Studio Wayne McGregor has announced four world premieres, two European premieres, five revivals, and celebrations for 30 years of Company Wayne McGregor
Wayne McGregorbrings Margaret Atwood's post-apocalyptic vision to Toronto for the world premiere of MADDADDAM in November 2022 for the National Ballet of Canada in a co-production with The Royal Ballet. The full-length ballet is based on the writer's dystopian trilogy Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam, and features a specially commissioned score from Max Richter and costumes by Gareth Pugh.
The Dark Crystal: Odyssey, a new production inspired by Jim Henson's 1982 dark fantasy film, featuring the startling performers of Company Wayne McGregor, sees its world premiere at The Royal Opera House in May 2023.
Carmen Herrera, a collaboration between Wayne McGregor, The Royal Ballet, Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and the late Cuban-American artist Carmen Herrera, premieres at The Royal Opera House in June 2023.
The world premiere of Deepstaria, a Studio Wayne McGregor Original performed by Company Wayne McGregor, will be staged in Autumn 2023. It will simultaneously ‘launch into the metaverse', using AI technology, to exist across multiple dimensions as a shape-shifting work in constant parallel communication with itself.
McGregor's Yugen is inspired by Japanese Aesthetic theory and comes to the Dutch National Ballet for its European premiere in September 2022.
The Dante Project enters the Paris Opera Ballet's repertoire in its anticipated European premiere at the Palais Garnier in April 2023, following the critical acclaim of its world premiere with The Royal Ballet in 2021.
Revivals include Tree of Codes, a collaboration between McGregor, Olafur Eliasson and Jamie xx, at the Esplanade Theatre in Singapore in October 2022, Obsidian Tear at the Arts Centre, Melbourne in September 2022 and Sydney Opera House in November 2022, Infra at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre in September 2022, the Olivier Award-winning Woolf Works at The Royal Opera House in March 2023, and EDEN | EDEN with the Ballet Theatre Dortmund and Prague's State Opera with the Czech National Ballet, both in April 2023.
In April 2023, McGregor will announce the programme the Biennale Danza in Venice, which is his third year as its director. McGregor recently concluded his second year as Director with Boundary-Less, a genre-defying ten-day programme with 160 artists, 69 performances and 9 world premieres that explored the limitless possibilities of artistic collaboration and creation.
Company Wayne McGregor, his touring ensemble, celebrates its 30th anniversary year in 2023. Since its inception in 1993, it has served as the creative instrument through which McGregor has evolved his distinctive style, conducted his research into movement, and realised the most experimental and superlunary of his works. A programme of events to mark this momentous occasion will be announced in the coming months.
McGregor has been named Guest Artistic Director of the National Youth Dance Company for 2022-2023. He will work with forty young dancers from NYDC, nurturing the UK's brightest young talent, to create a new commission celebrating the company's ten-year anniversary in October 2023.
Finally, ABBA Voyage, the innovative concert that launched the Swedish pop sensations back onto the stage in May 2022 for an outstanding avatar performance choreographed by Wayne McGregor, has been extended until 2026.
WORLD PREMIERES
MADDADDAM
National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, Canada
23rd November 2022 – 30th November 2022
Director and Choreographer Wayne McGregor
Music Max Richter
Set design We Not I
Film Ravi Deepres
Costume design Gareth Pugh
Lighting design Lucy Carter
Dramaturgy Uzma Hameed
MADDADDAM, based on Margaret Atwood's dystopian trilogy Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam, premieres in Toronto in November 2022. This new ballet triptych is a visceral exploration of extinction and invention, hubris, and humanity, and heralds a major international collaboration between the National Ballet of Canada and The Royal Ballet, for which McGregor has assembled a remarkable team of creative collaborators, including a specially commissioned score from Max Richter, lighting by Lucy Carter, bold costumes by Gareth Pugh, design by We Not I, film by Ravi Deepres, and dramaturgy by Uzma Hameed.
DEEPSTARIA
Company Wayne McGregor
Studio Wayne McGregor, London, UK
Autumn 2023
Deepstaria accelerates McGregor's 30-year choreographic inquiry towards new frontiers. In the Autumn of 2023, this choreographic diptych will simultaneously launch in both live theatres and the metaverse. Drawing on the latest AI, acoustic research, and physical and spatial computing, Deepstaria is a shape-shifting work in constant parallel communication with itself, creating evolving choreography that coexists across multiple dimensions of experience. Deepstaria is a Studio Wayne McGregor Original.
“Deep space and the deep sea are not as different as you might think.” – NASA
THE DARK CRYSTAL: ODYSSEY
Company Wayne McGregor
Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House, London, UK
13th May 2023 – 4th June 2023
Director and Choreographer Wayne McGregor
Creative consultants Brian Froud and Wendy Froud
Music Joel Cadbury
Puppets Jim Henson's Creature Shop
Digital designers kontrastmoment
Costume design Philip Delamore
Lighting design Lucy Carter
Dramaturgy Uzma Hameed
In the world premiere of The Dark Crystal: Odyssey, opening at The Royal Opera House in May 2023, Company Wayne McGregor showcases its dancers' virtuosity in a production inspired by Jim Henson's epochal 1982 fantasy film. Rooted in themes of courage and self-sacrifice, this magical tale follows an unsuspecting hero's quest to overthrow evil and restore balance to his magical world, appealing to audiences of all generations. The team of world-class collaborators working alongside McGregor include artists Brian and Wendy Froud, composer Joel Cadbury, digital designers kontrastmoment, lighting designer Lucy Carter, dramaturg Uzma Hameed, costume designer Philip Delamore and face-and-body artist Alex Box.
“Of all the amazing films I saw in my childhood, The Dark Crystal remains my EPIC go to. And now, to bring this fantastical adventure to the stage, not only with an incredible creative team but with pioneering artists Brian and Wendy Froud – the original film collaborators of the great Jim Henson – thunderstruck.” – Wayne McGregor
CARMEN HERRERA
The Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House, London, UK
June 2023
Director and Choreographer Wayne McGregor
Music Anna Thorvaldsdottir
Set design Carmen Herrera
Lighting design Lucy Carter
Carmen Herrera, an electrifying collaboration between Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet Wayne McGregor, The Royal Ballet, Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir and the late Cuban-American artist Carmen Herrera premieres at The Royal Opera House in June 2023. Herrera, who died aged 106 in February of 2022, spent 70 years refining her painting style into a severe yet seductive form of geometric abstraction, her pioneering work remained largely unrecognised by the art world until she was in her early 90s.
EUROPEAN PREMIERES
THE DANTE PROJECT
Paris Opera Ballet
Palais Garnier, Paris, France
29th April 2023 – 31st May 2023
Director and Choreographer Wayne McGregor
Music Thomas Adès
Conductor Thomas Adès and Gustavo Dudamel
Set design and costume design Tacita Dean
Lighting design Lucy Carter and Simon Bennison
Dramaturgy Uzma Hameed
The Dante Project makes its anticipated European premiere on the Paris Opera Ballet in April 2023, following the rapturous critical acclaim of its world premiere at The Royal Opera House in 2021, where it was performed by The Royal Ballet. Written in the 14th century, Dante's canonical Renaissance masterwork recounts the author-protagonist's journey through Hell and Purgatory to Paradise. For this co-production between the Paris Opera Ballet and The Royal Ballet, McGregor comes together with a triumph of leading forces in contemporary music and art. The production features an original virtuoso score by composer-conductor Thomas Adès CBE and set costume designs by celebrated visual artist Tacita Dean CBE. The creative team is completed by McGregor's long-standing collaborators lighting designer Lucy Carter, Simon Benninson and dramaturg Uzma Hameed.
YUGEN
Dutch National Ballet
Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Amsterdam, Netherlands
24th September 2022 – 28th September 2022
Director and Choreographer Wayne McGregor
Music Leonard Bernstein
Set design Edmund de Waal
Costume design Shirin Guild
Lighting design Lucy Carter
McGregor's ballet Yugen – the evocative production inspired by Japanese Aesthetic theory – comes to the Dutch National Ballet in September 2022 for its European premiere. Set to Leonard Bernstein's ‘Chichester Psalms', a mix of Hebrew texts, Broadway jazz, and Christian choral music, Yugen was commissioned and originally performed by The Royal Ballet in 2018, celebrating the centenary of the seminal composer's birth.
The production features lighting by McGregor's Lucy Carter, costumes by Iranian-born British designer Shirin Guild, and set design by visual artist Edmund de Waal CBE.
REVIVALS
| OBSIDIAN TEAR The Australian Ballet Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia 23rd September 2022 – 1st October 2022 The Australian Ballet, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia 10th November 2022 – 26th November 2022 Director and Choreographer Wayne McGregor Music Esa-Pekka Salonen Set design Wayne McGregor Fashion Director and Designers Katie Shillingford, Craig Green, Hood By Air, Julius, Gareth Pugh, Assaf Reeb, Christopher Shannon, Telfar, Vivienne Westwood Lighting design Lucy Carter Dramaturgy Uzma Hameed McGregor's first work created on an all-male cast, Obsidian Tear, makes its Australian debut in 2022, first at the Arts Centre Melbourne (September 2022) and subsequently at the Sydney Opera House (November 2022). A co-commission between The Royal Ballet and Boston Ballet, and premiering at The Royal Opera House in 2016 with The Royal Ballet, the production explores themes of myth and modernity through the works of renowned Finnish composer Esa-Pekka Salonen. Obsidian Tear is inspired by the geological journey of the black volcanic obsidian rock, along with the legends inspired by the small ovals of the substance that gave the work its name. The visceral exploration of modernity and the ancient obsidian tear holds up a black mirror to the emotional and social forces exerted on human life. INFRA Lithuanian National Ballet Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Vilnius, Lithuania 29th September 2022 – 1st October 2022 Director and Choreographer Wayne McGregor Music Max Richter Set design Julian Opie Costume design Moritz Junge Lighting design Lucy Carter Sound design Chris Ekers Infra, which stems from the Latin vide infra for ‘see below', makes its debut with the Lithuanian National Ballet at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre in September 2022. Infra was created in collaboration with British artist Julian Opie, Max Richter and Lucy Carter as a response to the July 2005 London bombings. |
| TREE OF CODES Company Wayne McGregor Esplanade Theatre, Singapore 14th October 2022 – 15th October 2022 Director and Choreographer Wayne McGregor Music Jamie xx Visual Concept Olafur Eliasson Costume design Acne Studios Lighting design Rob Halliday Sound design Nick Sager Tree of Codes, Wayne McGregor's globally renowned collaboration with visual artist Olafur Eliasson and Mercury Prize-winning producer and composer Jamie xx, arrives in Singapore this October. The contemporary ballet, performed by Company Wayne McGregor and dancers from The Royal Ballet, is a response to Jonathan Safran Foer's ‘Tree of Codes', a sculptural artwork in the form of a book carved from Safran Foer's favourite novel, Bruno Schulz's ‘The Street of Crocodiles'. Since its premiere in 2015 at the Manchester International Festival, Tree of Codes has been performed by Company Wayne McGregor with soloists from the Paris Opera Ballet in New York, Paris, London, Denmark, Australia, France and Hong Kong. |
WOOLF WORKS
The Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House, London, UK
1st March 2023 – 23rd March 2023
Director and Choreographer Wayne McGregor
Music Max Richter
Set design Ciguë, We Not I & Wayne McGregor
Film Ravi Deepres
Costume design Moritz Junge
Lighting design Lucy Carter
Sound design Chris Ekers
Make-up design Kabuki
Dramaturgy Uzma Hameed
Conductors Koen Kessels/Martin Georgiev
McGregor's Olivier Award-winning Woolf Works, inspired by the writings of modernist 20th-century author Virginia Woolf, is to be revived at The Royal Opera House in March of 2023. Premiering to critical acclaim in 2015, Woolf Works saw the return of prima ballerina assoluta, Alessandra Ferri, to The Royal Opera House stage, creating the award-winning role of Woolf. The ballet triptych is inspired by three of Woolf's seminal novels, Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Wave, along with her letters and diary entries, and follows the writer's style in its unconventional structure and collision of ideas. Wayne McGregor won an Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production for Woolf Works, as well as the Critics Circle National Dance Award for Best Classical Choreography. Woolf Works was originally commissioned and performed by The Royal Ballet in 2015.
EDEN | EDEN
Ballet Theatre Dortmund
Theatre Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
2nd April 2023 – 8th June 2023
Czech National Ballet
State Opera, Prague, Czech Republic
18th April 2023 – 23rd April 2023
Director and Choreographer Wayne McGregor
Music Steve Reich
Set design Wayne McGregor
Film Ravi Deepres
Visual Effects Luke Unsworth
Costume design Ursula Bombshell
Lighting design Charles Balfour
Dramaturg Ira Goldbecher
EDEN | EDEN is to be revived with the Ballet Theatre Dortmund in April 2023, and Prague's State Opera with the Czech National Ballet in April 2023. The work addresses the role of technology in the ethics surrounding the human body, focusing on cloning. Set to Steve Reich's iconic spoken libretto/musical score for the third act of his filmic opera, Three Tales, devised by Reich and his filmmaker wife, Beryl Korot. Since its premiere with the Stuttgart Ballet in 2005, EDEN | EDEN has been performed around the world by the San Francisco Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and Vienna State Ballet, as well as the Czech National Ballet and Ballet Dortmund.
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
