Collaborating with Studio Wayne McGregor
Collaborations are the lifeblood of Studio Wayne McGregor, the creative hub that works across dance, design and technology.
By Studio Wayne McGregor
Studio Wayne McGregor
Atomos (film) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
These projects often originate from pioneering founder Wayne McGregor CBE and his team, who work across creative genres.
Sulphur 16 (1998-01-29) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
And it’s been that way since the impossibly curious McGregor, who has also been The Royal Ballet’s Resident Choreographer since 2006, began working as a choreographer and movement director in the 90s.
FAR (2010-11-17) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
For although his primary artistic medium is the moving human body, McGregor’s vision extends into the realms of architecture, design, music, science, technology and beyond as he partners with fellow enterprising minds to create impactful, visceral experiences, both on and off-stage.
Studio Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
As for the space itself, McGregor conspired with architecture studio, We Not I to design a building (and studios, rooms, walkways, fixtures and furnishings) that illustrated choreographic thinking via material design.
Rain Room - Random International with Wayne McGregor Dance (2012) by Random InternationalBarbican Centre
Since 1993, Wayne McGregor has worked with dozens of artists, designers and craftspeople to conjure transportive live performance environments in a variety of mediums.
Amu by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
For example, the human heart-inspired Amu (Company Wayne McGregor, 2005) featured an animation entitled ‘Veil’ by Iranian installation artist and sculptor, Shirazeh Houshiary.
Chroma (2006-11-17) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
While for the set design of the critically acclaimed, Chroma (The Royal Ballet, 2006), McGregor collaborated with feted architect, John Pawson.
Genus (2007-10-26) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
Performances by Company Wayne McGregor are noted for both innovative framing and compelling dance. Visual artist Ravi Deprees has made films and shot stills to be incorporated into several of their productions, including Entity (2008) and Atomos (2013) as well as Genus (2007) and AfteRite (2017), which McGregor created for the Paris Opera Ballet and American Ballet Theatre respectively.
Infra by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
The set design for Infra (The Royal Ballet, 2008) entailed a huge LED screen featuring animated figures by influential British artist, Julian Opie.
Dyad 1909 (2009-10-13) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
Marking the 2009 centenary of Ballet Russes, McGregor made two new works: Dyad 1909 (Company Wayne McGregor) and Dyad 1929 (The Australian Ballet). British artist duo, Jane and Louise Wilson, provided the visual concept and artwork for the former.
Limen (2011-10-08) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
On entering Studio Wayne McGregor’s Hackney Wick headquarters, visitors are greeted by contemporary art pieces on loan from the vaunted Lisson Gallery. Previous work has included digital sculptures by Tatsuo Miyajima, who created the set design and video for McGregor’s Limen (The Royal Ballet, 2009).
Multiverse (2016-11-10) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
One can also find works by: Pakistan’s foremost visual artist, Rashid Rana, who crafted a mesmerising, large-scale composition for McGregor’s Multiverse (The Royal Ballet, 2016).
Alea Sands (2015-11-26) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
And forward-thinking, British installation artist, Haroon Mirza, whose relationship with McGregor was borne of their teaming up to conceive Alea Sands for the Paris Opera Ballet in 2015.
Zabludowicz Collection by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
In 2017, Company Wayne McGregor dancers performed a site-specific piece at Mirza’s stimulating Zabludowicz Collection exhibition, For A Partnership Society.
Winged Bull in the Elephant Case by Robin Friend, Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
In fact, the Company’s dancers have frequently performed specially choreographed pieces in gallery spaces, including Winged Bull in an Elephant Case, which was staged in The National Gallery and filmed for broadcast on the BBC as co-directed by McGregor and Robin Friend.
Azimuth by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
Azimuth (Company Wayne McGregor, 2013) was McGregor and his dancers’ site-specific response to ‘Timepiece’, a vast mechanical work by Conrad Shawcross exhibited at Camden’s The Roundhouse. The creative partnership originated when the leading British artist contributed a robotic metal sculpture as the centrepiece for McGregor’s Titan-inspired, Machina (The Royal Ballet, 2012).
UNDANCE (2011-12-01) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
The American sculptor Richard Serra and photographer, Eadweard Muybridge together nurtured UNDANCE (Company Wayne McGregor, 2011), which was jointly developed by a top trio of British creatives: McGregor; Turner Prize-winning artist, Mark Wallinger, and composer, Mark-Anthony Turnage.
Woolf Works (2015-05-11) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
Occasionally, McGregor bases his pieces upon literary works such as Woolf Works (The Royal Ballet, 2015) for which he and dramaturg, Uzma Hameed, reinterpreted the seminal author’s Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves into a full-length ballet. As for the set design, architecture outfits, We Not I and Cigue each constructed a set for one act, with Deprees producing the accompanying film.
Tree of Codes by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
2015's Tree of Codes was triggered by an experimental artistic text by Jonathan Safran Foer. The score is by Jamie xx and visual concept devised by ingenious Icelandic artist, Olafur Eliasson.
Tetractys - The Art of Fugue (2014-02-07) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
Incisive American mixed media artist Tanya Auerbach partnered with McGregor to select a Bach work for The Royal Ballet’s homage to the illustrious composer. She also created the geometric set design and costumes for the resultant ballet, Tetractys – The Art of Fugue (2014).
Autobiography by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
McGregor’s Autobiography was made on the Company and premiered at Sadler’s Wells in 2017. Informed by the choreographer’s genetic code as reinterpreted by an algorithm made with British artist Nick Rothwell and set to Jlin’s score, the set design and projections were made by British artist, Ben Cullen Williams in collaboration with McGregor’s long-standing lighting designer, Lucy Carter.
Living Archive: An AI Performance Experiment (2019-07-12) by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
Soon after, Cullen Williams worked with McGregor again on set design and video for the technologically groundbreaking Living Archive: A Performance Experiment (Company Wayne McGregor, 2019). In a world first, the choreography for the avant-garde piece was collaboratively shaped with algorithms designed by Google Arts & Culture’s The Lab.
Yugen by Wayne McGregorStudio Wayne McGregor
For Yugen (2018), his contribution to The Royal Ballet’s Leonard Bernstein Centenary celebration, McGregor teamed up on set design with English author and ceramicist, Edmund de Waal.
'Collaborating with Studio Wayne McGregor' text written by Suze Olbrich
