Twenty Oldham folk dancers are heading to Barcelona this September to take part in a major street arts festival.
Community dancers from The Indian Association Oldham Dancing Diyas and Saddleworth Women’s Morris & Clog are working together to create a brand new piece of dance that showcases their different cultural traditions.
The performers, who range in age from 20s-60s, will then travel to the Catalonian capital, in northern Spain, to appear at the region’s biggest annual street festival, which is called La Merce.
The two groups were brought together by international Carnival arts organisation Global Grooves, which is based in Mossley. Over a two month period, they will work with Brazilian choreographer Adrianna Rosso to create a unique short dance piece that allows the best of both styles to shine.
Musicians Jack Tinker and Emma Marsh are working alongside the dancers to write a new piece of music for the performance, which will combine elements of both Indian and British folk sounds alongside other global influences.
Whilst watching each other perform, the dancers were excited to discover a number of similarities between the ways they dance, including the use of sticks.
Freya Bennett-Nielson, producer, Global Grooves, said: “Working together, the two groups are exploring their own cultural practices, sharing stories, and finding common threads.
“Rather than blending styles, they are developing choreography that reflects both distinct identities and shared values.
“We’re only in the early stages, but already, it’s really lovely to see the two groups appreciating each other’s dance traditions and working together to create a piece that showcases the best of both.
“I think the audiences in Barcelona will be very interested to see that both dance traditions make use of sticks, as do Catalan folk dancers from their own region.”
Karuna Mohandas is the lead choreographer of Dancing Diyas, an Indian dance group that has been performing since 2020. The group is named after the diya, a traditional clay oil lamp used during festivals, which symbolises bringing light into people’s lives through dance and dispelling darkness by encouraging others to join in.
She said: “It’s been really interesting to learn more about morris dancing. Growing up in the north west, I’ve obviously seen it before, but it’s been a whole different experience to be working so closely with an all female morris side.
“We’ve discovered so many similarities between Indian folk dance and morris, as well as some really interesting differences.
“Dancing Diyas have previously performed at events like Illuminate and Festival Oldham, but most of the group have never even performed in a different country before or travelled to Barcelona, so to be dancing there will be an amazing experience for all the girls”.
Laura Kemp-Smyth, from Mossely, is squire and forewoman of Saddleworth Women’s Morris & Clog, founded in January 2024.
She said: “This project is a revelation. We were familiar with Bollywood style dance, but not with Indian folk dance, and to see so many similarities between the two traditions has been really eye opening.
“As a very new team, full of energy and enthusiasm about morris, our ladies are so excited.
“To be able to showcase morris dance alongside other traditional dance forms on the world stage, and to represent not only Greater Manchester but the UK, is an amazing opportunity.
“We’re really inspired by the process of working with dancers from other traditions – including Global Grooves’ choreographer Adrianna Rosso who is from Brazil – and we will take away a new, more creative outlook to all of our future performances.”
