Salt Act
The search for unity and truth.
Salt Act is a new mass participation live artwork, building links between India and Liverpool through the creation of an original piece of choreography, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence.
Beginning with the reenactment of Gandhi’s 240-mile Salt March in India during its 90th anniversary in March 2020, Salt Act brings people together through the basic human desire to be heard, connecting them through walking, data gathering, dialogue, deep listening, yoga and tai chi, to create a final choreographed performance which examines the power of mass, silent process in ‘holding onto truth.’
In this collaboration with choreographer Donna Unwin, numerous conversationalists and 80 modern day ‘satygrahas’, Salt Act poses the question, how truthfully can artists interpret the desires of their collaborators through movement and dialogue, as agents of social change?
Follow me following Gandhi’s footsteps through the live tracking map, as I complete the original Salt March route from Ahmedabad to Dandi in Gujarat, India.
Phase One – Re-enact – Walking the Walk
Gandhi’s 24-day Salt March was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in protest against the British Salt Tax. On 12th March, 1930, Gandhi left Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, walking ten miles a day for 24 days, spanning 240 miles, reaching the coastal town of Dandi on 5th April 1930. At 6.30am on the 6th April, Gandhi broke the Salt Act by sourcing his own salt at Dandi, inspiring further acts of civil disobedience against the British Raj salt law across India.
In commemoration of this seminal act of non-violent disobedience and to mark the beginning of Salt Act, I will be walking the exact Salt March route from Gandhi’s Ashram to Dandi, 90 years to the day that it took place.
Phase Two – Reimagine – Talking the Talk
10 days into re-enacting the Dandi March, lockdown happened across India as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Returning back to a very different Liverpool and in response to the original themes of the Dandi March and the remarkable changes that are already happening across the globe as a result of the current crisis, Salt Act continues.
What the World Needs Now, is…….Talkers and Movers
Come and Reimagine the World and Re-emerge Dancing!
To get involved, email saltact2020@gmail.com, call 07503 042 127, or click and connect here: https://tinyurl.com/ybldweq8
Phase Three – Re-emerge Dancing!
Access, Equality and Celebration where just some of the themes that emerged in the online dialogues to reimagine the world, which took place recently as part of Salt Act. I’m so grateful to those who took the time out to come and share their thoughts on what a new, post-lockdown world could look like, and I loved listening, deeply, to what people had to say and how it was imparted with such a hopeful spirit.
Now, Let’s Dance!
These lovely dialogues will now be transformed into a collective movement for change, inspired by yoga postures and created in collaboration with choreographer Donna Unwin. The new work will be performed by 80 participants (the same number of people walking Gandhi’s Salt March in 1930), in a live, online performance taking place on International Yoga Day, Sunday 21st June 2020, bringing creativity, unity and truth together.
Free, digital dance sessions ahead of this performance will start from Monday 18th May, 2020 – and there’s still a chance to get involved! For more information about dates and times of these sessions, email saltact2020@gmail.com call 07503 042 127 or follow the project on social media (below).
Let’s re-emerge dancing!
instagram: saltact2020 facebook: www.facebook.com/artistclarebrumby
The Event – Enemy: An Experiment in Love, Truth and Unity.
We are now ready to dance!
Really proud and excited to announce the performance of a beautiful new piece of choreography informed by dialogues from India and the UK, reimagining the post-lockdown world and created in collaboration with Donna Unwin as part of the Arts Council England funded project ‘Salt Act’.
‘Enemy: An Experiment with Love, Truth and Unity’ is inspired by Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence and the Salt March of 1930, exploring the relationship between unity and truth, and the power of peaceful protest through dialogue, dance and yoga. This new work focuses on Gandhi’s philosophy that the primary enemy is within us, an enemy often reflecting oppressive cultural realities that impact us all, and that the adoption of the universal soul force of love and truth and an awakening to the oneness of humanity, can lead to great change in the world.
Be a part of something amazing and join us on Sunday, 21st June 2020 – International Yoga Day, at 3PM BST/7:30PM IST. Find out more, and confirm your attendance via our event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/271977210836851/?active_tab=about
Keep following us on Facebook www.facebook.com/artistclarebrumby and instagram @saltact2020 for more info on how to view the live stream on International Yoga Day!
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