The Story behind our new production Clorinda Agonistes.

Shobana speaks to the Evening Standard’s Cultural Capital from St Pancras Church about the revival of her internationally renowned dance piece TooMortal, restaged in autumn 2021.

At this Zoom event for supporters and friends of SJD, Shobana Jeyasingh talks about her initial research and choreographic ideas for Clorinda Agonistes.

At this Zoom event for supporters and friends of SJD, Kareem Roustom talks about composing for Clorinda Agonistes Act 2

At this Zoom event for supporters and friends of SJD, Music Director Robert Hollingworth talks about instrumentation and Monteverdi.

Felicity Finch joined Shobana and her company of eight female dancers, along with the show’s composer and video designer, as they explored the challenge of how to portray the Spanish flu virus and its devastating effects through contemporary dance.

Two years later, Felicity explores how Shobana feels about this piece in the midst of a new global pandemic and how the work is very relevant today.

Listen on BBC website

Broadcast 3 November 2020

Movement is at the heart of choreography – but how is it generated and how does it become choreography? Shobana and six company dancers talk about what happens inside the dance studio.

Watch all episodes of the Surface Tension podcast on our You Tube channel.

In previous episodes of our Surface Tension podcast, we’ve looked at choreography from a range of different viewpoints: the themes of science and science fiction, the considerations required for site-specific works, and the creative inputs of writers, musicians, film-makers and designers – as well as virologists and clergymen!

But there’s one vital group of people we haven’t spoken to in detail: the dancers themselves. So in this episode, we open a window onto the rehearsal studio as Guardian dance writer Sanjoy Roy finds out about the interactions between dancers and choreographer, and between dance and choreography.

Shobana Jeyasingh puts the moment in context: when she first meets the dancers in the studio, much “choreographic” work has already been begun outside it – research undertaken, ideas and themes sketched out, collaborators commissioned.

Listen to Shobana and six experienced dancers – José Agudo, Carmine de Amicis, Avatâra Ayuso, Catarina Carvalho, Estela Merlos and Sooraj Subramaniam – talking about what happens inside the studio.

We find out about the dancers’ very varied technical training – ballroom, jazz, folk and flamenco as well as ballet, contemporary and bharatanatyam – and about how they work together so that their many different voices contribute to the same artistic conversation.

The dancers talk about the depth of research and the scope of their contribution, both physically and mentally, and what it’s like to be part of a picture on the inside while Shobana has the view from the outside.

Shobana talks about creating frames for tasks, why it’s ok to lose rungs from the ladder, and why she feels like a film director. And have you ever wondered what the difference is between dance and choreography? She pinpoints one crucial distinction between a dance sequence and a choreographic phrase.

Of course, what goes into the studio eventually comes out of it. How does it feel for the dancers and for the choreographer when their closed creation finally becomes a public performance?

Episode 5 of Surface Tension charts the process of creation, rehearsal and touring of Staging Schiele (2019). Presenter Sanjoy Roy chats to Shobana, composer Orlando Gough, costume designers COTTWEILER, visual artist Ben Cullen Williams and dancers Dane Hurst, Estela Merlos and Catarina Carvalho about their respective collaborations on the piece.

Watch all episodes of the Surface Tension podcast on our You Tube channel.

Presenter Sanjoy Roy introduces the latest production which the company have just toured, Staging Schiele and talks to Shobana about the origins of the piece and how her interest in the life, work and death of Egon Schiele was sparked. Conversation covers the rehearsal process, what parts of Schiele’s life and paintings were reflected in the choreography and themes of the male artist and the female nude.

Shobana describes the sections of the piece: Mirror / Doppleganger / In the Studio (later called Radical Nude / Censor / Relationships (Schiele with his mother, wife and muse).

We jump back to May 2019, when Shobana and company were in the research and development phase for the piece. We talk to company dancer Dane Hurst, who took on the Schiele role, about the research period and using imagery to inspire movement.

Fast forward to September 2019, when Sanjoy caught up with Shobana whilst she was making changes to the storyline. Then we hear from composer Orlando Gough, where he talks about the notion of anxiety and how to incorporate it within the music. The music is almost all sung, whispered and shouted by one male voice, which we assume to be Schiele.

Next we chat to menswear designers COTTWEILER: Ben Cottrell and Matthew Dainty who talk about getting a feel for Shobana’s take on Staging Schiele, research processes and meeting the dancers before starting to design the costumes. They take into consideration how possible fabrics react to the lighting, stage and set in a very detailed way.

Ben Cullen Williams, visual artist, describes his approach to designing the set, a location for the piece. He designed the steel frame structure to be collapsable and flatpack so it could fit in a van. The set provided a structure for the piece but also the psychological state of Schiele which the dancers existed in. The lighting was designed to give a sense of disturbance, unease and anxiety with constant flickering and twitching in and around the set.

November 2019, in the foyer of Queen Elizabeth Hall after the London Premiere of Staging Schiele Sanjoy interviews Orlando Gough about the ‘most intense dance piece I’ve ever seen’.

Dancers Catarina Carvalho, Dane Hurst and Estela Merlos talk about performing across the duration of the tour, injuries, how they supported each other and how the tone of the piece matured and changed.

Finally we talk to Shobana after the performance, about the audience reaction and energy in the auditorium, the challenges of putting on a show, the creative team achieved, and the ’synergy of vision amongst the creative collaborators’ on Staging Schiele.

Episode 4 of Surface Tension investigates the impact of science and science fiction on Shobana’s work. Presenter Sanjoy Roy asks what are the connections between science and dance, and sci-fi and Shobana’s choreography? Phantasmaton (2002), In Flagrante (2014), Trespass (2015) and Contagion (2018) feature in this episode.

Watch all episodes of the Surface Tension podcast on our You Tube channel.