Spvapnagata, or ‘dreaming’ in Sanskrit, was a unique collaboration between multi award-winning artists Nitin Sawhney and Akram Khan to curate a two week Indian music and Dance Festival at Sadlers Wells. The initial idea for the Svapanagata festival came out of a conversation between Nitin, Akram and Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Sadler’s Wells, Alistair Spalding. The proposal was for Nitin and Akram to curate a festival, featuring music and dance artists whom they admired and respected and who had influenced their work.

Through the process, something very interesting emerged: what was common amongst all of the artists chosen and their work was a desire to stay true to a classical heritage, whilst also exploring how that heritage can be contextualised and contemporised. The two-week festival took over Sadler’s Wells Theatre and the Lillian Baylis Studio to celebrate this endeavour. It  featured eight dance artists, five musical artists and the theatre work of Neelam Mansingh Chowdhury.  There were also solo evenings from both Akram and Nitin as well as, together, performing Confluence.