Terra Incognita

First performed: 2013 Choreographer: Shobana Jeyasingh Composer: Gabriel ProkofievSet and costume designer: Jean-Marc PuissantLighting designer: Lucy Carter

Programme note:

Terra Incognitais a dance work in three parts inspired by ideas and images of journeys, difference and distance.

The term ‘terra incognita,’ meaning ‘unknown land’ in Latin, was coined as a concept during the European Age of Exploration in the mid-15th century, although it was used much earlier.

The first act of early exploration was the creation of maps, but these maps included areas on the edges acknowledged to be the unknown lands – yet to be discovered, enigmatic, mysterious places often described as the habitat of dragons and other mythical beasts. This acknowledgement of the unknown as a necessary part of the familiar was a theme that I found fascinating.

Exploration