{"id":315,"date":"2004-10-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-10-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.idanca.net\/2004\/10\/20\/na-companhia-dos-homens\/"},"modified":"2008-07-14T20:21:35","modified_gmt":"2008-07-14T23:21:35","slug":"na-companhia-dos-homens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idanca.net\/na-companhia-dos-homens\/","title":{"rendered":"Na companhia dos homens | Company of men"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josephine Leask escreve sobre dan\u00e7a e \u00e9 professora no London Studio Centre.<\/p>\n

Tradu\u00e7\u00e3o de Simone Guimar\u00e3es.<\/p>\n

No transcurso do ano passado, tr\u00eas importantes companhias brit\u00e2nicas de dan\u00e7a contrataram novos diretores art\u00edsticos. Os atuais ocupantes dos postos s\u00e3o todos ex-dan\u00e7arinos, com carreira no Reino Unido e que j\u00e1 passaram da fronteira dos 40 anos, uma idade na qual os dan\u00e7arinos tendem a reavaliar suas carreiras e, eventualmente, a trocar as sapatilhas por mais autoridade e status. Mark Baldwin, Darshan Singh Bhuller e Ashley Page carregam o manto art\u00edstico da Rambert Dance Company, do Phoenix Dance Theatre e do Scottish Ballet, respectivamente. Al\u00e9m de serem homens de certa idade, possuem em comum carreiras bem sucedidas como dan\u00e7arinos e core\u00f3grafos, al\u00e9m de experi\u00eancia \u2013 nos casos de Baldwin e Bhuller \u2013 na condu\u00e7\u00e3o de suas pr\u00f3prias companhias de dan\u00e7a. Em conversa\u00e7\u00f5es com os tr\u00eas, descobri um pouco como os membros dessa nova gera\u00e7\u00e3o de l\u00edderes encaram seus pap\u00e9is. Enquanto cada uma dessas companhias ocupa um lugar \u00fanico na ecologia da dan\u00e7a brit\u00e2nica, o que todos os tr\u00eas novos diretores compartilham \u00e9 um desejo de estabelecer identidades mais n\u00edtidas para suas companhias e de melhor moldar sua express\u00e3o externa. Ao assumir companhias grandes e m\u00e9dias, que fazem tours e s\u00e3o detentoras de longa hist\u00f3ria ou de perfis anteriores bem definidos, essa trindade de novos diretores art\u00edsticos se prop\u00f5e a promover mudan\u00e7as, com uma fei\u00e7\u00e3o pr\u00f3pria, por\u00e9m, para cada companhia.<\/p>\n

O principal objetivo de Ashley Page \u00e9 estabelecer o Scottish Ballet mais como uma companhia de bal\u00e9 verdadeiramente contempor\u00e2neo do que como uma companhia tradicional de grande escala. Ele entra tanto com sua experi\u00eancia dos dias de n\u00famero um do Royal Ballet como com um vasto conhecimento da dan\u00e7a contempor\u00e2nea, adquirido pelos seus relacionamentos profissionais com a Rambert Dance Company, com Richard Alston e com outros dan\u00e7arinos contempor\u00e2neos de renome. Adicionalmente, o interesse de Page nas artes visuais e a \u00eanfase no aspecto e desenho de suas obras t\u00eam tudo para emprestar glamour ao repert\u00f3rio do Scottish Ballet. Seu hist\u00f3rico de colabora\u00e7\u00e3o com artistas visuais, como Howard Hodkin e Bruce McLean, e designers como Antony McDonald e Jon Morrell, prenuncia um bom per\u00edodo para a companhia.<\/p>\n

Page pretende expandir o repert\u00f3rio do Scottish Ballet, trabalhando com core\u00f3grafos que, em sua opini\u00e3o, criaram obras do tipo “cl\u00e1ssicos do final do s\u00e9culo vinte”. Inclui sob tal r\u00f3tulo core\u00f3grafos que se projetaram na d\u00e9cada de 1980, uma \u00e9poca na qual houve uma explos\u00e3o de trabalhos no pa\u00eds, tanto quanto na Am\u00e9rica e na Europa. Page percebe que essa gera\u00e7\u00e3o de core\u00f3grafos contempor\u00e2neos estabelecidos, em torno da qual cresceu, foi tristemente esquecida. As obras desses artistas foram marginalizadas em favor de uma perspectiva contempor\u00e2nea um tanto retr\u00f3grada e eclipsadas por trabalhos novos, tidos como da moda.<\/p>\n

Page sente-se desiludido com o panorama atual da dan\u00e7a na Gr\u00e3-Bretanha; considera que a dan\u00e7a moderna teve uma queda nos anos 90 e acredita que as companhias brit\u00e2nicas sofreram uma dilui\u00e7\u00e3o da imagem ao apresentarem todas elas trabalhos semelhantes produzidos pelo mesmo n\u00facleo de core\u00f3grafos.Tem opini\u00f5es an\u00e1logas quanto \u00e0 globaliza\u00e7\u00e3o do repert\u00f3rio de bal\u00e9, que levou as companhias de bal\u00e9 a se apoiarem nos mesmos core\u00f3grafos europeus, como Mats Ek e Jiri Kili\u00e0n. Quando interrogado sobre sua inten\u00e7\u00e3o de estabelecer uma nova identidade para a companhia, Page discorre sobre a montagem de um repert\u00f3rio que possua um aspecto diferente do de outros grupos e fala com confian\u00e7a de uma individualidade que surgir\u00e1 a partir de uma alian\u00e7a anglo-americana.<\/p>\n

Al\u00e9m de novos core\u00f3grafos, Page trouxe para sua companhia um grupo de dan\u00e7arinos internacionais, com o sentido de contribuir para a nova fei\u00e7\u00e3o internacional pretendida por ele. Simultaneamente, tem grande interesse em refor\u00e7ar os la\u00e7os entre o Scottish Ballet e a sua escola para que esta venha a fornecer mais dan\u00e7arinos \u00e0 companhia no futuro. Este plano se alimenta da convic\u00e7\u00e3o de Page de que as companhias de dan\u00e7a com identidade mais caracterizada s\u00e3o aquelas que mant\u00eam la\u00e7os estreitos com suas escolas, como o Royal Danish Ballet, o New York City Ballet e o Kirov.<\/p>\n

Um outro desafio de que fala resolutamente \u00e9 o de ampliar o p\u00fablico da companhia, o qual, em Glasgow, \u00e9 ainda dominado por velhos seguidores que cresceram com o Scottish Ballet e que preferem o bal\u00e9 tradicional ao moderno. Embora Page preveja que estes possam se mostrar resistentes a mudan\u00e7as no repert\u00f3rio e ambivalentes quanto a alguns dos trabalhos contempor\u00e2neos “mais fortes” que pretende apresentar, seu plano \u00e9 incluir uma nova forma de abordar os cl\u00e1ssicos do s\u00e9culo dezenove. Ele se sente otimista quanto ao intenso relacionamento com artistas visuais e compositores modernos, pass\u00edvel de atrair novas plat\u00e9ias em uma cidade como Glasgow, possuidora de uma prestigiosa escola de artes e de uma florescente comunidade art\u00edstica. Page gostaria que seus programas fossem bastante flex\u00edveis para poderem ser apresentados em uma gama de diferentes teatros e, ao mesmo tempo, serem capazes de caber na programa\u00e7\u00e3o de um dos espa\u00e7os c\u00eanicos menos tradicionais de Glasgow.<\/p>\n

O Scottish Ballet est\u00e1, no momento, protegido dos olhos do p\u00fablico, enquanto atravessa um per\u00edodo de treinamentos e ensaios intensos para a temporada de outono, quando Page espera j\u00e1 ter em parte conferido um novo perfil \u00e0 companhia. A temporada de outono inclui uma programa\u00e7\u00e3o de obras assinadas por core\u00f3grafos de categoria (n\u00e3o necessariamente cl\u00e1ssicos), como Richard Alston, Siobhan Davies e Stephen Petronio, al\u00e9m do pr\u00f3prio Page, em um repert\u00f3rio ecl\u00e9tico que dar\u00e1 o tom da companhia para os pr\u00f3ximos anos. Em termos de turn\u00eas e com vistas ao futuro, Page pretende viajar para outros pa\u00edses quando tiver o perfil da companhia j\u00e1 delineado de uma forma que o agrade.<\/p>\n

Existem id\u00e9ias de expandir a companhia para poder apresentar produ\u00e7\u00f5es maiores, mas, no momento, Page est\u00e1 contente com seus 36 dan\u00e7arinos, que considera formarem um grande conjunto. Demonstra satisfa\u00e7\u00e3o por estar trabalhando em uma companhia com um tamanho suficientemente limitado de modo a transmitir um ambiente familiar e tem por meta proporcionar a cada dan\u00e7arino uma fra\u00e7\u00e3o das luzes da ribalta para que todos se sintam importantes. Resumindo suas ambi\u00e7\u00f5es para o grupo, diz que sua esperan\u00e7a \u00e9 produzir a mesma qualidade de dan\u00e7a com um repert\u00f3rio variado, seja contempor\u00e2neo ou cl\u00e1ssico, e criar uma identidade marcante, mas flex\u00edvel, pegando o p\u00fablico de surpresa quanto aos trabalhos a serem apresentados pela companhia.<\/p>\n

Quando assumiu o cargo de diretor art\u00edstico, Mark Baldwin trouxe para a Rambert Dance Company sua variada carreira internacional, al\u00e9m de uma boa experi\u00eancia profissional nesta companhia, da qual foi um antigo participante. Dirigir uma das mais antigas companhias brit\u00e2nicas de dan\u00e7a \u00e9 uma perspectiva atemorizadora e Baldwin admite que se sentiu inicialmente bastante assustado. Tem diante de si a ambiciosa tarefa de conservar o enorme legado da companhia enquanto implementa modifica\u00e7\u00f5es “org\u00e2nicas”. Para tanto, planeja ampliar o repert\u00f3rio e manter um fluxo balanceado de obras (da mesma forma que Page pretende com o Scottish Ballet): entre o antigo e o novo, “o incomum e o cl\u00e1ssico moderno”. Quando indagado sobre o sentimento de poder em seu novo status, Baldwin responde negativamente, admitindo, ao inv\u00e9s, que se considera “culpado e respons\u00e1vel”. Enfatiza, contudo, que tem recebido um bom apoio do pessoal e dos administradores da Rambert, o que alivia parte do estresse.<\/p>\n

O atual repert\u00f3rio da Rambert \u00e9 dominado pelos trabalhos do diretor art\u00edstico Christopher Bruce, que deixou o cargo, e este \u00e9 um terreno delicado para Baldwin. Consta da sua agenda um fluxo de core\u00f3grafos diferentes e h\u00e1 listas de nomes adornando as paredes do seu escrit\u00f3rio. Alguns deles ser\u00e3o escolhidos para dar sua contribui\u00e7\u00e3o a uma programa\u00e7\u00e3o que \u00e9 uma mistura “do familiar, do novo e do excitante”. Baldwin assinala que por que companhias de bal\u00e9 como a English National Ballet e a The Royal Ballet come\u00e7aram recentemente a incluir trabalhos de core\u00f3grafos contempor\u00e2neos como, por exemplo, Wayne McGregor, seguindo, assim, os passos de companhias contempor\u00e2neas como a Rambert, sua inten\u00e7\u00e3o \u00e9 apresentar alguns “outros ” core\u00f3grafos. Baldwin acha que todos os tr\u00eas diretores art\u00edsticos s\u00e3o produtos de uma cultura que n\u00e3o tem produzido core\u00f3grafos para trabalhar em grande escala. Esse \u00e9 o motivo pelo qual n\u00e3o existe um n\u00famero suficiente para desempenhar este papel e h\u00e1 uma forte demanda pelos suspeitos de sempre, como Mats Ek, William Forsythe e Jiri Kyli\u00e0n.<\/p>\n

Do mesmo modo que Page, Baldwin espera que, operando em suas conex\u00f5es com os mundos das artes visuais e da m\u00fasica, ser\u00e1 capaz de atrair plat\u00e9ias de ambas as \u00e1reas. Durante a entrevista, Baldwin enfatizou que a temporada de primavera da Rambert n\u00e3o produziria quaisquer grandes surpresas (com a poss\u00edvel exce\u00e7\u00e3o da parceria do core\u00f3grafo Rafael Bonachela com a “pop star” Kylie Mynogue), mas que futuras temporadas incluir\u00e3o novas cria\u00e7\u00f5es de artistas como Javier de Frutos, Fin Walker e Henri Oguike. At\u00e9 mesmo a “bad girl” do mundo art\u00edstico, Tracy Emin, est\u00e1 nos planos, mas s\u00f3 depois que ele tiver conquistado as plat\u00e9ias. Embora conhe\u00e7a muita gente influente e da moda, Baldwin assinala que s\u00f3 convidaria um core\u00f3grafo a trabalhar com a companhia se conhecesse sua capacidade de puxar por algo diferente nos dan\u00e7arinos que fosse bom para eles.<\/p>\n

Assim, como ser\u00e1 a mudan\u00e7a, no futuro, da Rambert? Parte da vis\u00e3o de Baldwin em rela\u00e7\u00e3o \u00e0 Rambert \u00e9 a da cria\u00e7\u00e3o de um perfil muito marcante, o qual segundo ele, deve estar vinculado ao local onde \u00e9 assistida e onde vive normalmente \u2013 ou seja, uma companhia com base em Londres. Com planos de mudan\u00e7a para uma constru\u00e7\u00e3o atr\u00e1s do National Theatre, por\u00e9m sem recursos no momento e apenas com pedregulhos nas funda\u00e7\u00f5es da nova Rambert House, a companhia provavelmente n\u00e3o trocar\u00e1 de sede por algum tempo. Da mesma maneira que Page no Scottish Ballet, Baldwin tamb\u00e9m pretende desenvolver uma rela\u00e7\u00e3o mais forte com a Rambert School e trazer mais dan\u00e7arinos formados por ela. Ele discorre com admira\u00e7\u00e3o sobre como os seus dan\u00e7arinos s\u00e3o tecnicamente fortes, tanto no estilo contempor\u00e2neo como no cl\u00e1ssico, com a possibilidade ainda de se desenvolverem tecnicamente em outras “t\u00e9cnicas menos dolorosas”. Enquanto Baldwin se dedica a moldar um perfil mais marcante para a Rambert em Londres e, com isso, atrair uma plat\u00e9ia mais variada, expressa as mesmas ambi\u00e7\u00f5es quanto \u00e0 identidade da Rambert em turn\u00eas. Atualmente, a Rambert se apresenta com maior freq\u00fc\u00eancia fora de Londres do que na capital, e, nessas turn\u00eas h\u00e1 uma identifica\u00e7\u00e3o da companhia com “cl\u00e1ssicos” como Rooster e Ghost Dances, de Bruce. Assim, um outro desafio diante de Baldwin passa a ser o de mudar as expectativas das plat\u00e9ias no circuito das turn\u00eas.<\/p>\n

Darshan Singh Bhuller, ex-dan\u00e7arino do London Contemporary Dance Theatre, core\u00f3grafo e produtor de filmes, descreve como assumiu o Phoenix Dance Theatre (antes Phoenix), de Leeds: “partindo do zero”. Quando o entrevistei, a companhia tinha rec\u00e9m-terminado o \u00e1rduo processo de mudan\u00e7a de nome e trocado o seu logotipo em toda publicidade por outro com uma impressionante chama horizontal, simb\u00f3lica do fogo que anima suas novas diretrizes. Bhuller acha que teve muita obstina\u00e7\u00e3o para n\u00e3o levar consigo muito do velho Phoenix, nem aceitar suas antigas responsabilidades, passando, assim, um atestado de que a companhia realmente necessitava come\u00e7ar de novo.<\/p>\n

Nomeado no \u00faltimo ver\u00e3o, Bhuller formou uma nova companhia de oito dan\u00e7arinos, uma mistura internacional, muito embora v\u00e1rios deles sejam oriundos da Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Quando os estava selecionando, procurava dan\u00e7arinos contempor\u00e2neos com flexibilidade para poderem atuar e improvisar e que fossem capazes de se adaptar ao seu estilo particular de teatro dan\u00e7ado, assim como aos de outros core\u00f3grafos contempor\u00e2neos.<\/p>\n

Bhuller, em alguns aspectos, \u00e9 um tradicionalista da dan\u00e7a contempor\u00e2nea. Os dan\u00e7arinos se preparam para os ensaios, executando um treinamento di\u00e1rio de gin\u00e1stica concebida pelo osteopata e ex-dan\u00e7arino Peter Dunlevy, baseado em t\u00e9cnicas de aptid\u00e3o f\u00edsica. O pr\u00f3prio Bhuller ensina ao grupo t\u00e9cnicas de Graham e relaxamento. \u00c8 um f\u00e3 de Graham e guardi\u00e3o de sua t\u00e9cnica, que n\u00e3o deseja ver morta. Para ele, trata-se de uma “t\u00e9cnica interna e visceral”, que se vale da gravidade para alimentar a emo\u00e7\u00e3o, ao contr\u00e1rio do bal\u00e9. Bhuller n\u00e3o est\u00e1 interessado em bal\u00e9 e nem seleciona seus dan\u00e7arinos a partir do bal\u00e9, o que \u00e9 animador numa \u00e9poca em que muitos core\u00f3grafos contempor\u00e2neos ficam de namoro com companhias de treinamento cl\u00e1ssico. O ioga \u00e9 tamb\u00e9m algo que ele incentiva os dan\u00e7arinos a fazer, por achar que tem liga\u00e7\u00f5es com a t\u00e9cnica de Graham, por exemplo, na respira\u00e7\u00e3o e no travamento, solidez e leveza da p\u00e9lvis. Como muitos em sua gera\u00e7\u00e3o de diretores art\u00edsticos, que se sujeitaram a condi\u00e7\u00f5es de trabalho duro e extenso, acredita que for\u00e7ar excessivamente os dan\u00e7arinos \u00e9 contraproducente, da\u00ed facilitar-lhes fins de semana livres e muitos feriados.<\/p>\n

O Phoenix foi originalmente fundado como uma companhia exclusivamente de negros a um tempo, nos anos 80, em que os dan\u00e7arinos negros necessitavam de mais reconhecimento; \u00e9 claro que alguns sobrolhos se franziram pela decis\u00e3o de Bhuller de n\u00e3o mais manter o Phoenix como um grupo negro. Bhuller acha que n\u00e3o existe mais a mesma necessidade pol\u00edtica de conservar a companhia como negra e que alguns ex-dan\u00e7arinos do Phoenix com quem conversou estavam cansados de serem vistos como negros, em primeiro lugar, e como dan\u00e7arinos, em segundo. Bhuller assinala que o Phoenix \u00e9, no entanto, uma companhia multicultural e se v\u00ea totalmente comprometido em manter a sua diversidade cultural. Embora tenha crescido na Inglaterra, Bhuller nasceu na \u00cdndia e se viu obrigado a enfrentar alguns problemas de racismo na qualidade de dan\u00e7arino asi\u00e1tico nos anos 70 e 80. Ele cr\u00ea com otimismo que a Gr\u00e3-Bretanha j\u00e1 tenha ido muito longe em sua ades\u00e3o \u00e0 diversidade racial para que n\u00e3o exista mais a necessidade de se colocar a identidade cultural antes da art\u00edstica.<\/p>\n

Outras mudan\u00e7as a serem implementadas no Phoenix incluem a fixa\u00e7\u00e3o de um perfil internacional por meio de turn\u00eas no exterior, apresentando trabalhos que sejam realmente express\u00f5es de teatro dan\u00e7ado — uma dan\u00e7a capaz de contar hist\u00f3rias, em uma \u00e9poca na qual o teatro dan\u00e7ado parece ter cedido espa\u00e7o para uma coreografia mais formalista. Em termos da inclus\u00e3o de sua pr\u00f3pria obra, Bhuller pretende reencenar Planted Seed, uma pe\u00e7a de teatro dan\u00e7ado que usa atores e dan\u00e7arinos para tra\u00e7ar um quadro violento e realista das v\u00edtimas de estupro na B\u00f3snia devastada pela guerra. Como outra de suas paix\u00f5es \u00e9 o cinema (sendo ele um bem sucedido documentarista e editor, com uma companhia produtora pr\u00f3pria, a Singh Productions), gostaria de utilizar mais o cinema em seu trabalho. Seus m\u00e9todos de trabalho se baseiam muito nos do cinema; por exemplo, utiliza um roteiro de a\u00e7\u00e3o cena por cena, no qual cria personagens em sua imagina\u00e7\u00e3o e trabalha os seus perfis emocionais antes de ensaiar com os dan\u00e7arinos.<\/p>\n

Sua nova e variada programa\u00e7\u00e3o, que estreou em Leeds e foi lan\u00e7ada em Londres em abril, incluiu sua nova obra, Requiem, uma mistura de dan\u00e7a e filme, com m\u00fasica encomendada \u00e0 celebrada compositora Jocelyn Pook, um dueto de Fin Walker e colabora\u00e7\u00e3o no trabalho do nova-iorquino Jeremy Nelson. Outros core\u00f3grafos, com os quais Bhuller est\u00e1 interessado em trabalhar no futuro e cujos nomes foram lembrados por ele em nossa conversa, incluem Rui Horta, Maresa von Stokhert e Henri Oguike.<\/p>\n

Ser\u00e1 interessante observar qual rumo cada um desses tr\u00eas homens seguir\u00e1 com a sua companhia, qu\u00e3o extensa ser\u00e1 a justaposi\u00e7\u00e3o em termos de core\u00f3grafos e repert\u00f3rios, como ser\u00e3o os novos p\u00fablicos e as diferen\u00e7as entre as tr\u00eas companhias daqui a alguns anos. Essa nova lideran\u00e7a \u00e9 parte de uma transi\u00e7\u00e3o maior pela qual parece estar passando atualmente a dan\u00e7a na Gr\u00e3-Bretanha ou representa apenas mais daquilo que j\u00e1 temos?<\/span>Josephine Leask is a freelance dance writer and lectures in cultural studies at the London Studio Centre. <\/p>\n

Over the course of last year, three major British dance companies acquired new artistic directors. The people that now fill these positions are all British based ex-dancers who have passed the landmark age of 40 \u2013 an age at which dancers tend to re-evaluate their careers and perhaps hope to exchange their dancing shoes for more authority and status. Mark Baldwin, Darshan Singh Bhuller and Ashley Page carry the artistic mantle for Rambert Dance Company, Phoenix Dance Theatre and Scottish Ballet respectively. As well as all being men of a certain age, what they have in common are successful careers as dancers and choreographers, and experience, in the case of Baldwin and Bhuller, in running their own dance companies. In conversations with all three, I found out a little about how the members of this new generation of leaders feel about their roles. While each company occupies its own unique place within the British dance ecology, what all three new directors share is a desire to establish clearer identities for their companies and spruce up company images. In taking on mid- to large-scale touring companies which either have long histories or pre-existing well-defined profiles, this trinity of new artistic directors propose to make changes, but the developments are tailored to each company. <\/p>\n

Ashley Page\u2019s main goal is to establish Scottish Ballet as a truly contemporary ballet company rather than a traditional large-scale ballet company. He brings to the company both his experience from his days as a principal with The Royal Ballet and a wide knowledge of contemporary dance and contemporary dance making, picked up through his working relationships with Rambert Dance Company, Richard Alston and with contemporary trained dancers. In addition, Page\u2019s interest in visual art and the emphasis on the look and design of his works is bound to glamorise Scottish Ballet\u2019s repertoire. His history of collaborating with visual artists such as Howard Hodgkin and Bruce McLean, and designers such as Antony McDonald and Jon Morrell, bodes well for the company. <\/p>\n

Page intends to expand Scottish Ballet\u2019s repertoire by working with choreographers who, in his opinion, have created works that are \u2018late twentieth-century classics\u2019. By this he means choreographers who came to prominence in the 1980s, a time during which there was an explosion of work created nationally as well as in America and Europe. Page feels that this generation of established contemporary choreographers, around which he grew up, has been sadly forgotten; their work has been marginalised in favour of a somewhat retrograde contemporary dance outlook and has been eclipsed by new work that is considered fashionable. <\/p>\n

Page is disillusioned with the current British dance scene; he feels that modern dance fell apart in the 1990s and believes that British companies have suffered a watering down of image because they all present similar works by the same pool of choreographers. He has similar views on the globalisation of the ballet repertoire, in which ballet companies have been bolstered by the same European choreographers such as Mats Ek and Jiri Kyli\u00e0n. When asked about his intended new identity for the company, Page talks about building up a repertoire that has a different look to that of other ballet companies and talks confidently about an identity that will arise through an Anglo-American alliance. <\/p>\n

As well as bringing in new choreographers, Page has brought in a number of international dancers to the company to contribute to the new international look to which he aspires. At the same time, he is keen to strengthen links between Scottish Ballet and its school so that more dancers will feed from the school into the company in the future. This plan is fuelled by his conviction that the dance companies with the strongest identity are those which have close links with their schools, such as the Royal Danish Ballet, New York City Ballet and the Kirov. <\/p>\n

Another challenge about which he talks resolutely is that of broadening the audience for the company that, in Glasgow, is still dominated by older followers who have grown up with Scottish Ballet and prefer traditional ballet to modern. While Page anticipates that they may be resistant to change in the repertoire and ambivalent to some of the \u2018tougher\u2019 contemporary works that he intends to introduce, he plans to include a fresh look at nineteenth-century classics. He feels optimistic that his strong relationship with visual artists and modern composers will attract new audiences in a city like Glasgow which has a prestigious art school and thriving arts community. Page would like his programmes to be flexible enough to be presented in a range of different theatres and to be able to fit into one of Glasgow\u2019s less traditional performance spaces. <\/p>\n

Scottish Ballet is currently shielded from the public eye while it goes through a period of intense training and rehearsal for its autumn tour, by which time Page hopes that the new look of the company will be partly moulded. The autumn tour includes a programme of vintage works by \u2018classic\u2019 (rather than classical) choreographers \u2013 including Richard Alston, Siobhan Davies and Stephen Petronio, as well as Page himself – in an eclectic programme that will set the tone for the company for the next few years. In terms of touring and looking into the future, Page intends to tour internationally when he has restyled the company with a look that pleases him. <\/p>\n

There are ideas to expand the company in order to present bigger productions but, at present, Page is happy with his 36 dancers which, he says, feels like a large ensemble. He is pleased to be working in a company which is contained enough to have a family atmosphere and he aims to give each dancer their share of the limelight so that they all feel important. Summing up his ambitions for the company, he says he hopes to achieve the same quality of dancing across a range of repertoire, be it contemporary or classical, and establish a strong but flexible identity and keep \u2018the public on the hop\u2019 as to what works the company is going to present. <\/p>\n

In taking up the position of artistic director, Mark Baldwin has brought to Rambert Dance Company his varied international career as well as a good working experience of the Company as he is a former member. To take over one of the oldest British dance companies is a daunting prospect, and Baldwin admits that he initially felt quite overwhelmed. He is faced with the ambitious task of maintaining the Company\u2019s huge legacy while implementing \u2018organic\u2019 changes. In order to do this, he plans to widen the repertoire and keep a balanced flow of work (as Page intends to do with Scottish Ballet): between the old and new, \u2018the unusual and the modern classic\u2019. When asked about whether he feels he has power in his new status, he replies in the negative and instead admits to feeling rather \u2018guilty and responsible\u2019. He does, however, emphasise that he has been well supported by the Rambert staff and board, which has alleviated some of the stress. <\/p>\n

Currently Rambert\u2019s repertoire is dominated by outgoing artistic director Christopher Bruce\u2019s works, and Baldwin has to tread delicately here. A flow of different choreographers is on the agenda and lists of names adorn the walls of Baldwin\u2019s office \u2013 some of whom will be picked to contribute to a programme that is a mixture of \u2018the familiar, the new and the exciting\u2019. Baldwin stresses that because ballet companies like English National Ballet and The Royal Ballet have recently begun to include works by contemporary choreographers such as Wayne McGregor, thus treading on the toes of contemporary companies like Rambert, he intends to introduce some \u2018other\u2019 choreographers. Baldwin feels that all three artistic directors are products of a culture that hasn\u2019t developed choreographers who work on a large scale. This is why there are not enough to go round, and the usual suspects like Mats Ek, William Forsythe and Jiri Kyli\u00e0n are heavily in demand. <\/p>\n

Similarly to Page, Baldwin hopes that through working with his connections in the visual art and music worlds he will be able to attract audiences from both areas. When we talked, Baldwin stressed that Rambert\u2019s spring season would not produce any big surprises (with the possible exception of choreographer Rafael Bonachela\u2019s teaming with pop star Kylie Mynogue) but future seasons will include new work by artists such as Javier de Frutos, Fin Walker and Henri Oguike, and Baldwin says that even art world bad girl, Tracy Emin, is on the cards, but only after he has wooed audiences. While he knows many influential and trendy people, Baldwin stresses that he would only ask a choreographer to work with the company if he knew they could bring out something different in the dancers which would be good for them. <\/p>\n

So how much will Rambert change in the future? Part of Baldwin\u2019s vision for Rambert is to create a very strong profile for the company which he says must be to do with where they are seen and where they currently live \u2013 i.e. as a London based company. With plans to move to a building site behind the National Theatre, but currently with no funds and only rubble as foundations for the new Rambert House, they are not likely to move venues for some time. Like Page with Scottish Ballet, Baldwin also intends to build a stronger connection with Rambert School and take more dancers into the company from it. He talks with admiration about how technically strong the company\u2019s dancers are in both contemporary and classical styles, but that they could be technically developed in other \u2018less painful techniques\u2019. And while Baldwin is keen to create a stronger profile for Rambert in London and attract a more varied audience, he has the same ambitions for Rambert\u2019s touring identity. Currently Rambert performs more frequently outside London than within the capital, and on tour the Company is identified with such \u2018classics\u2019 as Bruce\u2019s Rooster and Ghost Dances; so another challenge for Baldwin is to change audience expectations on the touring circuit. <\/p>\n

Darshan Singh Bhuller, ex-dancer with London Contemporary Dance Theatre, choreographer and film producer, describes taking over the Leeds-based company, Phoenix Dance Theatre (formerly Phoenix) as \u2018like starting from scratch\u2019. When I spoke to him, the company had just finished the arduous process of re-branding and had changed their logo on all their publicity to one which included an impressive burning horizontal flame, symbolic of new fiery directions. He feels that he has been quite hard-nosed in not taking much of the old Phoenix with him, not taking on their responsibilities, but recognising that they really needed to start anew. <\/p>\n

Appointed last summer, Bhuller has styled a new company of eight dancers, an international mix, although several of them are from Northern School of Contemporary Dance. While he was auditioning he was searching for flexible contemporary dancers who could act and improvise and who would be able to cope with his particular brand of dance theatre as well as the styles of other contemporary choreographers. <\/p>\n

In some ways Bhuller is a contemporary dance traditionalist \u2013 not someone who follows the whims of fashion. The dancers are prepared for rehearsals by doing a daily gym workout which has been devised by osteopath and ex-dancer Peter Dunlevy, based on fitness techniques. Bhuller himself takes a company class in Graham technique and release techniques. He is a Graham fan and a guardian of the technique that he doesn\u2019t want to see die out. He sees it as an \u2018internal, visceral technique\u2019 and \u2013 with its use of gravity \u2013 one which feeds emotion, unlike ballet. He is not interested in ballet and does not audition his dancers in ballet, which is refreshing at a time when many contemporary choreographers are flirting with classically trained companies. Yoga is also something that he encourages the dancers to do as he feels it has links with Graham, for example in the breath and the pelvic locks, groundedness and lightness. Like many of this generation of artistic directors, who have been subjected to tough, long working conditions, he believes that working the dancers too heavily is counter-productive and gives his dancers weekends off and plenty of holidays. <\/p>\n

Phoenix was originally founded as an exclusively black company at a time when black dancers needed more recognition in the 1980s, and there have been a few raised eyebrows at Bhuller\u2019s decision not to keep Phoenix a black company. Bhuller feels that there is no longer the same need politically to be a black company and that some of the ex-Phoenix dancers that he had spoken to were tired of being seen as black first and dancers second. Bhuller stresses that Phoenix is nevertheless a multicultural company and is totally committed to keeping it culturally diverse. While Bhuller grew up in England, he was born in India and has had to face some racist issues while being an Asian dancer in the 1970s and 1980s. He optimistically believes that Britain has moved on so far in its embracing of racial diversity that there is not the same need to establish your cultural identity before your artistic identity. <\/p>\n

Other changes that Bhuller will implement at Phoenix include establishing an international profile by touring abroad and presenting work that really is dance theatre – dance that is able to tell stories at a time when dance theatre seems to have given way to more formalist choreography. In terms of including his own work, he plans to restage Planted Seed, a dance theatre work which used actors and dancers and drew a violent, realistic picture of rape victims in warring Bosnia. As another of his passions is film (he is an accomplished documentary maker and editor with his own production company, Singh Productions), he would like to work more with film in his work. His ways of making work is very much informed by film, for example he uses a story board scene-by-scene in which he creates characters in his mind and works out their emotional profiles prior to rehearsing with the dancers. <\/p>\n

His varied new programme which premiered in Leeds and opened in London in April, included his new work which mixes dance and film, Requiem, with a commissioned score by the celebrated composer Jocelyn Pook, a duet by Fin Walker and company work by New Yorker Jeremy Nelson. Other choreographers whom he is interested in working with in the future – and whose names he slipped in to our conversation – include Rui Horta, Maresa von Stokhert and Henri Oguike. <\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see what direction each man will take with his company, how great the overlap will be in terms of choreographers and repertory, who the new audiences will be and how different the companies will look in a few years time. Is this new leadership part of a greater transition that British dance seems to be making at present or does it represent more of what we have already?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Josephine Leask conversa com os novos diretores do Scottish Ballet, da Rambert Dance Company e da Phoenix Dance Theater.<\/span>Josephine Leask talks to the new artistic directors of Scottish Ballet, Rambert Dance Company and Phoenix Dance Theater.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,28],"tags":[1412,273,1411,1413,1410,1409],"yoast_head":"\nNa companhia dos homens | Company of men -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/idanca.net\/na-companhia-dos-homens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"pt_BR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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