Redefining the meaning of dance

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She literally infuses life into her movements by surprising lovers of her dance with every new production. Though her dance doesn’t need introduction and speaks for itself, Shobhna Jeyasingh is still someone who keeps redefining with every new venture. One of the most sought after in the field of contemporary dance, Shobhna has

spruced up the dance scene with innovative choreography. With some path breaking choreography, the definition of contemporary dance has received new meaning and Shobhna’s productions have always tried to find the unusual element in mundane things of society.
On her troupe’s maiden 10-day tour to India, Shobhna will be presenting two of her recent productions, Faultline and Bruise Blood, both being expressions of turbulence and pain in the modern times. Shobhna read Gautam Malkani’s Londonstani, which made her curious about the angst among the youth. “Londonstani was a very thoughtful depiction of the minds of the Asian youth during the tube bombings in London in 2006. And the aftermath, which was more important from a psychological point of view to know what the youth thought about the modern day complexities of life,” says Shobhna.
Through Faultline she has explored the attitude of the British Asian youth living in London and the emotions that coagulate in their minds. “One of the most interesting things that I too encountered along the research was their fearless attitude or the boldness of it,” adds Shobhna. Their outlook towards life with an audacity and conjuring up of emotions like fear made an interesting choice of subject to study about.
She sounds excited when it comes to the research and study that was put into the production. “Well most of the dancers that I was working with were young and some of them have seen the events happening. Basically, we all studied and expressed ourselves together with various discussions and film screenings. The point was to get back to those days and actually feel the agony and the resilience to change but on one hand also having the thought to move forward,” explains Shobhna. The electronic sound score interwoven with music by Errollyn Wallen and movingly sung by the classical Indian soprano, Patricia Rozario was created to produce that tension between elements.
Bruise Blood is a musical piece, which is quite abstract in nature, set to tunes of a beatboxer. Shobhna wanted to just have the sound of one instrument and keep the peripherals around the production very simple. It is set to a remix of Steve Reich’s politically inspired number Come Out by composer Glyn Perrin and opens with a solo performance by beatboxer RoxorLoops. “I met Roxor in London and we got talking about what interests us and this was one of the productions that came across beautifully,” says Shobhna. The name of the production gets you thinking as to why a dance piece set to beatboxing music will have a depressing name. “The piece is all about struggle and pain and the story behind it. It is quite an abstract piece in nature. The name comes from the ‘I had to open up the bruise and let the bruise blood come through’ in Reich’s composition,” elaborates Shobhna.
Interestingly Shobhna feels that going contemporary is her way of questioning the rules set in classical dance, though she feels that classical dance is an excellent foundation for any dancer. “I took training in Bharatnatyam and feel it inculcates a certain discipline in a dancer. The structure and the framework of a classical dance then become inherent in you. Contemporary would be more of questioning this structure and exploring beyond that,” says Shobhna.
And she does that truly with her all ideas bubbling from showcasing the troubled minds of the youth to a production on culinary delights. Just Add Water is another production about obsession with food and cooking and giving it a global perspective with cultural differences across the world. Shobhna probably is one of the few who have explored such a thought with justice and thrilling choreography. “Food is such an essential part of the system that we tend to not take it seriously and the influences it has on our thinking and society,” says Shobhna.
Ask her about the inspiration to come up with such brilliant ideas and pat comes the reply, “I simply create intensity around movements and thankfully still come up with ideas. The day I think I won’t be able to, I will simply stop,” she adds.