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Michael Nunn and Billy Trevitt founded George Piper
Dances in January 2001 with an aim to dispel the elitism that surrounds
classical dance.
"There are some companies I鈥檓 sure that struggle,
because people very much consider them as high-art," said the
companies co-director Billy Trevitt.
"You really need to know what you鈥檙e watching
and to know dance intimately before you can get something out of
one of their shows. That鈥檚 not the case with us."
With a goal to promote accessibility to a new and
wider audience, George Piper has developed a repertoire that bridges
the classical idiom with the contemporary.
Michael Nunn and Billy Trevitt |
Their fresh, demystifying approach to the life
of a classical dancer captivated the public鈥檚 attention, notably
entrancing those with no knowledge or experience of dance.
"In the way our programme works there鈥檚 definitely
something in there for everyone and you鈥檒l find yourself being introduced
to work you wouldn鈥檛 normally consider," enthused Trevitt.
"The first piece we do in the evening is called
Critic鈥檚 Choice. The idea was to get these critically acclaimed
choreographers to all make us a short piece,the
other twist was to film the process.
"For us the really interesting part is the
time spent in the studio rehearsing and collaborating, but the audience
always miss out on that. So we show the films during the performance
so the audience gets to see a little bit about what goes into making
dance.
"Because you understand a bit of the process
and to meet the people and understand the collaboration and the
fun we have in the studio, I think it make it much easier to watch."
Following 12 years with The Royal Ballet and a
subsequent two years with K Ballet, Michael and Billy are known
as the Ballet Boyz where their film diaries shown on Channel 4 have
received huge audience figures.
"One of the reasons we went out on our own
is that a big company like The Royal Ballet has to keep reproducing
Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty.
Michael and Billy |
"I鈥檓 sure you can imagine there鈥檚 only so
many times you can dance those pieces without being bored.
"New choreographer is what keeps dancers interested
and if there isn鈥檛 enough of that you start to look elsewhere.
"We wanted the chance to take control and
commission people ourselves who we wanted to work with. That just
wasn鈥檛 happening for us their so we took the bull by the horns and
did it ourselves.
"The music is fascinating, a wonderful mixture
of compositions. The lighting is spectacular and very different
throughout the performance and of course the dancers are beautiful
too."
The George Piper Dances perform at Norwich's
Theatre Royal on Thursday 26 June, 2003.
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