Dev Kahan Hai? / Where is Dev?

“When Shobana Jeyasingh is firing on all cylinders there is hardly another UK choreographer who can touch her” – The Times

Shobana Jeyasingh was born in Chennai ,India and has lived in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. She founded Shobana Jeyasingh Dance in 1989 and has created over 60 critically acclaimed works for stage, screen and out and indoor sites ranging from Palladian monasteries in Venice to contemporary fountains in London.

Shobana’s work is noted for both its intellectual rigour and its visceral physicality. It is rooted in her experience and perspective of life as a female postcolonial citizen of the world. She trained in Bharata Natyam (the classical dance of Tamil Nadu), under Vazhuvoor Samaraj Pillai and read English Literature, specialising in Shakespeare at The University of Sussex. Over the course of a distinguished career she has collaborated with scientists, curators, composers, film makers, digital creatives, dancers and designers to make dynamic multi-disciplinary work that places the body centre stage in the dialogue of ideas.

“Petipa’s La Bayadère is the ultimate orientalist fantasy. Now, 138 years – and a seismic shift in sensibility – later, Petipa’s ballet is ripe for reinvention. And there’s surely no choreographer better qualified for the task than Shobana Jeyasingh …marvellous, inspiring mesh of history, poetry and ideas” – The Guardian

Her work has toured extensively in UK, Europe, USA, Turkey, India, China Singapore and Hong Kong. A number of works form part of the National Curriculum for Dance in the UK. Notable commissions include work for Rambert, Ballet Black, Company Wayne McGregor, the Venice Biennale, Beijing Modern Dance Academy, Contemporary City Dance Company Hong Kong, and Opera National du Rhin in France. Works such as Faultline (a response to the London tube bombings) TooMortal (for historic churches) Material Men redux (on 19th century indentured labour) have been included in UK end of year best-of lists for their respective years.

“With her emotionally honest approach to choreography, she has produced more than 50 dance works that make the audience think, dream and dissent.” – The HIndu

“The choreography is dizzyingly vibrant, absolutely engrossing … While the surface is hard and aggressive the dancers are ambiguous human subtle ” – Dagens Nyheter Stockholm

Her work for theatre includes choreography for the trailblazing Tara Arts in London and Tamasha Theatre Company. She has worked in productions at the Half Moon Theatre and at The National Theatre London.

“The show is emotional, arduous, and enlightening. It’s a stunningly distressing piece, telling untold stories through sweat and exacting movement, while Jeyasingh both educates and wows through two artists who are truly mesmerising to watch. ” -Theatre Review

Shobana’s contributions to dance include writings, talks as well as presentations on numerous media platforms. She worked as researcher and scriptwriter for two pioneering programmes on British Asian Arts for Channel Four. More recently she was a judge for BBC Young Dancer in both 2017 and 2019. She has served on the panels of the Arts Council of England, Greater London Arts, London Contemporary Dance Trust and The Royal Opera House. She is patron of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.

Shobana was a founder member and research fellow of Rescen at Middlesex University a research centre into processes, practices and contexts of performance. She was invited to take on the role of knowledge producer by the Cultural Institute at Kings College London in 2014 which led to Translocations, a series of films where choreographic narratives met a range of academic disciplines such as Informatics and Neurobiology. She was awarded a Nesta Dream Fellowship to visit China and Japan and experience their contemporary dance cultures. Shobana holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Leicester and Chichester as well as an honorary MA from the university of Surrey. She was named Asian Woman of Achievement in Art and Culture 2008. Shobana was awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the WOW Women in Creative Industries Awards in 2017. In 2020 she was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).

” Jeyasingh plays elegant games with the question of how an art form can feed off its history without actually cannibalising it. Such tempering of energy with intelligence is the mark of a classic” -The Evening Standard

Niraj is one of the key modern interpreters of Asian classical and folk styles. Self-taught in music, Niraj developed his style over a number of years culminating in 2006 with the release of his critically acclaimed debut album Along the Dusty Road. Featuring six languages, the album was championed by the BBC, leading to a live set at the Roundhouse as part of the Electric Proms and winning the “Best Underground Act” award at the UK Asian Music Awards. Niraj has built a reputation as a unique soundtrack composer. His work has included Mahabharata and Ramayana (BBC Radio 4) the Bafta and Emmy award winning Power of Art series (BBC2) and the TV series The Age of Terror. In 2009 he created and produced the score for the BBC series Darwin’s Dangerous Ideas. Niraj has worked on many dance productions and plays, including the Olivier Award winning Rafta, Rafta (NT).

Glyn Perrin studied music in Dartington, York and California. For thirty-five years he has been an independent composer and performer, and also – as required – university lecturer, journalist, translator, foreign language bookseller, computer network administrator, company director, bureaucrat, building labourer, graphic designer, record producer and mentor.

Many of his works mix conventional and electroacoustic means. He has also been a keyboard player and programmer on many non-classical projects worldwide.

He has worked on several projects for Shobana Jeyasingh Dance: Classic Cut, Romance … (with Footnotes), Raid, Transtep and Bruise Blood.

Ursula Bombshell studied fashion design at St. Martins School of Art, London (BA Hons) before heading off to work in Paris. On her return to London she set up her own fashion label, which led to costume design for contemporary dance. She has worked on several productions with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance.

Lucy Carter has worked on many dance productions with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, and is a long-term collaborator with choreographer Wayne McGregor. In 2008 she won the Knight of Illumination Award for Dance for her involvement in McGregor’s choreography Chroma.

Pete Gomes is an artist and director working across moving image and electronic media.

His film and video works navigate varied styles and genres using music, documentary, experimental, and narrative techniques, including commissions for stage, opera and choreography, including four commissions for Shobana Jeyasingh Dance. His film, video and gallery works have been presented extensively including: Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Institute of Contemporary Art, Whitechapel Gallery, Channel Four, Architecture Foundation, Gimpel Fils, Barcelona Centre for Contemporary Culture, Stedelijk Museum, Royal Opera House, Vienna Museum of Contemporary Art, Leeds International Film Festival, Sonar and others.

He is currently researching Improvisation and Filmmaking.

Based in London, he heads the artist run production company mutantfilm.

petegomes.net

Devaraj trained in Bharata Natyam and other Asian dance forms in Bangalore, India. He has also studied kalaripayattu, yoga, capoeira and several styles of contemporary dance. Having completed the Dance Development Programme at the Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts in India, Devaraj has performed with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance since 2003 whilst also choreographing his own work.

His commercial work in India includes appearances for fashion designers, Bollywood singers and local and national satellite TV. Devaraj has performed in eight productions for the company and has toured nationally and internationally. He also performed in Jeyasingh’s Four Square in Trafalgar Square, and in a collaboration with City Contemporary Dance (Hong Kong) in 2006. He regularly teaches as part of the company’s education team. Devaraj joined Tavaziva Dance in December 2009 for company’s first full-length production Wild Dog and toured spring 2010.

A sonic artist and composer, and member of the People Show theatre, Fred learnt his trade in Paris as a recording engineer, moving to England to become the personal recording engineer of the Eurhythmics.

Through his career he has mixed and recorded albums for the likes of Bob Dylan, The Prodigy, Depeche mode, Tom Petty, David Gray and many more. He has sound designed for theatrical experiences created by Punchdrunk, Burberry, Tods and Philipp Plein fashion shows in Paris, London and Milan. Fred has also composed music for choreographer Garance Marneur, on behalf of Levy Dance in San Francisco, for Alone Together and Pull Me Closer part of the SF International Art Festival 2017.

Touring as a live sound engineer, his broad client base includes choreographer Lee Anderson, Patti Smith, and the KLF Welcome to the Dark Ages. Fred has worked with Shobana Jeyasingh for the past eight years.