Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Staging Schiele, QEH

The Austrian painter Egon Schiele (1890-1918) was one of the major figures of 20th-century art. His figurative work, including many nudes and self-portraits, is strikingly raw and compelling, moving away from the decorative elegance of contemporary Art Nouveau and pointing towards expressionism.

Schiele’s life was cut tragically short by the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918; which is where his link with the choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh began. A year ago Jeyasingh created an extraordinary dance installation, Contagion, to mark the centenary of that devastating pandemic.

Now the multi-award-winning Jeyasingh, one of the most eloquent and thought-provoking choreographers working in Britain today, moves away from Schiele’s death to delve into his life and work.

Shobana Jeyasingh uses the medium of dance to meditate on, and portray, big themes, be they the Spanish flu pandemic in Contagion, or the persistent delusions of the West about the exotic East in Bayadère – The Ninth Life, to mention but a few.

In Staging Schiele, Shobana Jeyasingh focuses most intently on the eternal conundrum of male artists and female models. The four dancers of Shobana Jeyasingh Dance are plunged into Schiele’s own world, intensely recreating his jagged lines, striking colours and distorted perspectives.

With the help of an exceptional creative team, which includes composer Orlando Gough, designer and visual artist Ben Cullen Williams, lighting designer Adam Carree and costume designers Cottweiler, as well as dancers well attuned to her choreographic language, Jeyasingh creates a work that seamlessly examines Schiele’s life and his work.

In the process, Staging Schiele is sure to offer new insights into this fascinating artist.

Staging Schiele has its London premiere at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, where Shobana Jeyasingh Dance is a Southbank Centre Associate Company.