Shobana Jeyasingh has been a pioneer among the generation of Anglo-Indian choreographers who have skillfully combined the expressive beauty of traditional dances from their homeland with the gestures and exploration of contemporary dance. Unlike another illustrious representative of this genre, Akram Khan, who has developed a fusion between Kathak – a classical dance from North India – and contemporary dance, Shobana Jeyasingh, originally from Madras, has directed her expressive language towards merging Bharata Natyam, primarily practiced in South India, particularly in the Tanjore region and Madras, with the spatial utilization and compositional methods of Western contemporary dance.
In her unique blend, Bharata Natyam serves as the starting point: from short phrases of pure Bharata Natyam, her work evolves in the studio through the author's manipulation, often pushed to the point of unrecognizability of the original movement. Shobana retains from classical Indian dance the elongation of the spine, always perfectly erect, the subtle movements of the joints, hands, and neck, as well as the percussive rhythm of the feet and the intermediate demi-plié position. However, these elements are transformed within a structure that finds new expressive modalities.
Since the founding of her company in 1988 in London, Shobana Jeyasingh has created about twenty works that have been showcased at prestigious European festivals, the Jacob’s Pillow Festival in Massachusetts, and in Durban, South Africa. The work presented at Oriente Occidente is her latest creation, "Flicker," produced this year alongside a revision of her 2004 work "Transtep," now renamed "Transtep 2005," which shares the evening in Rovereto with "Flicker."
"Flicker" marks the choreographer's return to collaboration with English composer Michael Nyman, with whom, in 1988, she created the first work for the Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, "Configurations." Nyman is now accompanied by electronic music composer Jürgen Simpson, who has layered the soundtrack with acoustic signals, buzzes, and electric guitars. "Flicker" is a work that envelops and transports into a digital world; the extraordinary 'futuristic' set design by Digit – a brilliant flicker of green lines on a black screen reminiscent of a malfunctioning old computer monitor – surrounds and overwhelms the six dancers of the company.
"Transtep 2005," on the other hand, presents a contrast between the stage space – set with blinding neon lights – and the composed, rigorous forms of dance that emerge under the black tunics of the women, in the expansive and sinuous movements of their arms. Here, unlike "Flicker," the contrast is heightened by the musical choice of Monteverdi's "Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda."
