The slogan slams against the blue sky. “Everyday amazing things start here. » “Amazing things start here every day. ” Here ? A Here East, an area in turmoil created in 2014 in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, east of London. Six thousand people study there and work in the many new technology, design and architecture agencies that are springing up there like mushrooms. And in the heart of this hive, whose motto suits him like a glove, the choreographer and overactive researcher Wayne McGregor, also director of the Venice Dance Biennale, from July 13 to 29, set up his rehearsal studio in 2017 .
Overactive? The word is narrow for this go-getter and indestructible artist. A glance at his schedule, shoehorned in, makes you dizzy. Admittedly, he gets up every morning at 5:30 a.m. and goes to bed around 10 p.m. – except on opening nights. “He is constantly overflowing with ideas and everything is dance for him”, slips a loved one always amazed. In May, his ballet The Dante Project was still on the stage of the Palais Garnier, in Paris, that he had already investigated two creations for his company and the Royal Ballet of London, and had already joined the team of director Brian Friel for Dancing at Lughnasa, also programmed in May at the National Theatre, still in London.
While the English choreographic scene is shrinking, Wayne McGregor, who this year celebrates thirty years of creation, arouses expectations and devours the bill. All posters, even the most unique. Created in May 2022, in the ABBA Arena, in London, a room specially built for the phenomenon and which will be dismantled as soon as the performances are over, ABBA Travel, virtual concert of the avatars of the Swedish group that he choreographed, is a success. ” The ticket office is now open until 2024,” does not fail to specify one of its collaborators.
Bringing fantasies to life
In this maelstrom, the workaholic manages to find time to talk about himself. Tuesday, June 13, at the end of the morning, hardly had we crossed the secure double doors of his den when he suddenly appeared, dressed all in black, light, smiling, efficient. A coffee in hand and, presto, we follow in our guide’s footsteps in the huge, high-ceilinged place that houses his company. As he passes, he caresses a bristly-haired wolf planted in the hall. “It’s the character of the opera Acis et Galatea that I staged in 2009”, is he having fun before taking us to works by the Cuban painter Carmen Herrera (1915-2022), to whom he paid homage in his ballet Untitled, 2023. “It’s a bit like my art gallery here”, continues the one who likes to generate joint works with composers (Jamie xx, Thomas Adès) and visual artists (Ólafur Elíasson, Tacita Dean).
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