Sonia Rodriguez is from Spain, but has made Berlin her home and is now in India as a resident artiste at Attakalari on the invitation of Max Mueller Bhavan.
Sonia will be in Bangalore for four months teaching the diploma students of Attakalari and creating dance pieces for them, which they will perform in Bangalore in the near future.
“I am a choreographer, teacher and a dancer-performer. I have my own company since 2002 named after me. I have spent all my life working with different dance companies in Europe learning something from each of them.
And I can confidently say that I have worked with some of the best companies. So my dance is an amalgamation of all that I have learnt over the years,” says this dancer, who is also trained in classical ballet but loves to only work in the contemporary medium.
She explains that she uses a lot of music in her work and says that she wants to give her students a part of her.
“That is I want to give them my style, my passion and the way I emote on stage with movements. I also want them to imbibe my teaching methods so they can become choreographers themselves.”
Sonia loves to choreograph but she says she equally enjoys performing as she loves creating moves “in the air, on the floor and using technology.”
About the contemporary dance in India she says, “Dancers here base their movements on folk or classical dance.
Its good but they have to learn to make its base more contemporary. I think the dancers are mature now and can make that change.
Dancers here are hard working and they are good in what they do.”
Besides teaching Sonia also looks forward to learning some form of Indian dance during her stay here. “I want to take back something in the form of Indian art back with me. So it’s a kind of an exchange programme for me,” she adds.