too mortal
shobana Jeyasingh dance
A beautiful and mesmerising work strikingly set within historic churches.
Dancing within the pews, six women dressed in flame red weave a story that moves between power and quiet reflection. Are they charting a journey from cradle to grave? Or cast adrift on a wooden sea?
The TooMortal soundtrack by sound artist Cassiel remixes Tenebrae Responsories by James MacMillan, creating an atmosphere of calm solemnity infused with tense, sometimes ominous, flavours.
TooMortal was premiered at the Venice Dance Biennale in 2012 and remains one of our most critically acclaimed works. It was chosen as one of the 20 best dances of the 20th Century by The Guardian.
Emily joined the production in 2021.
‘One of the most striking and overpowering [pieces] of her career. Jeyasingh has struck gold with TooMortal’
The Times
‘Small Dances that make such a profound impression don’t come along every day’
Dance Magazine
TooMortal is short… yet still manages to evoke a history of birth struggle and death, of communal worship and individual rebellion’
The Guardian
Photo credits: Yaron Abulafia