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Random Dance, Sadler’s Wells
Paradoxical as it might sound, ballet’s rebirth is happening thanks to (and within) modern and postmodern choreography. Over the past 20 years, classical dance, considered by many to be a dead art, has attracted the interest of many non-classical dance-makers. While some have successfully revised and reinterpreted the narratives of the classical repertoire, others have opted to tackle more directly the classical vocabulary, which remains a fertile and apparently inexhaustible source of inspiration and choreographic material. The British dance rebel Wayne McGregor belongs to the latter category, even though both his approach to and uses of the classical idiom differ greatly from those of William Forsythe — allegedly the first to challenge and revisit ballet’s vocabulary and syntax — and his numerous followers.
McGregor does not quote the principles of the classical techniques; neither does he develop his own distinctive vocabulary from an adaptation of ballet’s tenets.
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