Wayne McGregor: Alchemies

About the Show

The world premiere of a new ballet by Wayne McGregor, alongside Yugen, a poetic response to Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and Untitled, 2023, his powerful artistic collaboration with Carmen Herrera.

A master collaborator, Sir Wayne McGregor has transformed dance in the 21st-century. As Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet, he has ceaselessly created works, single act or full-length, that push the boundaries of ballet. He draws on a wide range of influences, from literature and fine art to science and technology, working with creatives that span the full breadth of contemporary human expression.

Yugen
Leonard Bernstein was a towering figure of American 20th-century music, a prodigious talent whose inimitable style continues to fascinate creative artists today. Yugen was created by McGregor for The Royal Ballet’s Bernstein Centenary celebrations in 2018 in collaboration with artist Edmund de Waal, fashion designer Shirin Guild and lighting designer Lucy Carter. Contemplative and life-affirming, Yugen is McGregor’s paean to Bernstein’s hauntingly beautiful Chichester Psalms.

Untitled, 2023
With her dynamic yet sparing use of form, colour and perspective, the late minimalist artist Carmen Herrera inspired McGregor’s 2023 work for The Royal Ballet. Together with McGregor, Herrera created her first and only designs for the stage. With Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s score of ferocity and desolation, Lucy Carter’s sculptural lighting and stark costuming by Burberry, the result is an exacting work of elemental power.

New Wayne McGregor
A world premiere of a new ballet by Wayne McGregor.

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