|
home
forum
features
reviews
interviews
events
best-of
links
gallery
whoweare
| |
 An
Interview with
Mark Baldwin
the
new Artistic Director of Rambert Dance Company
by Stuart Sweeney
June
2002
When
did you first hear the news and has it really sunk in yet?
I heard definitely on Tuesday evening [two days before]. The selection
process had gone on since January or February and in all I attended four
meetings and that gave me some time to get used to the idea. It’s almost
sunk in and today [the day of the announcement] was crucial as I met the
dancers. I wanted to speak to them in a way that they would understand
where I was coming from and to make some sort of first impression. It’s
a very beautiful Company and I’ve been keeping a low profile because of
the way that rumours spread in the dance world. So it was very nice to
see them working in class and what a fine bunch of dancers they are, quite
incredible.
Going back to your own time as a Rambert dancer, what are your strongest
memories from those days?
There is something quite thrilling about being a dancer – having work
made on you and just the thrill of being in a theatre and performing in
a fantastic place where anything can happen. If you’re a lover of dance,
a black stage with some dancers on it is a wonderful thing. Sometimes
when you’ve done a season you can look back and feel that you were able
to push yourself completely and see yourself improve technically and in
your performing skills and also forming a logic about how you hear the
music.
And of course with a company you go abroad and we went to Egypt and I
remember looking at the Pyramids and thinking, ‘Dance has brought me here.’
Meanwhile we all got stomach bugs!
One remembers some conductors and other wonderful people you worked with.
I used to do ‘Pierrot Lunaire’ [by Glen Tetley and back in the Rambert
repertoire recently] and that is a very difficult piece to do and a couple
of times I can remember the whole thing being quite electric and really
working.
It was 10 years ago when I stopped coming here although I have been for
the odd rehearsal since then. So it was quite strange when the train stopped
at Stamford Brook station and I had to make myself get out of the tube
and follow the route that I had followed many years ago.
Over the past decade you’ve made work with various companies around
the world with and of course your own Mark Baldwin Dance Company.
I’ve been building up this relationship with the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
I was there last year for about 3 or 4 months and we did a big project
with a local Maori group as they have a tradition of concert parties and
the ballet toured with the concert party and it was a huge success. It’s
a small country and it’s very difficult to get people to go to modern
work and yet we had full houses. So it was thrilling to work on.
I also had my own Company for 8 years and I won a South Bank Show award
for my last show. We commissioned a piece ‘The Bird Sings with its fingers’
and that paid me back in diamonds. Even though we were a small project
funded Company, we managed to establish a relationship with an orchestra
and it was a great thing to do. So in a way this artistic venture came
to a crescendo with that show. I’d worked with some of those dancers for
a long time and in a wonderful way they knew how to express themselves
through my work. It was important, as the show before that wasn’t so great,
so it was very nice to leave the Mark Baldwin Dance Company having done
a show that I was very, very happy with artistically.
It’s also a tradition of Rambert to work with live music with their
excellent Musical director Paul Hoskins, but isn’t it very expensive?
I’ve just been speaking to Paul and we’re going to meet next week to talk
further. One of the things about this job is to persuade people that these
things are valuable for all of us and I need to get out there to raise
some money for them to continue the regular use of live music.
I read that Christopher Bruce’s farewell performance will be in November.
Is there going to be a hand-over period?
I suppose it’s started now, but we haven’t decided when I’ll start full
time and I’ve got commissions to fulfil until the 22nd November. The farewell
to Christopher will be a sad occasion, but we’re opening up to all kinds
of exciting things, in the tradition of Rambert.
One of our team has just reviewed the Rambert performance in Brighton.
She commented on the wide range of pieces on show, with works like Christopher
Bruce’s “Ghost Dances” and “Cheese” by Jeremy James. At Sadler’s Wells
recently we also saw Jiri Kylian’s “Symphony of Psalms” and, in contrast,
Lindsey Kemp’s "The Parade’s Gone By". One of the national critics
commented that the rep was too wide and there was a need for a sharper
focus. What’s your view?
I believe that the repertoire needs to stay as wide as it can. Sometimes
when Directors take over companies the repertoire ends up reflecting their
work. I want to bombard the dancers with a very wide repertoire, but within
that I’m hoping that we find a voice which says, ‘This is Rambert Dance
Company, you can’t find this anywhere else in the world. We do our stuff
in this particular way, we have particular pieces that are made on us
and are special to us.’ That’s what I’m very much looking for.
Can we expect to see your own work entering the repertoire quickly?
Not for a while, as I think it’s my job to find a repertoire before I
start doing my own work. When I’m sure about the direction that the company
is going, then I’ll know how to fit myself into that and of course I’ll
know the dancers really well by then. My stuff is based on music and mainly
new music and working with composers. I’m very lucky that they have their
own orchestra here. Let’s be honest, one of the reasons I wanted to do
this job was that a year or two down the line when I do my own work, I
will know how to take advantage of this marvellous resource that we have
here.
What will happen to the Christopher Bruce works?
They will be leaving the rep slowly. Christopher says he wants a rest
and I think he should do that, but of course I’d love to leave an invitation
for him to come back and do things when he’s ready for it. I hope he doesn’t
leave it too long as the dancers are still fresh from doing a lot of his
pieces, so they understand the work. We’ve had one discussion about when
he might come back to do something for us. The prospect of finding big
works to replace “Ghost Dances” and “Rooster” is quite daunting because
when you’re touring, the theatres and the audiences know those works and
yet we have to replace them somehow. I’m going to have to spend a lot
of money on advertising and spread the word to the public about the new
works.
One of the other traditions of Rambert that I admire a great deal
is the choreographic workshops and the encouragement of dancers in the
Company to make work. Is that going to continue?
Marie Rambert always bullied her dancers to choreograph and if she thought
there was a choreographer in the Company she would get them involved.
Hopefully we’ll be able to keep that tradition going and give the dancers
who want to choreograph the support and encouragement that they need.
It should come from the round. That is, thinking about the design point
of view and from a musical angle as well as choreographic structures.
I really hope that we can not only take dance ideas ahead and forward,
but also musical and design ideas. It’s a big task, but it’s in the tradition
of Ballets Russes. The idea that the elements which make dancing a thrilling
experience in the theatre, namely dancing, design, music, choreography,
all of those things are strengthened when they are in combination with
each other.
That fits in with the comment in the press release that the Board
were impressed with your plans for collaboration with other art forms.
That’s it. The dance world is not that big, especially when you think
about the 10 million people who have been to see Tate Modern in the last
two years. That is an amazing statistic and it’s a pointer that people
want to see new work and we want to give it to them in the best form possible.
Does new technology have a strong place in the future of the Company?
I’ve always used technology to make my work before it gets to the studio.
I used to use the Life Forms software and I use high digital cameras to
catch movement and help me refine it. It remains to be seen how people
want to use that on stage. These tools have all been developed to help
us heighten what we do, but we have to be careful that we’re not going
to rely on them to do the work for us.
I made a dance CD-ROM as far back as 1994, so I have a good background
in this area. My instincts are that it can be wonderful, but actually
at the end of the day with an empty stage and a brilliant dancer on it,
you don’t need anything else. That human thing still thrills me more than
other stuff.
Rambert is a medium sized business and there will be a lot of decision
making to be done with some 50 employees. Is that a daunting prospect
for you?
No it’s not really. I do have the benefit of my time at Rambert as a dancer
and I have worked with large companies around the world, so there are
aspects that I understand, even if you haven’t been in the office everyday.
I think that one of the reasons why they may have chosen me is I do have
knowledge of the detail of running a company. With a small company such
as my own you get to see how to make something from almost nothing. The
learning curve for this area was really steep at first because you’re
struggling with financial issues the whole time if you’re an ambitious
project funded company.
When I went to the Rambert interview I did angle it in the direction that
I understand business. I spent a lot of time examining the draft accounts
with one of my best friends who is a Professor of Accounting at Reading
University and another who is a City Editor. So, it’s not as foreign a
language to me as people might expect.
When I met with the Executive Director, Sue Wyatt, she understood that
I understood what she had to do because of my own personal connections
with the business world. Everything I do has cost implications so I wouldn’t
dream of doing anything without running it past Sue first. Let’s be honest,
I don’t think that you can be the Artistic Director of a company unless
the relationship with the Executive Director is on a very firm footing.
We’re going to be doing this together.
Rambert has Prudence Skene as Chairman of the Board and if anyone knows
about arts business it’s her. I’m also blessed because I have Stephen
Brett as my Associate Director and he is wonderful and very organised
and does a great job. That’s what made the job attractive for me that
these people were in place and that I’m able to rely on their expertise
to give me firm advice when I need it.
Where would you like to see Rambert in 5 years time?
I’d like to see Rambert with a repertoire that they can truly call their
own. A repertoire that was made on and for and by the dancers. I would
like to see us have several pieces in the repertoire from the Company’s
back catalogue, because they are complete works of art that are worth
reviving again and again. That the whole thing smacks of brilliant originality
and that says things about the times we live in now in Britain.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
As a postscript,
here is Mark Baldwin’s view of Rambert, six months after assuming the
role of Artistic Director.
MY VISION
FOR RAMBERT
By Mark Baldwin
As I look around Rambert’s home here in West London, I’m constantly aware
of Dame Marie Rambert’s extraordinary achievement in establishing this
fine Company 77 years ago. To follow her, and all of the other illustrious
artistic directors of Rambert, is an enormous responsibility, but one
that I find inspiring.
Since my arrival in December 2002, I have been getting to know all of
Rambert’s dancers and staff and planning the future artistic shape of
the Company’s repertoire. This period of thinking time has led me to the
conclusion that my ambitions for Rambert will be evolutionary rather than
revolutionary. As a former dancer with the Company, I see my appointment
as representing a continuation of the Rambert tradition.
My vision for Rambert is to build on the Company’s reputation and its
Diaghilev roots – perhaps the Company’s most enduring role model. With
this tradition in mind, I will be commissioning a body of new work for
Rambert that draws on my own choreographic and performance experience
and most particularly my interest in modern music makers and visual artists.
This combination has stimulated me to initiate collaborations where dance,
music and design can cohabit in a harmonious and meaningful way. I want
to encourage choreographers, composers and designers to create works that
will be physically powerful, emotionally engaging and above all entertaining.
Integral in my decision making about the commissioning of new works will
be our relationship with our associate orchestra, London Musici.
Collaborations are going to be key to the delivery of my vision for Rambert.
They will provide an opportunity to develop our own distinctive voice
and be our constant source of excellence, public interest and development.
This collaboration extends to Rambert’s excellent dancers whose hunger
for involvement in the creative process will not only stimulate and develop
them as artists, but will help in the emergence of a unique repertoire
for the Company.
It is my desire that Rambert Dance Company should be a leading force in
shaping British modern dance and that it should direct from the front,
rather than just pull in that which appears to be fashionable. Although
Rambert Dance Company occupies a significant position in the dance world,
it cannot rely on yesterday’s successes.
Mark Baldwin – June 2003
Please join the discussion
in our forum.
| |
Archives
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
|
