Through Kathak, a German choreographer tells the story of Bangladesh’s exploited garment workers

DHAKA, Jan. 27 (NsNewsWire) — In April 2013, when the collapse of an old garment factory building in Dhaka left more than 1,100 labourers dead, the Western world suddenly opened its eyes to the exploitation of Bangladeshi garment workers by the international clothing industry.

Much before the Rana Plaza collapse, however, German choreographer and theatre director Helena Waldmann realised that the story of thousands of labourers in Bangladesh’s garment factories had to be told to the world. Waldmann began interviewing factory workers in 2010 and four years later, she is ready to tell their story in a language she knows best: dance.

Her new dance theatre production, Made in Bangladesh, is about the lives of the lowest rung of labourers in mass-production factories – the pressure and monotony of their work, their suffering and aspirations, reports scroll.in.

Waldmann makes fascinating connection between the large sewing machines of the garment factory and the classical Indian dance form of Kathak.

When she came across Kathak, the staccato rhythms of the dance form reminded Waldmann of the rapid needle of a sewing machine. She saw the stomping footwork of Kathak as the perfect symbol of the pressures faced by garment workers. “I have deconstructed Kathak for this show, taken out its lyrical aspects and the bells on the feet,” said Waldmann. “I am using the footwork and arm work as a tool to talk about exploitation.”