Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company present their new work, Transtep, an intercontinental mix of movement, in an intriguing collaboration between Jeyasingh and guest choreographers Filip Van Huffel (Belgium), Lisa Torun (Sweden) and British born Indian Rashpal Singh Bansal.

Jeyasingh uses the collisions and meeting points within these diverse works to explore themes of distance and proximity. The conventions of a mixed bill are shaken and stirred in this unusual evening of non-stop dance. Transtep's music director, Glyn Perrin provides a suitably eclectic collection of sounds ranging from Italian Baroque to Japanese electronica.

Performance time: 1 hour 15 minutes (no interval)

CHOREOGRAPHERS

Shobana Jeyasingh

Shobana Jeyasingh was born in Madras and came to England via Sri Lanka and Malaysia, Since she launched Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company in 1989, it won three Digital Dance Awards and the prestigious Prudential Award for the Arts. Her recent ground-breaking works Phantasmaton and [h]Interland explored the possibilities and boundaries of live dance and technology. Work for the theatre includes Cyrano at the Royal National Theatre. Her television work includes Duets with Automobiles for BBC2, which was shortlisted for the IMZ Dance Screen Award. The Company was also the subject of the BBC2 documentary 'Inbetween' screened in 1997 and 1999. She received an MBE in 1995.

Rashpal Singh Bansal (British-born Indian)

Rashpal Singh Bansal studied performing arts at the Newham Sixth Form College where he worked with artists such as Clare Connor, Wayne McGregor, Mark Murphy and Saburo Teshigawara. He trained at London Contemporary Dance School, developing his choreographic skills. Bansal has been choreographing his own work since 1997 and recently started his own company, United Dance Artists.

Lisa Torun (Sweden)

Lisa Torun is Artistic Director of Lisa Torun Dance Company. In early 2003 Lisa was Artistic Director of the Composer & Choreographer Exchange at London's South Bank Centre and later organised the first SummerLab, a similar exchange for dance and music in Sweden. Choreographic commissions include two works for the Royal Opera House, Larynx and Perception factory, and two works for the Laban Centre, Chez Mselle Sarabande and Sonorities. Lisa's work has further been performed at Sadler's Wells Lillian Baylis Theatre, The Place, Stratford Circus, Greenwich Dance Agency, and has toured around the UK, Sweden, Lithuania and Russia.

Filip Van Huffel (Belgium)

Filip Van Hufel trained with a range of contemporary danc ecompanies around Europe and danced for Claudio bernardo, Air de C and Company Thor in Belgium, Frey Faust in Germany and Random Dance Company in London before co-foudnign Retina in 1995 with Sacha Lee. Retina is an ambitious contemporary dance company producing dance performances of differing scales; from theatre performances to large-scale, site specific events and multi-media projects. Since 2000 Flip has worked as the sole Artistic Director. Retina has toured throughout UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Indian, Portugal, Switzerland and Venezuela. Working from both the UK and Belgium, Filip is also commissioned to create works for other companies, including several commissions from the South Bank Centre, London, Romeo and Juliet at the Higher Institute for Dance in Belgium, Coming of Age for Akademi and Suspended Fear for Tardis Dance Company. He also created a Dance for the Camera production Freeze for BBC/ACE, televised in spring 2003.

Dancers

Navala Chaudhari, Rathimalar Govindarajoo, Saju Hari, Shane Shambhu, Devaraj Thimmaiah.

Creative Team

Music Director : Glyn Perrin, Lighting Designer : Lucy Carter, Costume Designer : Ursula Bombshell, Rehearsal Director : Rachel Krische, Production Manager : Chris Charles, Sound Engineer : Paul Bull

SPRING TOUR DATES 2004