Wayne McGregor
Encyclopedia
Wayne McGregor CBE
(born 1970) is a British
choreographer of contemporary modern dance. His work is highly distinctive in its vocabulary of movement, for its integration of dance with film and visual art, and for his active interest and incorporation of computer technology and biological science. He is the Artistic Director of Wayne McGregor Random Dance, Resident Company at Sadler's Wells Theatre
in London; the Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet, appointed 2006; and the government’s first Youth Dance Champion, appointed 2008. In 2004 McGregor was a Research Fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge
.
McGregor is a frequent creator of new work for La Scala Theatre Ballet of Milan; Paris Opera Ballet
; Nederlands Dans Theatre
of La Hague; San Francisco Ballet
; Stuttgart Ballet
; New York City Ballet
; The Australian Ballet of Melbourne; and English National Ballet
of London. He served as Movement Director for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
.
, England, in 1970. He studied dance at Bretton Hall College of the University of Leeds
and at the José Limon School in New York. In 1992 he was appointed Choreographer-in-Residence at The Place
, London, and in the same year he founded his own company, Wayne McGregor Random Dance. McGregor evolved what was to become his distinctive choreographic style on Random Dance.
His choreography is an extrapolation of his own movement vocabulary: "[It] had its origins in McGregor’s own long, lean and supple physique and in his body’s ability to register movement with peculiar sharpness and speed; at one extreme McGregor’s dancing was a jangle of tiny fractured angles, at the other it was a whirl of seemingly boneless fluidity."
It was during his major trilogy The Millennarium (1997), Sulphur 16 (1998) and Aeon (2000) that the company became a byword for its radical approach to new technology – incorporating animation, digital film, 3D architecture, electronic sound and virtual dancers into the live choreography. Collaborations with leading multi-disciplinary artists enriched the company’s futurist aesthetic and dramatically enlarged the possibilities of dance. In 2001 it was invited to be the first resident company at the new Sadler’s Wells.
His career to date has also taken him beyond the conventional stage, choreographing for films such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, creating site-specific installations for Southbank Centre’s The Hayward, The Saatchi Gallery, the Houses of Parliament and for the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Collaborations with artists outside of the dance field have included composers Sir John Tavener, Scanner, Plaid and Joby Talbot/The White Stripes, animatronics experts, Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop and neuro-scientists and heart-imaging specialists. McGregor was the first to curate, in September 2008, the 3-day long new festival for the Royal Opera House, Deloitte Ignite. This came 18 months after his successful Royal Opera House production Chroma (2006).
McGregor was appointed Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet in December 2006, the first since Kenneth Macmillan. After Chroma, he went on to create the award-winning Infra (premiered at Covent Garden on November 13, 2008) which was followed by a new staging of his La Scala production of the opera Dido and Aeneas -premiered in spring 09 alongside Acis and Galatea (this marked McGregor’s Royal Opera debut). In 2009, McGregor created Limen for The Royal Ballet, and this will be revived at Covent Garden in October 2011. In 2010/2011, McGregor created new work for New York City Ballet
, Stuttgart Ballet
and Bolshoi Ballet
, with a new full-length for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance premiering at Sadler's Wells in December 2010.
McGregor was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to dance.
features lead singer, Thom Yorke
, dancing to the choreography of McGregor. The video was made available on the band's YouTube channel on 18 February 2011 and has received more than 11 million hits; it has also spurned almost 100 'copycat' videos.
London, Laban Theatre (9, 10 March)
Aldeburgh, Snape Maltings (18, 19 March)
Huddersfield, Lawrence Batley (22 March)
Winchester Theatre Royal (18, 19 May)
Rome, Italy, Auditorium Conciliazione (1 June)
Truro, Hall for Cornwall (21 June)
Brighton Dome (26 September)
Edinburgh Festival Theatre (4, 5 October)
Belfast Festival (14.15 October)
created by Jon Hopkins
(Coldplay
and Massive Attack
collaborator) and award-winning composer Joby Talbot
. Entity premiered at the Sadler's Wells Theatre
, London in April 2008. In December 2010, Entity became the first full length dance performance available on Apple's iTunes video download service.
; the other is Dyad 1929, for The Australian Ballet. Dyad 1909, for Wayne McGregor Random Dance, is inspired by Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition to the South Pole in 1909, the year that the Ballets Russes
was founded. The creative team includes the acclaimed artists and filmmakers Jane and Louise Wilson
, longstanding lighting designer Lucy Carter and costume designer Moritz Junge. Icelandic composer Olafur Arnalds
provides a newly commissioned score combining piano, strings and electronics.
, Leanne Benjamin
, Steven McRae, Sarah Lamb
and Eric Underwood. The women dance en pointe lending the work a more classical air than MacGregor's previous Royal Ballet commissions. Its centrepiece is an ethereal pas de deux, danced in bright spotlight against a black backdrop set to a futuristically raw sounds of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho
. McGregor says that Limen - a word that relates to ideas of limits and thresholds - is a meditation on ‘thresholds of life and death, darkness and light, reality and fantasy’. Such borderline territory is akin to that of the work of Japanese contemporary conceptual artist Tatsuo Miyajima, with whom McGregor has collaborated on the sets.
and Handel
, conceived, directed and choreographed by Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer, Wayne McGregor. The production uniquely combines the forces of both The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet companies. McGregor’s Dido and Aeneas
is based on his production at La Scala
, Milan, in 2006. Here it is paired with Handel’s pastoral masque Acis and Galatea. Lead singers include Sarah Connolly
(Dido) and Danielle de Niese
(Galatea), making her Covent Garden debut. For Acis, the dancers include Edward Watson
, Lauren Cuthbertson
and Eric Underwood. Set designs are by Hildegard Bechtler; costume designs are by Fotini Dimou and lighting design is by Lucy Carter; The Orchestra of The Age Of Enlightenment is conducted by Christopher Hogwood
.
. The set for the show included a 18 metre LCD display with animations by British artist Julian Opie
who also designed the set. The music for the show was by composer Max Richter
. The show had a cast of 12 dancers from the Royal Ballet and also a number of extras with short non-dancing roles.
The BBC aired a special one hour feature which documented the making of Infra, and also showed the work in full.
and his arrangements of music by The White Stripes
, is paired with stark minimalist designs by architect John Pawson
.
On specific occasions McGregor has used technology to alter the conditions under which his work is viewed. 53 Bytes (1997) was created for simultaneous performance by two sets of dancers in Berlin and Canada and it was watched by audiences in both countries by live satellite link. In 2000 McGregor aimed for a wider global public by transmitting a live performance of his Trilogy Installation over the internet.
Wayne McGregor Random Dance has been the vehicle for McGregor’s ongoing fascination with the mechanisms of the human body. In Amu (2005) he explored the functions and the symbolism of the heart, in Ataxia (2004) the connection between brain and body movement and in Entity (2008) the links between artificial intelligence and choreography.
During Entity rehearsals, he and the dancers worked alongside six international cognitive scientists and technologists from esteemed institutes including University College London, University of Cambridge, University of California, San Diego and Imperial College London. In January 2009 they traveled to University of California, San Diego and created a new piece of work under ‘lab’ conditions, Dyad 1909; fueling the search for new creative decisions on the part of McGregor and new findings in the brain/body relationship for the scientists.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 1970) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
choreographer of contemporary modern dance. His work is highly distinctive in its vocabulary of movement, for its integration of dance with film and visual art, and for his active interest and incorporation of computer technology and biological science. He is the Artistic Director of Wayne McGregor Random Dance, Resident Company at Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...
in London; the Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet, appointed 2006; and the government’s first Youth Dance Champion, appointed 2008. In 2004 McGregor was a Research Fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
McGregor is a frequent creator of new work for La Scala Theatre Ballet of Milan; Paris Opera Ballet
Paris Opera Ballet
The Paris Opera Ballet is the oldest national ballet company in the world, and many European and international ballet companies can trace their origins to it...
; Nederlands Dans Theatre
Nederlands Dans Theatre
Nederlands Dans Theater is a Dutch contemporary dance company. NDT is headquartered at the Lucent Danstheater in The Hague...
of La Hague; San Francisco Ballet
San Francisco Ballet
The San Francisco Ballet is a ballet company, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, under the direction of Helgi Tomasson. SFB is the first professional ballet company in the United States...
; Stuttgart Ballet
Stuttgart Ballet
Stuttgart Ballet was the first major German ballet company. It rose to fame in the 1960s under Artistic Director John Cranko. The company, which is renowned for presentations of full-length narrative ballets including Romeo and Juliet, Eugene Onegin, The Taming of the Shrew, John Neumeier's Die...
; New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...
; The Australian Ballet of Melbourne; and English National Ballet
English National Ballet
English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin and based at Markova House in South Kensington, London, England. Along with the Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Scottish Ballet, it is one of the four major ballet companies in Great...
of London. He served as Movement Director for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling, published on 8 July 2000.The novel won a Hugo Award in 2001, the only Harry Potter novel to do so...
.
Biography
McGregor was born in StockportStockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
, England, in 1970. He studied dance at Bretton Hall College of the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
and at the José Limon School in New York. In 1992 he was appointed Choreographer-in-Residence at The Place
The Place
The Place is a dance and performance centre in Duke's Road near Euston in the London Borough of Camden. Originally the home base of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre from the 1970s, it is now the location of the London Contemporary Dance School, the Richard Alston Dance Company and the Robin...
, London, and in the same year he founded his own company, Wayne McGregor Random Dance. McGregor evolved what was to become his distinctive choreographic style on Random Dance.
His choreography is an extrapolation of his own movement vocabulary: "[It] had its origins in McGregor’s own long, lean and supple physique and in his body’s ability to register movement with peculiar sharpness and speed; at one extreme McGregor’s dancing was a jangle of tiny fractured angles, at the other it was a whirl of seemingly boneless fluidity."
It was during his major trilogy The Millennarium (1997), Sulphur 16 (1998) and Aeon (2000) that the company became a byword for its radical approach to new technology – incorporating animation, digital film, 3D architecture, electronic sound and virtual dancers into the live choreography. Collaborations with leading multi-disciplinary artists enriched the company’s futurist aesthetic and dramatically enlarged the possibilities of dance. In 2001 it was invited to be the first resident company at the new Sadler’s Wells.
His career to date has also taken him beyond the conventional stage, choreographing for films such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, creating site-specific installations for Southbank Centre’s The Hayward, The Saatchi Gallery, the Houses of Parliament and for the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Collaborations with artists outside of the dance field have included composers Sir John Tavener, Scanner, Plaid and Joby Talbot/The White Stripes, animatronics experts, Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop and neuro-scientists and heart-imaging specialists. McGregor was the first to curate, in September 2008, the 3-day long new festival for the Royal Opera House, Deloitte Ignite. This came 18 months after his successful Royal Opera House production Chroma (2006).
McGregor was appointed Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet in December 2006, the first since Kenneth Macmillan. After Chroma, he went on to create the award-winning Infra (premiered at Covent Garden on November 13, 2008) which was followed by a new staging of his La Scala production of the opera Dido and Aeneas -premiered in spring 09 alongside Acis and Galatea (this marked McGregor’s Royal Opera debut). In 2009, McGregor created Limen for The Royal Ballet, and this will be revived at Covent Garden in October 2011. In 2010/2011, McGregor created new work for New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...
, Stuttgart Ballet
Stuttgart Ballet
Stuttgart Ballet was the first major German ballet company. It rose to fame in the 1960s under Artistic Director John Cranko. The company, which is renowned for presentations of full-length narrative ballets including Romeo and Juliet, Eugene Onegin, The Taming of the Shrew, John Neumeier's Die...
and Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Ballet
The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies, however it only achieved worldwide acclaim by the early 20th century, when Moscow became the...
, with a new full-length for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance premiering at Sadler's Wells in December 2010.
McGregor was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to dance.
L'Anatomie de la Sensation, pour Francis Bacon
New full-length for the Paris Opera Ballet. The premiere was at Bastille on 2 July 2011 (postponed from the original date of 29 June due to strikes). Inspired by the paintings of Francis Bacon, to music by British composer Mark Antony-Turnage with a set by Chroma designer John Pawson; Lighting Designer Lucy Carter and Costume Designer Moritz Junge - both McGregor regulars - round off the creative team.Live Fire Exercise
McGregor's newest work for The Royal Ballet - it premiered on 13 May 2011 - a collaboration with the visual artist John Gerrard, a creator of ‘real-time virtual worlds’, and composer Michael Tippett.Radiohead - Lotus Flower
The video for the song Lotus Flower by RadioheadRadiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
features lead singer, Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
, dancing to the choreography of McGregor. The video was made available on the band's YouTube channel on 18 February 2011 and has received more than 11 million hits; it has also spurned almost 100 'copycat' videos.
FAR
Currently touring the UK and internationally, FAR is the newest full-length by McGregor for his own company, Wayne McGregor | Random Dance. It has music by Brian Eno collaborator Ben Frost, lighting by Lucy Carter, costumes by Moritz Junge and set design by the art and design collective Random iNternational (no relation!). 2011 performances include:London, Laban Theatre (9, 10 March)
Aldeburgh, Snape Maltings (18, 19 March)
Huddersfield, Lawrence Batley (22 March)
Winchester Theatre Royal (18, 19 May)
Rome, Italy, Auditorium Conciliazione (1 June)
Truro, Hall for Cornwall (21 June)
Brighton Dome (26 September)
Edinburgh Festival Theatre (4, 5 October)
Belfast Festival (14.15 October)
Yantra
McGregor's third work for Stuttgart Ballet - following 'Nautilus' (2003) and 'EDEN|EDEN' (2005). Music by Esa-Pekka Salonen.Outlier
McGregor's debut for New York City Ballet, with music by British composer Thomas Ades. It premiered at the Lincoln Center on 14 May 2010Entity
Entity is an hour-long dance piece for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance featuring 10 dancers and soundscapeSoundscape
A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. The study of soundscape is the subject of acoustic ecology...
created by Jon Hopkins
Jon Hopkins
Jon Hopkins is a London-based producer and musician who writes and performs his own melodic electronica and dance music. After starting his career performing keyboard for Imogen Heap, he's produced or contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes, and others...
(Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
and Massive Attack
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
collaborator) and award-winning composer Joby Talbot
Joby Talbot
Joby Talbot is a British composer.Born in Wimbledon, London, Talbot studied composition at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Brian Elias and Simon Bainbridge....
. Entity premiered at the Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...
, London in April 2008. In December 2010, Entity became the first full length dance performance available on Apple's iTunes video download service.
Dyad 1909
One of two ballets that McGregor created to celebrate the centenary of the Ballets RussesBallets Russes
The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company from Russia which performed between 1909 and 1929 in many countries. Directed by Sergei Diaghilev, it is regarded as the greatest ballet company of the 20th century. Many of its dancers originated from the Imperial Ballet of Saint Petersburg...
; the other is Dyad 1929, for The Australian Ballet. Dyad 1909, for Wayne McGregor Random Dance, is inspired by Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod expedition to the South Pole in 1909, the year that the Ballets Russes
Ballets Russes
The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company from Russia which performed between 1909 and 1929 in many countries. Directed by Sergei Diaghilev, it is regarded as the greatest ballet company of the 20th century. Many of its dancers originated from the Imperial Ballet of Saint Petersburg...
was founded. The creative team includes the acclaimed artists and filmmakers Jane and Louise Wilson
Jane and Louise Wilson
Jane Wilson and Louise Wilson are British artists who work together as a sibling duo. Jane and Louise Wilson's art work is based in video, film and photography...
, longstanding lighting designer Lucy Carter and costume designer Moritz Junge. Icelandic composer Olafur Arnalds
Ólafur Arnalds
Ólafur Arnalds is a multi-instrumentalist and producer from Mosfellsbær, Iceland. Ólafur Arnalds mixes strings and piano with loops and edgy beats crossing-over from classical to pop....
provides a newly commissioned score combining piano, strings and electronics.
Limen
Limen is McGregor’s most recent work for The Royal Ballet. It premiered at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in November 2009. It uses the classical vocabulary of 15 dancers, including Edward WatsonEdward Watson
Edward Watson is the name of:*Edward B. Watson, 12th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court*Edward Watson , dancer with the Royal Ballet*Edward Watson , English politician, MP for Canterbury...
, Leanne Benjamin
Leanne Benjamin
Leanne Benjamin is a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London.Born in Rockhampton, Australia in 1964, she trained at the Royal Ballet School and won the Adeline Genée Gold Medal and Prix de Lausanne. She joined the Company in 1992 becoming a Principal by the spring of that Season...
, Steven McRae, Sarah Lamb
Sarah Lamb
Sarah Lamb is a principal ballet dancer in the Royal Ballet, London, England. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, she trained with Madame Tatiana Legat at Boston Ballet School. She was awarded a Gold Medal in 1998 by U.S. President Bill Clinton after being named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts...
and Eric Underwood. The women dance en pointe lending the work a more classical air than MacGregor's previous Royal Ballet commissions. Its centrepiece is an ethereal pas de deux, danced in bright spotlight against a black backdrop set to a futuristically raw sounds of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho
Kaija Saariaho
Kaija Saariaho is a Finnish composer.Kaija Saariaho studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, where she has lived since 1982. Her studies and research at IRCAM have had a major influence on her music and her characteristically luxuriant and mysterious textures are often created by...
. McGregor says that Limen - a word that relates to ideas of limits and thresholds - is a meditation on ‘thresholds of life and death, darkness and light, reality and fantasy’. Such borderline territory is akin to that of the work of Japanese contemporary conceptual artist Tatsuo Miyajima, with whom McGregor has collaborated on the sets.
Dido and Aeneas / Acis and Galatea
A new double bill of PurcellPurcell
Henry Purcell was an English composer.Purcell may also refer to:*Purcell, Indiana, an unincorporated community in Johnson Township, Knox County, Indiana*Purcell, Missouri, a city in Jasper County, Missouri, United States...
and Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
, conceived, directed and choreographed by Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer, Wayne McGregor. The production uniquely combines the forces of both The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet companies. McGregor’s Dido and Aeneas
Dido and Aeneas
Dido and Aeneas is an opera in a prologue and three acts by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell to a libretto by Nahum Tate. The first known performance was at Josias Priest's girls' school in London no later than the summer of 1688. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid...
is based on his production at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
, Milan, in 2006. Here it is paired with Handel’s pastoral masque Acis and Galatea. Lead singers include Sarah Connolly
Sarah Connolly
Sarah Patricia Connolly CBE is an English mezzo-soprano.Sarah Connolly was educated at Queen Margaret's School, York and then studied piano and singing at the Royal College of Music, of which she is now a Fellow...
(Dido) and Danielle de Niese
Danielle de Niese
Danielle de Niese is a lyric soprano. After success as a young child in singing competitions in Australia, she moved to the USA where she developed an operatic career...
(Galatea), making her Covent Garden debut. For Acis, the dancers include Edward Watson
Edward Watson
Edward Watson is the name of:*Edward B. Watson, 12th Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court*Edward Watson , dancer with the Royal Ballet*Edward Watson , English politician, MP for Canterbury...
, Lauren Cuthbertson
Lauren Cuthbertson
Lauren Cuthbertson is an English ballerina and a Principal of the Royal Ballet in London, England.-Biography:Lauren Cuthbertson was born in Devon, England...
and Eric Underwood. Set designs are by Hildegard Bechtler; costume designs are by Fotini Dimou and lighting design is by Lucy Carter; The Orchestra of The Age Of Enlightenment is conducted by Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood CBE, MA , HonMusD , born 10 September 1941, Nottingham, is an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer and musicologist, well known as the founder of the Academy of Ancient Music.-Biography:...
.
Infra
Infra created for The Royal Ballet and premiered in November 2008 at the Royal Opera HouseRoyal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
. The set for the show included a 18 metre LCD display with animations by British artist Julian Opie
Julian Opie
Julian Opie is a visual artist, and one of the New British Sculpture movement.-Life and work:Julian Opie was raised in Oxford, England, where he attended the Dragon School and Magdalen College School. He attended Goldsmith's School of Art in London from 1979-82...
who also designed the set. The music for the show was by composer Max Richter
Max Richter
Max Richter is a German-born British composer.-Biography:Richter studied composition and piano at University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music and with Luciano Berio in Florence. After finishing his studies, Richter co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus...
. The show had a cast of 12 dancers from the Royal Ballet and also a number of extras with short non-dancing roles.
The BBC aired a special one hour feature which documented the making of Infra, and also showed the work in full.
Chroma
Chroma is McGregor’s 2006 award-winning dance piece for The Royal Ballet. The score, drawn from compositions and arrangements by Joby TalbotJoby Talbot
Joby Talbot is a British composer.Born in Wimbledon, London, Talbot studied composition at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Brian Elias and Simon Bainbridge....
and his arrangements of music by The White Stripes
The White Stripes
The White Stripes was an American rock band, formed in 1997 in Detroit, Michigan. The group consisted of the songwriter Jack White and drummer Meg White . Jack and Meg White were previously married to each other, but are now divorced...
, is paired with stark minimalist designs by architect John Pawson
John Pawson
John Pawson is a British designer associated with the minimalist aesthetic.-Biography:Pawson studied at Eton College and the Architectural Association School of Architecture and is married to Catherine and has two children, Caius and Benedict.-Selected projects:London's Cannelle Cake Shop, several...
.
Awards
- 2010: Critics Circle National Dance Award for Infra (Best Choreography - Classical)
- 2009: International Theatre Institute's Excellence In International Dance
- 2009: Ballet Tanz's Choreographer Of The Year
- 2009: Movimentos Award for Entity
- 2008: South Bank Show Award for Entity and Infra
- 2008: Benois De La Dance Award for Infra
- 2007: Critics Circle National Dance Award for Chroma (Best Choreography – Classical)
- 2007: Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production for Chroma
- 2007: South Bank Show Awardfor The Royal Ballet triple bill which featured Chroma
- 2003: Time Out Live Awards Outstanding Choreography
- 2001: Time Out Live Awards Outstanding Achievement in Dance Award
Choreographic style
McGregor’s choreography is characterised by dynamic, sharp, often fragmented and often sinuously fluid movement. This movement vocabulary has its origins in McGregor’s own long, lean and supple physique and in his body’s ability to register movement with peculiar sharpness and speed.Fascination with technology and science
McGregor started playing with computers when he was seven and it was natural for him to incorporate the cyber world into his own choreography. Collaborating with state-of-the-art designers, he experimented with projecting computer generated images onto the stage. In Sulphur 16 (1998) his dancers were dwarfed by the presence of a shimmering virtual giant and danced with a company of digital figures who wove and shimmered among them. In Aeon (2000) digitally created landscapes transported the dancers to what seemed like other dimensions and other worlds.On specific occasions McGregor has used technology to alter the conditions under which his work is viewed. 53 Bytes (1997) was created for simultaneous performance by two sets of dancers in Berlin and Canada and it was watched by audiences in both countries by live satellite link. In 2000 McGregor aimed for a wider global public by transmitting a live performance of his Trilogy Installation over the internet.
Wayne McGregor Random Dance has been the vehicle for McGregor’s ongoing fascination with the mechanisms of the human body. In Amu (2005) he explored the functions and the symbolism of the heart, in Ataxia (2004) the connection between brain and body movement and in Entity (2008) the links between artificial intelligence and choreography.
During Entity rehearsals, he and the dancers worked alongside six international cognitive scientists and technologists from esteemed institutes including University College London, University of Cambridge, University of California, San Diego and Imperial College London. In January 2009 they traveled to University of California, San Diego and created a new piece of work under ‘lab’ conditions, Dyad 1909; fueling the search for new creative decisions on the part of McGregor and new findings in the brain/body relationship for the scientists.
Dance performance
- Live Fire Exercise for Royal Ballet (2011)
- FAR for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (2010)
- Outlier for New York City Ballet (2010)
- Yantra for Stuttgart Ballet (2010)
- Limen for The Royal Ballet (2009)
- Dyad 1909 for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (2009)
- Dyad 1929 for The Australian Ballet (2009)
- Infra for The Royal Ballet (2008)
- Renature for NDT1 (2008)
- Entity for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (2008)
- Nimbus for The Royal Ballet (2008)
- Genus for Paris Opera Ballet (2007)
- [meməri] for D.A.N.C.E. (2007)
- Chroma for The Royal Ballet (2006)
- Eden|Eden for San Francisco Ballet (2006)
- Skindex for NDT1 (2006)
- Ossein for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (2006)
- Amu@Durham for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance at Durham Cathedral (2006)
- Engram for the Royal Ballet (2005)
- Amu for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (2005)
- Eden|Eden for Stuttgart Ballet (2005)
- AtaXia for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (2004)
- Series for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance at Houses of Parliament, London (2004)
- Dragonfly for National Glass Centre, Sunderland (2004)
- Qualia for The Royal Ballet (2003)
- Xenathra for Wayne McGregor, Dance Umbrella (2003)
- Binocular for Adam Cooper Dance Company (2003)
- Polar Sequences for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (2003)
- Nautilus for Stuttgart Ballet (2003)
- Bio-logical for BodyCraze, Selfridges London/Manchester (2003)
- 2 Human for English National Ballet (2003)
- Alpha for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (2003)
- PreSentient for Rambert Dance Company(2002)
- Game of Halves for National Youth Dance Wales (2002)
- BodyScript for Connect with Sadler’s Wells (2002)
- Phase Space for the Gothenburg Ballet/Random Dance (2002)
- L.O.V.E for Imagination Frankfurt (2002)
- Nemesis for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (2002)
- digit01 for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (2001)
- HIVE for National Youth Dance Wales (2001)
- 11 Digital Mantras for The Roundhouse London (2001)
- Castlescape for East London Dance (2001)
- Codex for First Class Air Male - Dance East (2001)
- detritus for Rambert Dance Company (2001)
- brainstate for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance and The Royal Ballet (2001)
- Velociraptor for Dance East/Bury Festival (2001)
- Symbiont(s) for The Royal Ballet (2001)
- Aeon for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (2000)
- Fleur de Peux for Vivianna Durante, Royal Ballet (2000)
- Telenoia for Canary Wharf (2000)
- The Field for East London Dance/Greenwich & Docklands International Festival (2000)
- net/work Narrative(s) for South East Dance Agency/Brighton International Festival (2000)
- Equation for the Centre George Pompidou, Paris (1999)
- Zero Hertz for Cork Opera House, Ireland (1999)
- In:terplay (Bruce Nauman) for the Hayward Gallery, London (1998)
- Sulphur 16 for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (1998)
- Intertense for Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company (1998)
- Medusa for Olympic Ballet Company, Milan (1998)
- Trial By Jury for Melbourne International Festival (1998)
- Angel for the Natural History Museum, London (1998)
- Scottish Opera/Random Collaboration for the Galleryof Modern Art, Glasgow (1998)
- Pointe for the Saatchi Gallery, London (1997)
- Dance Of The Broadband for Le Groupe de la Place Royale, Ottawa (1997)
- The Millennarium for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (1997)
- Skinned Prey for 4D (London Contemporary Dance School) (1997)
- x2 for the Royal Museum, Edinburgh (1997)
- Chameleon for the Barbican Centre, London (1997)
- Black on White for the South Bank Centre Ballroom, London (1997)
- S.I.N. for Shed O, London Docklands (1997)
- Neurotransmission for Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Aldeburgh (1997)
- Encoder for Shobana Jeyasingh’s Away Game (1996)
- Bach Suite for Crusaid Gala (Olivier Theatre, RNT) (1996)
- Ventolin for West Yorkshire Playhouse (1996)
- Esc...otherspace for Birmingham Hippodrome (1996)
- 8 Legs of the Devil for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (1996)
- Urban Savage for Ricochet Dance Company (1996)
- Vulture (Reverse Effect) commissioned by Cultural Industry (1996)
- Cybergeneration for the Belfast International Festival at Queens (1996)
- Installation over 4 for Selfridges’ Gallery Window
- World Disabled Games (opening) for Birmingham International Stadium
- Match Half for Nottingham Forrest Stadium
- Slam for The Arches, Glasgow (1996)
- Dragonfly for the Alternative Hair Show, Drury Lane (1995)
- CeBit Dances for Imagination/Ericsson, Hanover (1995)
- Cyborg for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (1995)
- Jacob’s Membrane for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (1995)
- For Bruising Archangel for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (1995)
- AnArkos for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (1995)
- Sever for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (1995)
- 9.7 recurring 2%Black for National Youth Dance Company (1994)
- Artificial Intelligence for National Youth Dance Company (1994)
- Cyberdream for The Boys Project, The Place (1994)
- White Out for The Boys Project, The Place (1994)
- Vulcan for Swindon Youth Dance Company (1994)
- Labrax for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (1994)
- GCSE National Set Study for Northern Examinations & Assessment Board (1994)
- Xeno 1 2 3 for Wayne McGregor | Random Dance (1993)
Film/TV
- Lotus Flower for Radiohead (2011)
- La Danse by Frederick Wiseman, Zipporah Films (2009)
- In The Spirit of Diaghilev for BBC4 (2009)
- The South Bank Show, Wayne McGregor:Across The Threshold for ITV1 (2009)
- Infra for BBC2 (2008)
- Entity for Arte (2008)
- Tremor for Channel 4 (2005)
- Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire for Warner Bros (Dir. Mike Newell) (2004)
- Dance USA for BBC 4 (2004)
- Dice Life for Channel 4 (2004)
- Chrysalis for Arte (2002)
- The Dancers Body for BBC 2 (2002)
- Nemesis for BBC4 (2002)
- Physical Dysfunctional for BBC Knowledge (2001)
- Symbiont(s) for BBC2 (2001)
- Horizone for Dance for the Camera (BBC & ACE) (2001)
- Medusa for RaiUno International, Italy
- Bent for Channel Four Films, Sarah Radclyffe Prod. (1996)
- Tomorrows World Live commissioned for NESTA
- Broadband Documentary for Discovery Channel, USA
- The Last Siren commissioned by RaiUno International
- Redoxon Commercial for Arden Sutherland Dodd
- Eurostar Commercial for Arden Sutherland Dodd (1998)
Theatre
- Breakfast at Tiffany's for Theatre Royal Haymarket (2009)
- Fram for the National Theatre (2008)
- Ring Around The Moon for Playhouse Theatre, West End (2007)
- Kirikou & Karaba for Casino de Paris (2007)
- Much Ado About Nothing for the Peter Hall Company (2006)
- You Can Never Tell for the Peter Hall Company (2005)
- Aladdin for the Old Vic (2004/5)
- Cloaca for the Old Vic (2004)
- Woman in White for The Palace Theatre (2004/5)
- A Little Night Music for the National Theatre (1995)
- Cleansed for the Royal Court Theatre
- Antony and Cleopatra for the National Theatre
Opera
- Dido and Aeneas for Royal Opera (2009)
- Acis and Galatea for Royal Opera (2009)
- Dido and Aeneas for La Scala (2006)
- The Midsummer Marriage for Chicago Lyric Opera (2005)
- La Bohème for Scottish National Opera
- Manon for English Touring Opera
- Hansel and Gretel for Scottish National Opera
- Rinaldo for Grange Park Opera
- The Mikado for Grange Park Opera
- Salome for English National Opera
- The Marriage of Figaro for Scottish Opera
- Orpheus et Eurydice for Scottish Opera
- Orpheus et Eurydice for Scottish Opera Go Round
External links
- Random Dance
- Royal Opera House
- Interview with Wayne McGregor, IAS, University of Minnesota, September 2009
- THE OBSERVER, 11 November 2009
- THE GUARDIAN, 9 November 2009
- THE NEW YORK TIMES, 28 November 2008
- THE SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE, 20 April 2008
- THE TELEGRAPH, 14 April 2008
- THE GUARDIAN, 11 April 2008
- THE FINANCIAL TIMES, feature about Wayne McGregor, 5 April 2008
- TIME MAGAZINE, feature about Wayne McGregor, 2 April 2008
- THE EVENING STANDARD, 1 April 2008