Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company – Bruise Blood & Faultline preview

Get to know… Yamuna Devi

Yamuni Devi is a dancer with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company. The company will perform at Southbank Centre on Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 October.

What do you fear the most?
Heights

Which mobile number do you call the most?
My boyfriend’s

What – or where – is perfection?
Perfection is in the eye of the beholder.

Who is your favourite hero from fiction and why?
Xena warrior princess as she is powerful and strong yet still graceful and beautiful.

What’s your favourite ritual?
Putting on my indian classical outfit and jewellery and then praying to mother earth for guidance and respect.

Which living person do you most admire – and why?
My guru who guides me and reflects my emotions to bring them to a state where I can be aware of them and change them if necessary.

What other talent or skill would you like to possess?
Being able to use silks to be upside down in a flowing sequences of powerful acrobatics movements.

What’s your favourite website?
Acroyoga.org

If you could programme your ideal Southbank Centre show, which artists (living or dead) would you bring together?
Bob Marley and Michael Jackson

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
To constantly evolve and to love yourself deeply so that you can love others.

What is the most played piece of music on your MP3 player or in your CD collection?
Niraj Chag Bangles and Miguel Marin.

Tell us about a special memory you have of Southbank Centre?
Performing my own work in the Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall and getting a standing ovation.

Faultline pictures

We are pretty thrilled to host the world premiere of Shobana Jeyasingh’s new work, Bruise Blood, on 21 and 22 October. But we are even happier that Bruise Blood will be presented alongside the acclaimed piece Faultline.

The dance in Faultline includes gestures from bharatanatyam, influences from capoeira, and contemporary dance in the western tradition, and is quite fast paced, with some impressive lifts that are done in almost slow-motion. This very athletic movement is matched by a compelling score by Scanner with composition for live voice by Errollyn Wallen, and there is a fierceness, an ‘excited restlessness’ (said The Times) in the piece that reflects our urban living today, and the tensions amongst British Asian youth in particular. Well worth seeing!

Here are a few images from Faultline. All credit to Chris Nash.

Get to know… Pia Driver

Pia Driver is rehearsal director with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company. The company will perform at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of Dance Umbrella 2009.

What do you fear the most?
Losing those I love.
 
Which mobile number do you call the most?
My Mum’s.

What – or where – is perfection?
Byron Bay Australia has an amazing energy. I’ve never felt so calm.
 
Who is your favourite hero from fiction -­ and why?
Elizabeth Bennet, from Pride and Prejudice, for her strength of character.
 
What’s your favourite ritual?
I like to stretch before bed, so I can get the full benefit of sleep.
 
Which living person do you most admire – and why?
 My mother, for her strength.

What other talent or skill would you like to possess?
 I would like to be able to sing.

What’s your favourite website?
I don’t have one.
 
If you could programme your ideal Southbank Centre show, which artists (living or dead) would you bring together?
 Alvin Ailey, Desmond Richardson and Jennifer Hudson.
 
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
To never give up
 
What is the most played piece of music on your MP3 player or in your CD collection?
It depends: at the moment I’m listening to a lot of Daniel Merriweather.
 
Tell us about a special memory you have of Southbank Centre?
Watching Richard Alston Dance Company years ago when I was at college and wanting to be up there myself.