For just two nights next week, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company is bringing a double bill of contemporary dance cultural mashup to the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank. Jeyasingh creates Asian influenced contemporary dance, producing dramatic and vibrant pieces with an urban edge.
Huh?
For those of us who know nowt about dance type things, here’s roughly what that means in practice:
“Faultline” is a brand new dance work taking inspiration from images in Gautam Malkani’s 2006 novel “Londonstani”. The movement references martial arts, ballet and classical Indian dance, Bharata Natyam, to produce something completely new. As this piece is completely new, we have no idea what this might be, but that’s all part of the fun. The recorded score is by Scanner, an experimental sound artist, and Indian soprano Patricia Rozario will sing live and also appear in film footage commissioned from conceptual film artist Pete Gomes.
In the second half, “Exit, No Exit” rather memorably features a live bass clarinet player seated on a big white tower in one corner of the stage. Expect a dramatic and pacy classical score by Michael Nyman, a soloist pinging about in a demonstration of the inescapability of modern life (probably) and interacting with an ensemble of dancers. This piece has a sense of humour, is visually arresting and an exciting watch. Note also, the central figure of the piece is Mavin Khoo who, Londonist reckons, is a fabulous dancer.
All in all it’s 2 half hour pieces of diversely influenced dance with an interval (nice bar/foyer at the QEH and, if it’s pleasant, drift out onto the South Bank balcony to hang out and look glamorous) for just £15-20.
See the video trailer & interview with Shobana Jeyasingh here. Buy tickets from QEH here. Performances on 6 & 7 March at 7.45pm. Post-performance Meet the Artist Q&A on 6 March at 10pm.
