Wayne McGregor brings to India one of his most prominent productions, Flesh in the age of Reason (FAR), which redefines contemporary dance with his visionary approach. By Ramya Palisetty
Have you ever imagined choreographing an act with artificial intelligence, kinesthetics and heart imagingIJ With an ensemble of 10 contemporary dance performers, Wayne McGregor’s Flesh in the age of Reason is inspired by the controversial age of enlightenment. With the distinctive style of graceful lines, curves and angles coupled with powerful background score by Ben Frost, the oeuvre transports the audience to a world of hope and imagination.
Eclectic, elegant and insightful, McGregor has been regarded as the creative genius of the modern era. He is internationally renowned for his innovative performances rendering his audience spellbound. A multi award winning British choreographer and director, he started his company from a scratch. The exquisite studio in london is built to creatively inspire young artists to want to move. The company Wayne McGregor recently came to India for designing Mix the Body app in collaboration with Attakkalari Dance Company and British Council. The purpose was to get the youth engaged and interested in working with arts in a different way. The app encourages people to make their own dances and become choreographers.
McGregor saw voracious hunger and passion among Indian artists who are eager to share their individuality through their expressive art forms. With immense potential and no proper outlet, the fire is boiling away ready to explode. He sternly believes that dance has an emotional as well as intellectual dimension. To write his compositions, he works with experts from the field of economics, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, anatomy and history. After working for 25 years, he is still critical of his previous works and hence, he doesn’t often look back to his past. With child like enthusiasm, he loves mentoring and nurturing new choreographers as they have a fresh voice and are on the edge of discovering their art. To achieve this purpose, he came up with theFreespace project through which 25 artists or companies are given 5 weeks of free space in the new studio. Its main focus is on communities that have limited access or groups of young people who are known to be difficult. Already an year into its inception, the project has garnered tremendous success.
His only advise to aspiring artists is to believe in themselves and aim to achieve the next step. He has been dancing from a young age in bad circumstances. People insisted him to do a different job, that he would never be a choreographer but he stuck to his guns and today, he is successful beyond anyone’s wildest imagination.