Output details

Invitus Invitam (Dancework)

Commissioned by the Royal Ballet and premiered at the Royal Opera House, the work was nominated for the Critics’ Award. In research-creative terms the choreography further develops my ongoing exploration of how narrative emerges from fragments. In this production I took inspiration from Jean Racine, who states in the introduction to his five-act play Berenice that the creative challenge for an author is to work from 'nothing'. The choreography was based on the same stimulus as for Racine's Berenice: ’Titus, reginam Berenicen. demisit invitus invitam‘, which translates as ’Titus sent Queen Berenice away against his will, against her will‘. The choreographic impetus was to explore the mystery inherent in this phrase, continually questioning in narrative terms why an action might take place against both protagonists' will. The project interrogates how an audience tends to search for psychological reasons with regard to an action, yet here the reasons and justifications are missing in the narrative, and only actions count. I identified a parallel to how dance is perceived, where actions are displayed, yet specifically in contemporary dance no justification or reasoning in literal terms is provided. In other words, narrative semiosis is avoided. The process of choreography followed my continual impulse to seek to 'create' by engaging in a process of 'recreating', to 'reconstruct' something one imagines to have taken place. The illusion and pleasure in the narrative comes out of trying to negotiate fragments, based upon Racine's premise. The design included a projection of Racine's text across the space (video design Leo Warner with Peter Stenhouse for 59 Productions). The French Baroque music (Thomas Ades after Francois Couperin) was performed in a contemporary orchestration (Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, conducted by Barry Wordsworth).