Along the Silk Road

It’s not often ELN publicises an arts event happening as far away as N12: we hardly ever publicise anything without an E number. But the pictures accompanying the press release advertising this dance/music production of Along the Silk Road – Marco Polo’s travels through music and dance are works of art by themselves, so we thought we’d give it a mention.

The production has an international cast and an international theme: the Silk Road of ancient times wove through several countries and art and culture from Persia, Afghanistan, China, India and modern day Iran will be displayed as the international cast follows Marco Polo’s footsteps. Polo, the famous Italian explorer and trader, travelled along the Silk Road in the last quarter of the 13th century. Polo told the stories of his time at the court of Kublai Khan, the Mongol leader, to Rustichello da Pisa (the two happened to be sharing a prison cell in Genoa at the time – Polo’s life was full of ups and downs). Da Pisa produced the influential book The Travels of Marco Polo from them, which influenced how Europeans thought of the peoples of Central Asia and the Far East for decades, if not centuries.

The show is produced by the Toos Foundation, which was founded in 2006 to facilitate the study and understanding of Iran’s history and culture to audiences in the UK and abroad.

The Foundation wishes to devote this event to the memory of Amir Khosrow, a Persian speaking Indian mystic poet and musician of the 13th century.

The Toos Foundation presents Along The Silk Road – Marco Polo’s travels through music and dance
Sunday, 23rd June
5.30pm-7.30pm (English performance)
8.30pm-10.30pm (Persian performance)
London artsdepot, 5 Nether St,  London N12 0GA
Tickets-  £20 (concessions: £10; premium tickets: £40 including meet and greet with the cast)
How to book – 020-8369 5454 www.artsdepot.co.uk www.toosfoundation.com