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Christopher Hampson,
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Tens of works down the line and Christopher is now an internationally known and respected choreographer. So which far flung place is he in this time...
Here is a link to the previous column in the series.
On my way to the States. First stop will be Atlanta, then New York to see my ballet Sinfonietta Giocosa and quick trip to Chicago. For the past two weeks I’ve been rehearsing Perpetuum Mobile at Markova House, headquarters of ENB. I created this work just over nine years ago and it was my first professional commission from the company. I was to have been with the company just a couple of days before they opened in Richmond (March 30th – April 1st), but due to unforeseen circumstances I was asked to go in early in order to set the work on the dancers as there was no company notator for another week. Perpetuum Mobile was notated in 1998 and so I have never had to re-stage it from scratch. The company have performed it nearly every other year since its creation and therefore most of the dancers have done it at some stage or other. Now, if you assume that once a choreographer has created a ballet that he/she remembers every step and nuance, you’d be wrong. What I tend to remember is what it felt like to create, who the artists I worked with were, which sections I like, which parts of the process were difficult. Don’t get me wrong, I know instantly when I see the piece if they are my “steps” or not, but to pluck them out of thin air is a different matter. At home I watched the video of Perpetuum Mobile (illegally made from the back of the auditorium) Well, it was the first performance and not everything went according to plan. Tamara Rojo and Nathan Coppen couldn’t really fit the pas de deux on the small stage at Barnstable and so I had changed a few things. I have other videos (they’re also illegally recorded) from other performances, but each has a little alteration here or there. It was enough to remind me of the ballet and armed with videos and freshly ignited memory I hit the rehearsal studio. The dancers could remember about 35% of the ballet (that’s including an original cast member), and I even less from watching the videos that morning. The company has performed many other works since the last outing of this ballet and I’ve created over 30 new works since 1997 so I forgive the haziness of our recollections. After a rather stop/start rehearsal, frustrating for both me and the dancers, I phoned Caroline to see if she’d just come and read from the Benesh score to clear up any discrepancies. I found the Benesh score in the archives at ENB. The first of the three movements was written out very roughly, the second movement the same and the third movement not at all. I phoned Caroline to tell her not to bother coming in as it was pointless. Back to the videos. By the end of the week we had put together 80% of the ballet, very sketchily and with notes to check with the company notator on her return. The following week with the company notator back the ballet was completed. She was excellent at the fine details of the steps from years of putting the ballet on and reference to teaching notes, not a score. In summary: A twenty minute ballet involving nine people took a choreographer, dancers, three illegally recorded videos and a notator two weeks to put back together. Not rehearsed. Just taught. If there had been a fully written Benesh Score and an authorised video I estimate it would have taken one notator (and I mean any, not just one in the world) a maximum of five days to get the piece taught and ready. Very “well designed” A couple of weeks ago I flew from Madrid's new Rogers designed airport. Looked very nice too, shame the Spanish don't know how it works yet. It took me 45mins to find Terminal 4. Couldn't find any signs for it anywhere, so when I breathlessly found the check-in desk 30mins before my flight closed, I asked why there were no signs..." Beco ith noo earporrrrt. Thry workin ir. By the way, I thin you gonna mith your fly" . I didn't “mith my fly”, but arrived back at Gatwick to catch the wrong train to London Bridge and left suitcase on it. Ended up having to go to St. Lorraine Chase Airport in Luton to collect it, but in the meantime whilst they were tracking down my luggage, I got to sit in the controller’s office and play with trains while I was waiting. So it wasn't all bad. | ||||||||
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