Creative Team
Shobana Jeyasingh CBE / Concept, Choreography & Direction
“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
Gabriel Prokofiev / Composer
Gabriel Prokofiev is a London-based composer, producer, DJ and founder of the NONCLASSICAL record label & club-night. Composing music that both embraces and challenges western classical traditions, Gabriel has emerged at the forefront of a new approach to classical music in the UK at the beginning of the 21st century. His compositions have been performed at a diverse range of venues, from the Royal Albert Hall and Tchaikovsky Hall, through to East London night-clubs & warehouses. With performers including Daniel Hope, Vladimir Jurowski, Sascha Goetzel, Seattle Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Russian State Symphony, Copenhagen Philharmonic, and Princeton Symphony. Gabriel is published by Mute Song.
Guy Hoare / Lighting Designer
Dance work includes: Bruise Blood; Flicker, Strange Blooms (SJD); The Metamorphosis (Royal Ballet); Ex Nihilo/The Human Edge (Royal Ballet/ATMA Dance); The Land of Yes and The Land of No (Sydney Dance Company); And Who Shall Come to the Ball? (Candoco, International Tour); Made In Heaven; Love & War; Sea of Bones (Mark Bruce Company); Square Map of Q4 (Bonachela Dance Company); Chotto Desh (Akram Khan Company); White Space; Shot Flow; Second Signal (Henri Oguike); Without Stars (James Cousins).
Theatre includes: Strange Interlude (NT); A Doll’s House; Going Dark (Young Vic); Clarence Darrow (Old Vic); Roots; Serenading Louie; (Donmar Warehouse); Little Revolution; Waste (Almeida); Electra (The Gate); Peter Pan (National Theatre of Scotland); Faith Healer (Bristol Old Vic); As You Like It; A Christmas Carol; Macbeth (WYP).
Opera includes: Jakob Lenz (ENO, Hampstead Theatre); The Firework-Maker’s Daughter (The Opera Group); King Priam, Paul Bunyan; The Lighthouse; Don Giovanni; Eugene Onegin (ETO).
Jan Urbanowski / Video Designer
Jan began working with moving image and post-production after developing techniques in special effects for film whilst working for companies such as Glassworks and Framestore. He progressed into design and editing, working as a motion graphics director for CC-Lab where he composed music, edited and animated content.
After working with Flynn Productions as senior in-house editor he began his independent directing career working closely with Onedotzero who explore and develop new generation filmmakers. His work includes live visuals, promos, installations, commercials and emergent technologies.
Jan has worked with a wide range of artists, including Russell Maliphant, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lady Gaga, George Michael, Q Tip, Nitin Sawhney, Pet Shop Boys & Kasabian. Recent projects include working with the EU in developing novel visualisation tools for enhanced nanotechnology awareness. Jan is also the founder and creative director of Rysunku, an independent record label which encourages and promotes forward thinking individuals in the creative arts with an approach sensitive to cultural fusions and experimentation. He currently works from his studio in London Clerkenwell.
jasiurb.com
Fabrice Serafino / Costume Designer
Fabrice’s theatre experience includes 15 years as a dancer for various internationally renowned companies. In September 2004, he left dancing to attend the prestigious Motley Theatre Design Course. Since then, he has designed extensively for theatre, dance and opera.
Dance designs include Coppélia (Wroclaw Opera House), Elegie (Ballet Black, ROH2), Nest, In The Hands of Others, Solo? and Anatomica # 3 (Rambert Dance Company), Magpie and Running on Empty (Probe,UK tour), Dear Body (ProteinDance, UK tour), Hinterland (BareBones Dance, UK tour), Kith/Kin, Gameshow and Pictures We Make (Company Chameleon, UK tour), Three and Four Quarters (HeadSpace Dance).
fabriceserafino.com
Bronia Housman / Production Designer
Bronia Housman trained at the Motley Theatre Design Course and Kent University. Recent designs include work at Glyndebourne, Sadler’s Wells, La Carrière de Normandoux, Nottingham Playhouse and Arcola Theatre. Bronia has been Es Devlin’s associate since 2004, where she has worked on opera, theatre, dance and pop music around the world including Complicité, London Olympic Closing Ceremony and at the Royal Opera House.
Chris Fogg / Dramaturgical Support
Chris Fogg is a writer, producer, director and dramaturg. As a dramaturg his recent credits include: Alexander Whitley: The Grit in the Oyster; Lost Dog: Paradise Lost; Sadhana: Under My Skin and The Unkindest Cut; Tavaziva Dance: Africarmen; Theo Clinkard: Of Land & Tongue; Yorke Dance: Figure Ground. As Creative Producer for the Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund he is supporting research being undertaken by Rosemary Lee, and he is currently producing the next project for Probe with Antonia Grove. Between 2009 and 2013 he was Creative Producer at South East Dance leading their Associate Artists programme, developing work with Subathra Subramaniam, Ben Wright, Lucy Cash and Charlie Morrissey, and between 2011 and 2013 he was also Associate Producer at Akademi, where he developed their strategy for Artist Development. As a director he has developed All the Ghosts Walk with Us in collaboration with Laila Diallo and Phil King, and Tree House in association with Farnham Maltings, both written by Chris and toured in 2016. His second book of poems, stories and essays, Northern Songs, was published in 2015 by Mudlark Press.
Elisabetta d’Aloia / Rehearsal Director
Elisabetta is a performer, rehearsal director and assistant choreographer. Born in Italy she trained at The Place and Laban where she gained an MA in Performance. As a movement director and assistant choreographer Elisabetta has worked with Russell Maliphant, Kim Brandstrup, Luca Silvestrini, Cameron McMillan, Alexander Whitley. As a performer Elisabetta has created work and performed with Transitions Dance Company, Bare Bones, Retina Dance Company, Protein Dance, Russell Maliphant Company, Stephanie Schober & Dance Company, Sarah Dowling and Theatre Rites. She was part of the 2008 Handover Ceremony at the Beijing Olympics. As a freelancer, her credits include Frantic Assembly, William Tuckett, Hofesh Shechter, Akram Khan, Kim Brandstrup, Arthur Pita, Jasmin Vardimon and Javier De Frutos. She has performed and assisted in operas directed by Deborah Warner and Carousel directed by Jo Davies. Elisabetta is the Subject Leader for the Centre for Advanced Training in Birmingham at DanceXchange. She is also a freelance dance teacher.
Hian Ruth Voon / Rehearsal Director
Ruth has danced for Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Will Tuckett, Fin Walker, Art of Spectra (Sweden), Union Dance, Freddie Opoku-Addaie/Jagged Antics, Aletta Collins, Stephanie Schober, Mayuri Boonham/ATMA Dance, Royal Opera House, English National Opera and Palau de les Arts (Valencia) amongst others. She has worked with choreographers including Rafael Bonachela, Henri Oguike, Alex Reynolds, Stephan Koplowitz (New York), Mavin Khoo and Michael Joseph, and performed in aerial work (bungee and harness) for The Generating Company and Robyn Simpson. Ruth was a dancer in the ROH DanceLines project under the direction of Wayne McGregor, and she also participated in ArtsCross 2013. Commercial credits include World War Z, and music videos for James Blunt and Gabby Young & Other Animals. As a teacher Ruth has taught at Greenwich Dance Agency, The Place, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Walker Dance and Union Dance. She was rehearsal director for Shobana Jeyasingh’s TooMortal and is also a qualified Yoga teacher.
Hayley Ryan / Rehearsal Assistant (2013)
Hayley joined Shobana Jeyasingh Dance in 2010. She has a first-class BA Hons in Dance and Culture from University of Surrey and in 2010 gained an MA in Dance:Performance at the University of Chichester, as a member of MAPDance. As an aerialist and dancer, Hayley has performed at the Paralympic Opening Ceremony, with Secret Cinema and their sister company Future Cinema and with various dance companies. She has also choreographed and taught for the Royal Academy of Dance’s Performance School, RAD’s Step Into Dance programme and various projects with DanceDigital.
Rachel Shipp / Production Manager
Fred De Faye / Sound Engineer
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.
Dancers
Avatâra Ayuso
Avatâra trained in ballet (Conservatorio de Mallorca) and Linguistics (BA and MA, Universidad Complutense de Madrid) before moving to London to train at London Contemporary Dance School. In 2005, she became part of the D.A.N.C.E. programme where she worked and performed internationally under the artistic direction of William Forsythe, Wayne McGregor, Frédéric Flamand and Angelin Preljocaj. In 2008, she obtained a Masters in Professional Dance from Palucca Schule Dresden. As a choreographer, she has presented work internationally in Europe, Africa and Asia. Over the years, Avatâra has received several awards and grants to develop her skills as a dance researcher and cultural leader (completing studies with the Open University UK and the prestigious Clore Leadership Programme Emerging Leaders). She is Associate Artist of the European Centre for the Arts Hellerau Dresden and her AVA Dance Company Associate of The Creative Academy Slough. She was nominated for the 2015 UK National Dance Awards. Since 2007, Avatâra has collaborated regularly with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance.
Richard Causer
Richard completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 2004 and joined Expressions Dance Company (EDC-Australia) in 2006. He earned nominations for Most Outstanding Male Dancer for both the 2011 Australian Dance Awards (ADA) and Helpmann Awards, and again in 2012 ADA for performing is self choreographed work ‘Wilhelm Scream.’
Richard moved to London in 2012-15 working as a dancer, choreographer and teacher with various companies and independent choreographers and worked with Shobana Jeyasingh from 2013-2014 returning to EDC in Australia in 2016.
His Choreographic credits include works for the Malaysian Dance Festival, Aboriginal Centre of Performing Arts, EDC, QUT, Third Row Dance Company (UK), Centre of Advanced Training (UK), Inky Cloak Theatre Company (UK), and Raw Moves Dance Company (Singapore).
Richard has been nominated again for another Australian Dance Award for Best Male Dancer for 2017.
Sunbee Han
Sunbee was born in Seoul, South Korea, where she obtained a BA and MA in Dance & Dance Film from Han Yang University’s Arts Faculty. In 2009, she also won the gold medal at the Dong-A National Dance Competition – the most prestigious dance prize in South Korea. From 2007 to 2010, Sunbee danced with Garimda Dance Company in Seoul and in 2011 she joined the London-based Henri Oguike Dance Company, receiving critical acclaim for her first performances in the UK in Oguike’s V4.
In February 2014, Sunbee was featured as Dancer of the Month in Dancing Times, which was the first major interview of a Korean dancer in this magazine.
Sunbee joined Shobana Jeyasingh Dance for Strange Blooms in 2013.
Noora Kela
Noora was born in Finland, Helsinki. She started dancing at the age of 13. She went into full time dance training after she was granted a place at the Sibelius High School for music and dance in Helsinki (1997-2000). During this time she also worked for the Finnish National Theatre assisting on various plays and musicals. She graduated in 2003 from The London Contemporary Dance School with First Class Honours. Since then Noora has worked with Jan De Schynkel, David Bolger, Nigel Steward, Hubert Essakow, Fernando Magadan of NDT, and Tanja Raman. She also worked with the Henri Oguike Dance Company for four years, touring nationally and internationally. She joined Shobana Jeyasingh Dance in 2009. She has also worked with the ENO on two of their productions and been part of a few commercial videos.
Simone Muller-Lotz
Simone was born in Cape Town, South Africa and trained at Elmhurst Ballet School, The Royal Ballet Upper School and Central School of Ballet. On graduating she joined Northern Ballet Theatre. She then returned to South Africa and joined Cape Town City Ballet performing works by Van Danzig, North, Spoerli and Balanchine as well as principal roles in The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Simone worked with Ballet Theatre Afrikan, Free Flight Dance Company and the Cape Dance Company performing works by David Krugel (NDT) and Christopher Huggins (Ailey).
Since returning to the U.K. Simone has worked with Hubert Essakow, New Movement Collective, Mbulelo Ndabeni and Martin Joyce. She performed at the Edinburgh International Festival and at Sadler’s Wells in “Inala” featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo and choreographed by Mark Baldwin. Simone joined SJD in 2013 for Strange Blooms at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Teerachai Thobumrung
Born and raised in Thailand, Teerachai moved to the UK in 2002 aged sixteen to study music, and aged nineteen he discovered his interest in dance. He then trained at Lewisham College before joining the BA programme at London Contemporary Dance School (LCDS) in 2008. He received the Charlotte Kirkpatrick Award for demonstrating exceptional potential as a male dance artist in 2010. After finishing his training at LCDS in 2011, Teerachai became a freelance dancer and worked with Martin Constantine, James Cousins, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui for the film Anna Karenina, Akram Khan for the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance and Henri Oguike. Teerachai is now working to support adults with learning disabilities, he is grateful to be able to use dance and his knowledge of movement in a new field of work.
Lee-Yuan Tu
Originally from Taiwan, Lee-Yuan graduated from the Dance College of Taipei National University of the Arts in 2011. He has previously worked with choreographers such as Meng-Ke Wu (Nederlands Dans Theater), Tanja Liedtke (DV8), Ho Hsiao-Mei (Meimage Dance) and Lin Hwai-Min (Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan). He has choreographed and performed After the End which won the Taiwan Golden Dance Award.
Marco Mantovani (Apprentice Dancer)
Originally from Verona, Italy, Marco started his training with the study of Ballet and modern dance. In 2010, Marco joined Northern School of Contemporary Dance and has since then created works with Alexander Whiteley, Simon Birch and Andrea Buckley. Whilst training, in 2012, he formed a youth dance group, AP group, and performed in Leeds and Poland.
Marco graduated from Northern School of Contemporary Dance in 2013 with a Bachelor of Dance Performance and is now an apprentice with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance.
Antonette Dayrit
Born in London, Antonette trained at The Debra Bradnum Ballet School, The Royal Ballet School and Central School of Ballet, graduating with a BA Hons in Professional Dance with First Class Honours. As a student she performed with The Ballet Central 2005 Tour, The Royal Ballet Company and Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Antonette has worked professionally with CeDeCe, The Curve Foundation Dance Company, Malgorzata Dzierzon, Patricia Okenwa, Renaud Wiser, New Movement Collective, Alexander Whitley Dance Company and Rambert performing in works by renowned choreographers such as Christopher Bruce, Michael Clark, Merce Cunningham, Siobhan Davies, Javier de Frutos, Itzik Galili, Ashley Page and Paul Taylor.
She is currently a freelance dancer, teacher and became a STOTT PILATES® Trained Instructor in February 2015. Antonette joined Shobana Jeyasingh Dance for the revival of Strange Blooms in 2015.
Jason Mabana
Born in Belgium, from an Italian and Filipino heritage, Jason began dancing at an early age. Jason has recently graduated from the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, where he worked with choreographers such as Mark Baldwin, Kerry Nicholls, Christopher Bruce and Darren Ellis. Jason has been choreographing for Design for Dance at Central St Martins, UAL, and also for BBC Young Dancer 2015. As well as dancing with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Jason will also join Akram Khan Company as an apprentice. Jason joined Shobana Jeyasingh Dance for the revival of Strange Blooms in 2015.
Estela Merlos
Born in Barcelona, Estela trained at Escola de Dansa Madó and Central School of Ballet. Before joining Rambert Dance Company (2008-2014) she danced with Cannes Jeune Ballet and IT Dansa (2004-2008). Since becoming independent she has performed with Didy Veldman, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, New Movement Collective, Patricia Okenwa, AVA Dance Company, Renaud Wiser, Hubert Essakow. Estela’s own choreographic work has been presented in Spain and the UK.
Wayne Parsons
Wayne has worked with National Dance Company of Wales (NDCWales), Richard Alston Dance Company, Sydney Dance Company, Motionhouse, Mark Bruce Company, Alexander Whitley Dance Company, Joe Moran Dance, Kim Brandstrup, Yorke Dance Project, SmallPetitKlein and Oguike Dance amongst others. Wayne has also been the recipient of an Arts Council of Wales grant and the Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship.
Throughout his performance career, Wayne has also developed his choreographic practice. Most recently his duet Meeting was a finalist and the only representative from the UK to compete in the 6th Copenhagen International Choreography Competition in March 2013.
In 2014, Wayne created three new works. After working with London Studio Centre students he was invited back to make a new work for Intoto Dance Company. He also made a new work titled Like This? for London Contemporary Dance School’s 2014 graduation showcase performed at The Place, London. He was commissioned by Art Active in Cardiff to make Enter After Dark for their Dans Haf season. Wayne joined Shobana Jeyasingh Dance for the revival of Strange Blooms in 2015.
Jack Thomson
Jack is a London based dancer, photographer, choreographer and film maker. After training at Rambert School, Jack went onto to dance for Phoenix Dance Theatre performing choreography by Itzik Galli, Caroline Finn and Sharon Watson among others.
In addition to this he was a feature dancer in ENO’s award winning opera The Indian Queen (2015) choreographed by New York based Christopher Williams. Jack was also an original dancer in Mark Baldwins’ Inala (2014 – 2015), featuring Lady Smith Black Mambazo which he performed national, internationally and for the Royal family at the 2014 Royal Variety Performance. Most recently he danced in the 16th revival of the Royal Opera House’s Turandot (2017) choreographed by Kate Flatt.
Jack joined Shobana Jeyasingh Dance for the revival of Strange Blooms in 2015 and is excited to perform in Bayadère – The Ninth Life.
Hian Ruth Voon
Ruth has danced for Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Will Tuckett, Fin Walker, Art of Spectra (Sweden), Union Dance, Freddie Opoku-Addaie/Jagged Antics, Aletta Collins, Stephanie Schober, Mayuri Boonham/ATMA Dance, Royal Opera House, English National Opera and Palau de les Arts (Valencia) amongst others. She has worked with choreographers including Rafael Bonachela, Henri Oguike, Alex Reynolds, Stephan Koplowitz (New York), Mavin Khoo and Michael Joseph, and performed in aerial work (bungee and harness) for The Generating Company and Robyn Simpson. Ruth was a dancer in the ROH DanceLines project under the direction of Wayne McGregor, and she also participated in ArtsCross 2013. Commercial credits include World War Z, and music videos for James Blunt and Gabby Young & Other Animals. As a teacher Ruth has taught at Greenwich Dance Agency, The Place, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Walker Dance and Union Dance. She was rehearsal director for Shobana Jeyasingh’s TooMortal and is also a qualified Yoga teacher.
