesh. I love archaeological sites… I want to see stone henge whilst I’m here.
What have you enjoyed about your trip to Birmingham?
How walkable the city is! It’s the best way to get to know a city. The area is quiet, full of green space… a few days ago a runner stopped to say good morning to me!
Tell me about your life in Dhaka…
I was raised with my sister by my mother and father in Dhaka. I am a city girl at heart! It is chaotic, but we always say it is জাদরু শহর [a magical city], like the song by Jadur Shohor.
I live with my family when I am home, and run dance classes for children and adults, as well as choreographing for theatre productions.
How have you found entering a career in Dance in Dhaka?
The route is less respected, sometimes outside of Bangladeshi societal and religious conventions. I face challenges as a woman, for example I am taken less seriously. My husband was a dancer for many years also, and still works in the arts. He also faces challenges, as there is an expectation for a man to enter a more stable career, to provide for his family.
Equally, I’m grateful because my family are supportive, and my husband’s family are also supportive of us and our work.
When did you begin dancing?
When I was a child. My father was a script writer, so I was acting in one of his TV series. On set they recommended I begin dance, to work on my expression. Eventually I stopped working in series, but continued dance. As someone who experienced social anxiety in my childhood, and still sometimes nowadays, it gave/gives me the ability to express myself freely.
I began contemporary dance seven or eight years ago. It allows me to create work based on issues I see when reading the news.
What are you most excited about with this upcoming project with Sampad?
I want to bring as much awareness as possible that we don’t have much time to act against climate change. Living in a big city like Dhaka, you see less of the effects of climate change, but Bangladeshi people who live by the coast, there are floods, cyclones. So much of the country will soon be underwater.
Bangladesh is predicted to have lost 11% of its land to rising sea waters by 2050, according to the Climate Reality Project. Up to 18 million people in Bangladesh will have be displaced by rising sea waters alone.
Follow the production process through Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook and YouTube.
