Shobana Jeyasingh

Jeyasingh, Shobana (b Madras, 26 Mar. 1957). Indian-born British-based choreographer and company director. She studied at the University of Sussex in England, earning an MA in Renaissance studies. Trained as a dancer in bharata natyam, the classical dance of South Asia, in the 1980s she toured Britain as a solo bharata natyam performer. In 1989 she founded the Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company. As one of the leading modern dance choreographers in Britain, she started experimenting early on with the bharata natyam style, re-imagining it for her all-female ensemble and extending its language far beyond conventional boundaries. She has collaborated with some of Britain's leading composers, including Michael Nyman, Glyn Perrin, and Graham Fitkin. A list of work for her own company includes Configurations (mus. Nyman, 1989), Correspondences (mus. Volans, 1990), Making of Maps (mus. Alistair McDonald, 1992), Romance…with Footnotes (mus. Glyn Perrin, Karaikudi Krishnamurthy, 1993), Duets with Automobiles (for video, mus. Orlando Gough, 1994), Raid (mus. Glyn Perrin, Haiyaraaja, 1995), Palimpsest (mus. Graham Fitkin, 1996), Memory and Other Props (mus. Alistair McDonald, 1998), and Fine Frenzy (mus. Django Bates, 1999).