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CHOREOGRAPHER OF THE MONTH As Northern Ballet’s production of Beauty and the Beast arrives in Edinburgh, we get the low-down from artistic director, choreographer and costume designer, David Nixon
What made you want to be a choreographer? I became interested in choreography while I was at the National Ballet School of Canada, and started choreographing while I was still a dancer, but became more serious when I took over my first company. I discovered that my work was pivotal in developing dancers’ potential and that I had an ability to tell stories through dance. What was the inspiration behind your re-working of Beauty and the Beast? When re-doing a work, it’s challenging to find a new direction and shed memories of the past production. With Beauty and the Beast, the choreography was inspired by the costume designs. Once I had the freedom to design costumes that did not have to adhere to a specific time, I discovered the key into the ballet. Each design informed the character, the setting and even the movement style. Right from the curtain up you are in a different world.
What do you look for in a dancer? I’m looking for imagination and a willingness to explore and stretch their abilities. It’s often a close collaboration and a grey line where my creativity ends and theirs starts. Ultimately the dancer must be totally committed to their character and be able to sincerely deliver an honest performance. What do you hope audiences will take away from the show? I love Edinburgh audiences as they are educated, open and enthusiastic. I am hoping they will embrace this performance and enjoy the beautiful music and dance, and the wonderful look of the production. It’s also worth noting that this show appealed to a wide variety of people in Leeds, and is not by any means intended just for children. ■ Beauty and the Beast, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Thu 15–Sat 17 Mar.
1–29 Mar 2012 THE LIST 113
PREVIEW CONTEMPORARY DANCE NEDERLANDS DANS THEATER 2 Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Fri 23 & Sat 24 Mar
Watching a piece of modern dance often provokes an irresistible urge to analyse it. Unlike narrative ballet, there’s no story, so viewers can be left wondering ‘what does it all mean?’ More often than not, the answer to that question is ‘whatever you want it to’, but it’s this search for meaning that brought about Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman’s humorous work, Cacti.
‘I think sometimes the untrained dance or art eye feels they’re supposed to understand something,’ he says. ‘And Cacti is a kind of relief from that, a breath of fresh air.’ As the name suggests, at one point in the piece, each dancer holds a potted cactus. Inevitably, those watching instantly search for the context of these spiky yet beautiful plants.
‘I thought it was just a good object that could be
analyzed into so many different things,’ says Ekman. ‘I don’t really have a right answer for what it means, and I hope the audience gets the joke – that they don’t have to analyse it. That’s the comment for the whole piece.’
Performed in a programme alongside Jirí Kylián’s
Gods and Dogs, and Studio 2 by Paul Lightfoot and Sol León, Cacti is yet another perfect vehicle to show just what the dancers of NDT2 are capable of. Joined on stage by a string quartet, they display a remarkable sense of rhythm, using their bodies as instruments to complement the musicians. Was it difficult to hone the precise movement that Cacti demands?
‘Oh it was very hard,’ recalls Ekman. ‘It took a lot of rehearsal and I asked the dancers to be in a state of complete concentration and listen to each other. I told them it’s almost like a game between the dancers and the musicians – they listen and they answer. It was like a score they had to learn, to be like a human orchestra.’ (Kelly Apter)
PREVIEW CONTEMPORARY DANCE ERROL WHITE COMPANY Tramway, Glasgow, Fri 2 & Sat 3 Mar, then touring
There are moments in our lives that hit us more than others. Events that alter the shape of who we are. It was one such moment that led choreographer Errol White onto a creative path that produced first a solo, and now a new group work, IAM.
‘The solo three years ago was based on the loss of somebody,’ explains White. ‘It was the kind of event that changes everything. In one moment, everything is different. But IAM isn’t so much the narrative of that event, it’s about the way it can change the direction of your life dramatically.’
To bring the work to life, White brought together a group of six dancers, who between them have worked with the likes of Scottish Ballet, Richard Alston, Darshan Singh Bhuller and the BalletBoyz. He then began to find an abstract way to depict such monumental events, and the impact they have on us, from the perspective of past, present and future.
‘I was interested in the idea of momentum and falling through space,’ says White. ‘Because when specific moments with such gravity have happened to me, there’s almost a loss of control, physically, emotionally and mentally. It’s not a heavy work, but there is a strong emotional quality to it. And for me, what’s important is that the audience finds their own path through it, and can reflect on their own life through the work.’ (Kelly Apter)