FEATURE
Joe Roe talks to controversial choreographer ROSEMA RY B U'I‘Cl {ER and discovers why she would rather read the newspaper than watch dance.
hepherd‘s Bush. home of choreographer Rosemary Butcher. is
and wine bars have mushroomed over the increasingly hot summers. while the vagrant population continues to grow. It‘s getting like New York. Yet unlike that citv.
London‘s artworld has viewed Rosemarv Butcher
with suspicion. Instead of being welcomed as part of an avant-garde she has been ignored in favour of more fashionable choreographers. Most experimental companies are working with explosive energy and danger. Butcher‘s work is detached and minimal. seeking to strip awav that which is falsely contrived. i Hunched over a cappuccino in her local coffee shop. Butcher discusses the reasons behind her
typical of modern London. Coffee shops
work as ifthe interview is a further step in a process ofself-exoneration. Still. despite the critics. people have begun to key into what she is trying to do. Glasgow‘s Tramway is hosting the culmination of her most ambitious project to date. 31). after (1] and (12 is the final part of a three-tier project exploring the relationship between people and their environment with an emphasis on dimension and linear structure.
‘lt is meant to capture a raw edge. a feelingof naturalism.‘ explains Butcher. ‘The dancers
move themselves from instructions. I never get up
and show them.‘ Rejecting the showmanship of popular dance her works do not aspire to thrilling virtuosity. they aim to tap something more intangible. ‘We wish to create the sheer energy of something by repetition or by stillness. I‘hose
CONT. OVERLEAF'
‘ .ist H r- 17 September 109011