The acclaimed British choreographer Wayne McGregor revels in the amalgamation of the unlikely. His multi-disciplinary works emerge from those experimental frontiers where the theoretical merges with the physical and dance pushes up against and interacts with film, the visual arts, architecture, technology and science. The results are never less than astonishing and Chroma, created for The Royal Ballet in 2006, is no exception.
Chroma was created in close collaboration with the architect John Pawson, who designed the set. Says Mr. McGregor of the partnership: “Often in my own choreographies I have actively conspired to disrupt the spaces in which the body performs. Each intervention, usually some kind of addition, is an attempt to see the context of the body in a new or alien way. On reading John Pawson’s Minimum I was captivated by this notion of subtraction, the ‘essential’ space, which seems to reduce elements to make visible the invisible. Intriguingly, although Pawson’s designs do give definition to space(s), they are somehow always boundary-less. This potential ‘freedom space’ would be an extraordinary environment for a new choreography, where the grammar and articulation of the body is made crystal clear, graphic and unmediated. It could be a space where the body becomes absolutely architectural. At the same time, in creating volume(s) of tone for the choreography to inhabit, the body can behave as a frequency of colour – in freedom from white: Chroma.”
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The world premiere of Chroma earned rave reviews as well as the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Best Choreography, Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production, South Bank Show Award for Dance and two additional Laurence Olivier Award nominations in 2007. The National Ballet premiered Chroma in November, 2010 also to rave reviews and standing ovations.
Set to a score by British composer Joby Talbot, which includes Talbot’s unique orchestrations of three songs by the rock band The White Stripes, alongside four of his own original compositions. The work pits the angular, rough-edged music and the choreographer’s energetic, exacting style against a stark, minimalist architectural space, allowing the audience to see the nature of physical movement in an entirely new and invigorating light.
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