New ballet documentary: What Dancers Do

[Kate_N]

This (free) documentary has just been released on YouTube: What Dancers Do. It features the company of Robert North at Krefeld-Moenchengladbach (in NordRheinWestfalia, near Düsseldorf, in Germany). It's a company I know reasonably well, and I've watched Mr North's choreography over the years - his choreography is just gorgeous - the end of "Bach Dances" makes me want to get up and jump! I've also had the privilege of hearing his amazing stories about working with "Martha" and "Merce" (Martha Graham & Merce Cunningham). It's a gem of a company, in a Stadttheater with really interesting programming in dance, opera, and plays. Lucky Gladbachers!

 

 

[Jan McNulty]

Thanks Kate.  I shall enjoy watching this later.

 

I'd lost sight of where Robert North was in recent years.  When I first started watching (contemporary) dance in the mid-70s Robert North was one of the multitude of star dancers (well they were to me) at the still much lamented London Contemporary Dance Theatre and I always used to enjoy his performances alongside the likes of Siobhan Davies, Christopher Bannerman, Micha Bergese and Namron.

 

I've also enjoyed most of his choreography that I have seen.  I remember him doing a gorgeous Romeo and Juliet during his tenure at Scottish Ballet as well as works like Troy Games, Death and the Maiden, Entre dos Aguas and more.

[Kate_N]

I saw his Carmina Burana in Krefeld a couple of seasons ago (to the Orff arrangement). There were no tickets left (not even for company members) so I sat in the sound box a the back of the auditorium. It was a-may-zing: the full opera chorus, plus soloists, plus local amateur & children's choirs, the Niederrhein Orchester, and glorious choreography where the dancers just never seemed to stop moving. THere's a flow to his choreography that is exhilirating (exhausting for the dancers though!)

Edited April 21, 2021 by Kate_N