Close nav
Close nav

Clorinda Agonistes – Clorinda the Warrior

Posted on: February 28th, 2022 by sjdEditor

Monteverdi | Jeyasingh | Roustom

Resistance. Resilience. Rebellion.

A thrillingly inventive union of opera, dance and film.

Inspired by Monteverdi’s masterpiece, Il Combattimento, in this visceral production the fiery Saracen female warrior Clorinda battles the Crusader Tancredi in ancient Jerusalem, ferociously defiant in the face of danger.  The second half brings us bang up to date, catapulting Clorinda into the 21st century as a woman still determined to tell her own story in her own way.

Bold and achingly beautiful, the epic story of Clorinda, exposes a world of violence and resilience across the boundaries of culture and time.

Monteverdi’s sublime score is paired with the celebrated Syrian-American composer Kareem Roustom’s highly evocative new music, played live by an on-stage string quartet. Both works unite one of the country’s most popular tenors, Ed Lyon, with the acclaimed Conductor Robert Hollingworth of I Fagiolini.

Shobana Jeyasingh Dance is one of the most dynamic and distinctive forces in UK dance. The Company’s vivid and powerful productions live long in the memory, applauded by audiences and critics alike across the globe.

Co produced by Sadler’s Wells London

World premiere: Grange Festival 13 July 2022
London premiere: Sadler’s Wells 9 September 2022

Promotional Images: Chris Nash

Production Images: Foteini Christofilopoulou

Contains scenes of simulated killing

Contagion

Posted on: January 22nd, 2018 by sjdEditor

★★★★★ The Times
‘When Shobana Jeyasingh is firing on all cylinders there is hardly another UK choreographer who can touch her.’

 

★★★★★ Culture Whisper
‘Shobana Jeyasingh’s fierce intelligence and outstanding ability to tell a story and convey emotions through her meticulous choreography.’

 

★★★★★ Broadway World
‘Contagion is sharp and precise, but also imaginatively inventive’

 

Contagion was featured in three of the best dance highlights of 2018:

‘It showed Jeyasingh at her most humane but also at her most uncompromisingly original and intelligent.’ 
Guardian 2018 dance highlights


‘A challenging and moving, not to mention overdue, act of remembrance to these Great War dead.’ 
Evening Standard best dance of 2018


‘Shobana Jeyasingh’s fierce intelligence and outstanding ability to tell a story and convey emotions through her meticulous choreography.’
Culture Whisper best dance of 2018
 
——-
 

Contagion was co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary.

Contagion commemorates the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, which killed more people than the First World War itself. The piece is inspired by the nature and spread of the flu virus, the unseen enemy that mankind was battling within, while engaging in more conventional warfare in the world outside. The striking work of the Austrian artist Egon Schiele, who fell victim to the Spanish flu, forms a visual footnote to the piece.

Set to an atmospheric soundscape, this dance installation with digital visuals echoes the scientific features of a virus – rapid, random and constantly shape-shifting. Eight female dancers contort and mutate as they explore both the resilience and the vulnerability of the human body.

The performance was presented in unusual venues, many with connections to the First World War.

The work was accompanied by an innovative learning programme, bringing the public closer to a subject that remains relevant today.

Watch the live streamed performance from The Great Hall, Winchester

Material Men redux

Posted on: February 21st, 2017 by sjAdmin

Material Men redux is a full length virtuoso piece for two dazzling performers of the Indian diaspora. Their chosen dance styles could not be more different – classical Indian and hip hop. However, they share a history rooted in the dark realities of colonial migration and plantation labour.

Material Men redux is a dynamic and moving exploration of the violence of loss and the creation of new ways of belonging, featuring a score by acclaimed Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin, recorded by The Smith Quartet. Additional sound design by Leafcutter John.

 


In Episode 1, Guardian Dance Critic Sanjoy Roy talks to Shobana and composer Michael Nyman about their collaboration on Configurations from 1989.

TooMortal (2012)

Posted on: July 21st, 2012 by sjAdmin

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 between power and quiet reflection. 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.

Listen to Surface Tension – the podcast from Shobana Jeyasingh Dance. 
In Episode 3, Guardian Dance Critic Sanjoy Roy talks to Shobana about staging TooMortal.

Connect with us

Instagram

Join our mailing list

Sign up to our e-newsletter bringing you the latest company news and shows.

Subscribe

Our e-newsletters include information about our work, events, fundraising appeals and learning activity. We’ll also send you occasional additional emails during tour periods featuring photo galleries, articles and trailers.