Output details

Infra. Choreographic work for the Royal Ballet. Commissioned by the Royal Ballet. Premiere: 13th November 2008, The Royal Opera House, London. DVD of performance and Programme Documentation.

As Resident Choreographer of the Royal Ballet, I straddle two different dance creation worlds: movement material, language, and the structure of works are typically determined by time constraints rather than by the conceptual apparatus of any research. The balletic tradition discourages research into movement processes, improvisation and leaves no space for exploration in real time with the dancers. However, using research tested on Random and transposed to the balletic context, a new process was initiated for Infra. Initially, experiments with Random investigated how kinaesthetic, semantic, visual and aural imagery could be used in dance making. These studies drew on theories of mind that consider how attention is directed within our mental landscape. A collection of Choreographic Thinking Tools (see second URL) emerged, that a choreographer can use to engage the imaginations of performers, the core of which are twelve principles that build translational relationships between mental interiority and environment. These principles were used as specific processes for generating dance language and filters that permeate the overall construction, design and sonic world of the piece. The tools encourage participants to bring specific actions and images into focus and to modify or combine them in new ways. Below the Opie screen and beneath the surface of the soundscore, I created a series of human intimacies, or a landscape of miniatures, in which physical empathies and emotional inferences rescue the lost narratives of the population on stage. More than any other art form, dance relies affectively on the interaction of diverse forms of imagery; of the body, of movement, of vision, and of sound. In analysing the nature of different forms of imagery I was able to embrace their particularities to illicit more affective connection and emotional resonance into my work in ballet. See first URL/programme note for additional context, collaborators and images.

http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/infra-by-wayne-mcgregor

http://www.randomdance.org/r_research/current_projects1/current_projects/choreographic_thinking_tools_resource