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Dancers Company Wayne McGregor
Choreographer Wayne McGregor

‘In 2010 I was asked to create a new work for the New York City Ballet in their architecture and dance series. The Philip Johnson building that houses the David H. Koch Theatre and is home to the New York City Ballet felt like a natural place to look for inspiration. Johnson was not only a great friend of George Balanchine and an influential architect, he championed the architects of the Bauhaus, like Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe, in the U.S. I am fascinated by that Bauhaus art period and by abstract minimalist painters like Josef Albers and Barnett Newman. The visual context for the piece has been greatly informed by the minimalist’s notion of simplicity and colour theory.’

Wayne McGregor CBE

Premiere: 14 May 2010, New York City Ballet, David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts, New York, USA

Dancers Ballet Black
Choreographer Mthuthuzeli November

WASHA: The Burn From The Inside is a new abstract ballet created by Ballet Black Company dancer and choreographer Mthuthuzeli November. WASHA examines the power and impact music has on us, and how we express this in our own very unique and individual ways.

Premiere: 25 June, The Grange Festival, Hampshire UK. WASHA: The Burn From The Inside is a co-commission by Studio Wayne McGregor, Ballet Black and Dance@TheGrange

Dancers Company Wayne McGregor
Choreographer Alice Topp

‘This new duet for The Grange will form part of a larger work currently in progress. Clay will look at the way we alter and shift in the presence of pain and grief. The duet will explore a relationship dynamic based on living with someone you love that is suffering. When do their monsters start becoming yours? At what point do you start wearing their demons as your own? Like clay, we sometimes mould ourselves to fit another, in order to ease pain and suffering.’

Alice Topp

Premiere: 25 June, The Grange Festival, Hampshire UK. Clay is a co-commission by Studio Wayne McGregor, The Australian Ballet and Dance@TheGrange

Dancers Company Wayne McGregor
Choreographer Alice Topp

“ Memory fades, memory adjusts, memory conforms to

what we think we remember.” –Joan Didion, Blue Night

“ Such things that disappear in time that we find ourselves

longing to see again. We search for them in close-up, as we

search for our hands in a dream.” – Patti Smith, M Train

‘Little Atlas is based around the notion of memories and our attempts to recreate or unmake them. It explores our connection to people and places of the past – in particular, our attachment to the way these things made us feel, whether they’re events that continue to plague us or places we return to for sanctuary. It’s as though we keep moments safe in our minds, the only place where long-lost pieces of the past can live on. Together we carry our memories – each a unique map of scars and stories imprinted on our brains – through the trinity of past, present and future, bringing ourselves both comfort and discomfort, burden and blessing.’

Alice Topp

Little Atlas was commissioned and first produced by The Australian Ballet under the artistic directorship of David McAllister. Premiere: 29 April 2016 ,as part of the company’s Symphony in C season, Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia

Performed by Ballet Black
Choreographer: Cathy Marston

Matilda and Philemon are married and live in Sophiatown, a suburb of Johannesburg. One morning, Philemon gets up as ever, going through his morning ritual, preparing breakfast in bed for Matilda before heading off to catch the bus to work. No sooner is Philemon on his way, than Simon, Matilda’s lover, comes into the house.

At the bus stop, Philemon realises he has left his briefcase behind. He returns home. There he discovers Matilda in bed with another man. Simon jumps out of the window, leaving behind his suit. Matilda begs Philemon for forgiveness. He tells her to take care of the Suit, takes his briefcase and goes to work.

At dinner that evening, Philemon insists that the Suit sits down to dinner with them and that must Matilda treat it as an honoured guest.

That night Matilda cannot sleep, her dreams haunted by the Suit.

The following morning the daily ritual is played out, but now with the Suit as a guest. When they go for a walk in the park, Philemon insists the Suit accompanies them.

In the park, Matilda is overcome with shame and tries to keep the Suit hidden from the eyes of passers-by. Nearby a band strikes up and people start to dance. Matilda persuades Philemon to dance with her. For a moment it feels as though their marriage is as it was. But when the next dance begins Philemon insists that Matilda now dances with the Suit. She does so until she can bear it no longer and she runs back home.

At home she tries to destroy the Suit but finds she can’t. Philemon returns to find his wife dead.

He is left alone with the Suit.

The Suit is co-commissioned by the Barbican