BBC Radio 4’s series A Show Of Hands will be broadcast again next week (Monday 4 – Friday 8 April) at 1.45pm daily.
Shobana speaks on Wednesday’s programme, Gesture, about the way dancers use their hands. The episode also considers the ways we use our hands to express our faith.
Other programmes in the series offer a range of perspectives on human hands and the way we use them for manipulation, creativity, gesture, communication and touch,
One Dance UK has launched a new free resource for dance teachers, aiming to create better representation in dance in the curriculum and to celebrate and represent the many and varied voices within our sector.
The Representation in Dance Education (RIDE) resource was created by ODUK’s Decolonising the Dance Curriculum roundtable of who worked together to produce a resource to celebrate global majority dance work in the sector, increase representation and effect positive change in dance education.
The creation of this resource came about from the decolonising the dance curriculum roundtable group made up of dance companies, education representatives from the examination boards, freelance dance artists, community groups, teachers and young dancers. The group formed in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement to advocate for change in the curriculum, and to make the case for better representation in dance education.
Speaking to ODUK’s ONE Magazine (Spring 2022 issue), Shobana says: “This current curriculum refresher is a great opportunity to promote more global majority artists and choreographers currently working in Britain and creating incredible work. We are hoping that by highlighting more diverse dance works, students and teachers will not only discover new dance vocabularies, styles and choreographers but be encouraged to look at different historical perspectives and to know the world as being comprised of equitable narratives.”
We drew inspiration from Shobana’s upcoming production Clorinda Agonistes to create a piece infused with Clorinda’s fiery pride, dynamism and resilience. Over the course of a week, we created a new music composition and choreography which resonated with the ideas, contributions, pride and resilience of an intergenerational group of 30 Streewise Opera performers and Trinity Laban students. The resulting piece, Where we stand, was performed to our greatest delight at the Great Hall of Trinity Laban on Friday 25th February. What a joy it was to be back on stage!
Shobana Jeyasingh (artistic director and choreographer), Dr Francesca Whitlum-Cooper (The Myojin-Nadar Associate Curator of Paintings 1600–1800 at the National Gallery, London and curator of the the exhibition “Poussin and The Dance”) and Sanjoy Roy (dance writer and dance critic for the Guardian) discuss three paintings by French classical painter Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). This event was recorded live on 9th February 2022.
For further information and discussion, please also see this article on dance and visual art published in the international dance magazine Dance Gazette, in which Rosemary Waugh speaks to Shobana: Founding-Father
Originally performed in 2012, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance will be performing TooMortal in London for just four performances!
TooMortal is a beautiful and mesmerising work strikingly set within historic churches.
Dancing within the pews, six women dressed in flame red weave a story that moves sharply between turbulence and tension. Are they charting a journey from cradle to grave? Or cast adrift on a wooden sea?
The TooMortal soundtrack by sound artist Cassiel remixes Tenebrae Responsories by James MacMillan, creating an atmosphere of calm solemnity infused with tense, sometimes ominous, flavours.
TooMortal was premiered at the Venice Dance Biennale in 2012 and remains one of our most critically acclaimed works. It was chosen as one of the 20 best dances of the 20th Century by The Guardian.
For our London performances of TooMortal we are using a Pay What You Can model. On the booking page you will find a range of prices to choose from including a recommended price per ticket. We hope this will make our performances to be as accessible as possible.
Please note this is a standing only event.
Our priority is the health and wellbeing of artists, audiences and colleagues so we will be communicating and abiding by the the latest Covid-19 guidance at the time of the performances.
Shobana Jeyasingh Dance is delighted to be taking part in the Void Spaces Activation Pop Up project run by Westminster Council.
From 19 – 30 July 2021 we’re taking over a vacant retail outlet and changing it into a vibrant dance hub.
During our stay, you will see some of our fabulous company dancers transform the space through classes, choreography and creative moves. The unit is their very own blank canvas.
Having time and space to explore creative ideas has become more and more of a luxury, especially since the catastrophic impact COVID has had on the arts. we are delighted to offer this opportunity to our amazing dancers Jemima Brown, Chris Thomas, Estela Merlos and Nafisha Baba who have been working with us this year on our latest creation Clorinda Agonistes.
Pop Up Dance is co curated by Estela Merlos.
Each dancer has been given a few days to use the space as they please. See below the full schedule of who will be running the space each day. You can keep up-to-date with what is happening in the space on our social media channels.
Location: 169 Piccadilly, St. James’s, London W1J 9EH
Schedule: Monday 19 – Weds 21 July: Jemima Brown Thursday 22 – Sunday 25 July: Chris Thomas Monday 26 – Wednesday 28 July: Estela Merlos Thursday 29 – Friday 30 July: Nafisah Baba
We may not be able to perform for you in person right now, but we have the pleasure of connecting with you digitally to celebrate dance, dancers and dance making.
Created exclusively for our online audience, SJD SHORTS are specially created dance events designed to introduce the very best of our past productions. Performed by superb dancers, they feature themes that range from Virology to Veronese!
Curated by Shobana Jeyasingh and Sanjoy Roy, SJD SHORTS can be enjoyed by the seasoned contemporary dance fan, as well as those who want to experience something new.
Each of our SJD SHORTS is premiered on Facebook, after which it’s available for 7-day catch-up on Facebook and YouTube.
‘Made for historic churches, Shobana Jeyasingh’s TooMortal places the audience at the altar, six female dancers half hidden in the pews, and fills the nave with dissonant chimes, tenebrous voices and murky light. The action is spare, but its images loom large: pews as cradles or coffins, the aisle as abyss, elementally evoking the tribulations, desolations and consolations of life’s journey. This is a small, seemingly simple work that holds big ideas.’ The Guardian
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