John Tavener’s ‘icon in sound’ follows the salient points of the life of the Virgin Mary, Theotokos, bearer of God. All of the women in the cast portray Mary at some stage in the story, the veil of the title being passed from one to the next, sometimes representing a shawl, a child or a burial shroud.

Though my religious beliefs often form a subtext to my work, on occasion they play a more substantive role, as in Protecting Veil. I love the iconography of the Orthodox Church with its characteristic golds and crimsons and the ritualisation of these images was a major influence on my own ‘icon in movement’.     

ITV South Bank Award 1998

‘Striking visual images’
THE INDEPENDENT

A fizzing showcase of classical dance’
THE GUARDIAN