Coventry’s Warwick Arts Centre is this month presenting a trio of short kathak dance pieces written & choreographed by Amina Khayyam.

Taking ‘a South Asian feminist perspective’, the three works comprise Bird - a stage sequel to Amina Khayyam Dance Company's acclaimed film Catch The Bird Who Won't Fly and You & Me where man meets man and confronts the cultural status quo of sexuality. Manchild - a solo piece expressing the feminist aftermath of a beautiful, aspiring, ‘as good as on a silver screen’ relationship gone sour, completes the bill.

Commenting on Kathak Monologues, Amina Khayyam, said: All the important themes in Kathak Monologues were developed following our workshops with women’s groups. The theme in You & Me explores the subject of being openly gay. The conversations in the workshops made it clear that this is still taboo in the South Asian community and is a subject many are in denial about. The rise in the ‘marriage of convenience’ has become the norm because of pressures to marry and not bring shame on the family. These marriages, often arranged, affect the lives of women who are trapped in marriages they didn’t sign up for and for the men, they cannot be their true self, often living double lives” 

Kathak Monologues takes place at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, on Thursday 16 February. The show lasts for approximately one hour. To find out more and book tickets, visit warwickartscentre.co.uk