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AnOther (2020). The Story of Michael Clark’s Game-Changing I Am Curious, Orange Performance. [online] AnOther. Available at: https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/13000/michael-clark-s-i-am-curious-orange-performance-the-fall-mark-e-smith.

Crompton, S. (n.d.). Michael Clark. [online] sites.barbican.org.uk. Available at: https://sites.barbican.org.uk/introducingmichaelclark/.

Day, H. (2019). Section 28: What was it and how did it affect LGBT+ people? [online] BBC Three. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/cacc0b40-c3a4-473b-86cc-11863c0b3f30.

Direct and to the point. (2000). The Guardian. [online] 23 Feb. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2000/feb/23/tvandradio.television.

Jamieson, T. (2022). Never mind the bare bottoms: Michael Clark - the Scot enfant terrible of dance. [online] HeraldScotland. Available at: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19946204.michael-clark-v-dundee-sex-drugs-country-dancing/ [Accessed 23 Mar. 2023].

Ostende, F., Barbican Art Gallery and Dundee, V. (2020). Michael Clark - cosmic dancer. Munich ; London ; New York Prestel London Barbican

Searle, A. (2001). Feature: Before And After: The Fall. The Guardian. [online] 24 Oct. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/oct/24/artsfeatures.

www.michaelclarkcompany.com. (n.d.). MICHAEL CLARK COMPANY - About. [online] Available at: https://www.michaelclarkcompany.com/current.php.

www.youtube.com. (2013). BodyMap | Shaping the 1980s | V&A. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OR8yp4Lcoc [Accessed 30 Apr. 2023].

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Contemporary Curated with Choreographer Michael Clark. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o49BHhCqI8 [Accessed 20 Apr. 2023].

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Michael Clark on Newsnight w/ Mark E. Smith (8/6/11). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAVyBDqLmF4 [Accessed 22 Apr. 2023].

www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer: A Tour with Michael Clark and Les Child. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6jIoYquSZ4 [Accessed 24 Apr. 2023].

www.youtube.com. (2014). Unseen McQueen: Interview: Michael Clark. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NNgYoTilQU [Accessed 28 Apr. 2023].

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Scroll right for Key figures essay once finished

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In this essay, I will explore the impact that Michael Clark had on contemporary dance and why this impact is important. I will also discuss how Clark used other art forms for example; costume, music, and props to elevate his work and how his creative process has influenced my own dance practice, and how I view dance, performance, and my body as a site for expression.

Michael Clark was born in 1962, in Aberdeen, Scotland. At 13 he began his training at the Royal Ballet school, leaving one year before his training would finish to join Ballet Rambert under the direction of Richard Alston prior to creating his own company in 1984. During his teenage years at the Royal Ballet School in the 1970s, Clark discovered London’s emerging Punk scene and was influenced by the sex Pistols, Vivienne Westwood, Siouxsie Sioux, and other punk pioneers. This punk influence in Clark’s early life characterised his work and continues to do so throughout his career.

Outreach and Impact on popular culture

Clark innovated contemporary dance through his outreach; his work is made not solely to be enjoyed by dancers and isn’t solely about dance. Clark’s work has mostly been collaborative, in this way, he had a much wider impact on art and culture consequently introducing contemporary dance and ballet to British subculture. Ballet is considered to be a form of high art in ways other dance practices are not. Clark’s work, however, marries Ballet with more mainstream art forms appreciated and partaken in by the youth of the 1970s and 80s for example, punk music and the visual art of Club culture. Clark collaborated with various artists and friends to produce his eclectic performances. The earliest examples of this are Clark’s works to the music of post-punk band The Fall with costume design provided by Club Kid icon Leigh Bowery and emerging fashion company Bodymap. In 1984 shortly after the formation of Michael Clark & Company Clark appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test, an influential music TV show dancing in front of The Fall and sporting a bottomless leotard designed by Bowerey. The impact of this broadcast helped Clark bring contemporary dance into the mainstream and is still felt today. Through his collaborations, Clark plays with the grand and ornate staging of classical ballet, his work follows this elaborate staging but creates entirely different imagery. Whilst classical ballet’s lavish decor presents a world of 17th-century elitism Clark’s collaborations create an epic landscape of queer expression, 1980s consumer culture, and the life of Britain's working-class youth. In his piece I am Curious, orange (1988)  the set includes a video collage backdrop by Ceryth Wyn Evans including scenes of London’s big ben and the houses of parliament. Giant macdonalds fries descend from the roof and there is even a staged football match. This work is a prime example of how Clark dragged classical and contemporary dance into the 20th century. He demands that dance be a part of popular culture, that it is just as integral to the cultural climate as football, punk music, and fashion.

Punk vs Ballet

What is interesting about Clark’s work is that despite having the visual aspects of punk and exploring themes of drug abuse and sexuality in his work, his movement language is still extremely balletically codified. His work so clearly illustrates him as a person and his coexisting identities, on the one hand, a dancer who experienced rigorous training at the royal ballet school, and on the other a queer punk with a fascination for the outrageous. For example in his earliest work, New Puritans (1984) Clark and his dancers can be seen doing movements reminiscent of the ballet Couru but instead of wearing pointe shoes they are in large platform boots, additionally, we see an inversion of a classical pas de deux with a female dancer supporting a male dancer in front of her. The choreography includes more shocking moments juxtaposed with flawless technical ability for example at one point Clark and a female dancer do a series of complex jumps directly followed by Clark sniffing his armpit and scratching his bare bottom. This entire piece is made more elaborate by the costuming done by Leigh Bowery who dressed the dancers in the aforementioned leotards which reveal their bums and have protruding fabric breasts. Clark’s work has drawn my attention to a new way of viewing dance, not as a purely movement-based practice but as a performance art. Clark’s words from an interview for the Guardian in 2001 particularly resonated with me, he remarks “I was reacting to a particular dance ethos - which had always seemed to mean saying no to spectacle, to comedy or narrative, no to virtuosity. I wanted to say yes to all those things, to acknowledge those elements as part of the visual aspect of dance, which has to include how people are dressed” (Searle, 2001) Prior to discovering Clark’s work in 2020, the contemporary dance I had seen was always very serious and dealt with heavy subject matter. Despite his playfulness, Clark has always taken his work seriously showing that these two things are not mutually exclusive. I think that this dedication to the ridiculous comes across as authentic to his audiences. Whilst my ambitions for my own dance practice have much less of a balletic influence than Clark’s, it is his authenticity that has inspired me and helped me understand how to have fun with my own process of creation. I’ve found that letting myself explore the performative side of my creativity has allowed me to think about creation as more than just movement choreography and instead as a piece of art, incomplete without the inclusion of my own visual aesthetic through the mediums of costume, set, and sound. The juxtaposition between technique and visual aesthetics in Clark’s work is illustrated perfectly in this quote from the Barbican’s biography of him “No one has taken ballet further from its historic origins while remaining so true to its classical principles.” (Crompton, n.d.)

Queer identity

Despite what may have been expected of him Clark’s work often doesn’t have a distinctly political message. However in 1989, Clark created Wrong a duet performed to “imperfect list” by Big Hard Excellent Fish; a spoken word commentary on the failures of Margaret Thatcher's government, worldwide oppression, and the homophobic legislation section 28. (Ostende, Barbican Art Gallery and Dundee, 2020, p.41) This piece begins with Clark and another male dancer nude in front of a projection of a gay couple having sex. The 80s was a decade that saw a multitude of unapologetic queer figures in defiance against attitudes like those promoted by section 28, especially in the world of art. Clark’s work platforms queer dancers and artists, in fact, Catherine Wood suggests that Clark’s work, rather than making distinct political messages about the struggles of LGBTQ people, creates a vivid queer utopia. (Ostende, Barbican Art Gallery and Dundee, 2020, p.92) As a queer person, this aspect of Clark’s work has always interested me. I had never seen a figure in contemporary dance so openly express their sexuality and quickly realised that I had subconsciously separated contemporary dance from queer art forms like drag. However, seeing Clark represent his queer identity in his contemporary dance practice has allowed me to reevaluate how I can be authentic in my own by viewing my body as a site for movement but simultaneously for expression.

Clark’s later work and where he is now

Clark continues to be an influential figure in his later life. With the beginning of the new century, his battle with substance abuse, and the death of Leigh Bowery and other close friends from AIDS, Clark’s work undoubtedly changed but his dedication to creating unique work remains. His work continues to follow the lines of popular culture as it shifts and evolves, his choreography for supermodel Kate Moss in Alexander McQueen’s 2004 show Black is a testament to this (www.youtube.com, 2014). Still, Clark is bringing his company to unconventional performance spaces for example Glastonbury Festival and the Tate Modern (www.michaelclarkcompany.com, n.d.) therefore continuing his tradition of introducing contemporary dance to new audiences. Most recently Clark’s contribution to art and contemporary dance has been celebrated in the Barbican art gallery. Something I admire Clark for is his appreciation for life and joy. He refuses to be dictated by the harmful precedent that a dancer's career is over once they are no longer young, this attitude is something I hope to adopt as I age. Clark shows a love for dance is lifelong and that passion persists. I want to conclude this essay with words from Clark himself which I think illustrate the life of a creative as everchanging and always open to influence: “I actually like myself right now. It’s interesting to look at what we’ve done in the past but I’m kind of excited about the future”(www.youtube.com, n.d.)

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Scroll to the right for reflections on Composition once finished.

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- Montalvo, D. (2021). How AIDS Activists Used ‘Die-Ins’ to Demand Attention to the Growing Epidemic. [online] HISTORY. Available at: https://www.history.com/news/aids-activism-protests-act-up-die-ins [Accessed 29 Jan. 2023].
- www.youtube.com. (n.d.). United in Anger. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrAzU79PBVM&t=2s [Accessed 16 Jan. 2023].

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Crary, J. (2013). 24/7 : Late capitalism and the ends of sleep. New York: Verso, p.10.

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(Crary,2013,p10)

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In conclusion, in this unit, I’ve learnt a lot about what a creative process consists of. By doing the protest project I realised how important it is to communicate and have a mutual intention with a group of people. I also realised how vital feedback is in the process of creating a piece and feel as if I have developed an openness to being challenged that I didn’t have before. In composition, being able to improvise around components of choreology has made me think more about how I can create impactful choreography and has shown me how trial and error is necessary for creative development.

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During this jam session, I found it difficult to think about all the different components working at the same time because I was so used to doing them individually. I think the way I entered the space made sense because it contrasted the other dancers' speed, providing a new dynamic. I also tried to lead with and isolate different body parts. On reflection I would try to change the way I used the space, for example, distancing myself from Alma and Serra after our first interaction may have been a more interesting use of space at this moment. I found this lesson informative and thought it was well built up from our previous focus on rhythm.

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Improvised composition with the structural model

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Improvised composition with the structural model

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As the process went on we started to think about the other components of the structural model. In our third week, we practised moving in relation to body, action, dynamics and space. At the end of the lesson, we had an improvisation jam with everyone coming in and out of the space, in this way, we were able to explore the fifth component, relationships. One piece of feedback that Eva gave us that I felt was particularly relevant was to think of our individual roles in the composition of this improvisation and if the piece would benefit an extra body in the space or not.

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From watching back this video I realised that I tend to veer more towards impact than impulse and that I still struggle with creating impact when I move against gravity, and impulse when I move with it. I also tend to move slowly and at a continuous pace as I’ve never been challenged to think about accelerating or decelerating before. I want to work on this in my improvisation as I think it will make my movement much more exciting to watch. The next time I improvise to create impact and impulse, I think I’ll use a rhythmic score so that I don’t get lost in the movement and maintain focus on my ability to explore different dynamics.

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During 2nd term, we had Composition lessons with Eva. During these sessions, we learnt about Choreology. We spent lots of time learning about the structural model by Valerie Preston-Dunlop. This model presents movement in these five components: Relationships, body, action, dynamics, and space. At the beginning of this process, we focused on dynamics, specifically the function of rhythm. We learnt the 5 rhythmic units; impulse (the process of decelerating), impact (the process of accelerating), swing, rebound, and continuous. Having such a strong focus on rhythm at the beginning of the term made me think much more critically about the default in movement and how we tend to use impact in movement that drops and impulse in ones that lift. Eva challenged this assumption by making us think about reversing these roles. I found myself wanting to get better at my use of rhythm and started using the idea of impact and impulse in my improvisation

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"Sleep is an uncompromising interruption of the theft of time from us by capitalism."

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"Sleep is an uncompromising interruption of the theft of time from us by capitalism."

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"Sleep will always collide with the demands of a 24/7 universe."

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"Sleep will always collide with the demands of a 24/7 universe."

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During the protest project, we had bi-weekly design sessions with Sharon Coleman. In these sessions, we were made to think about the relationship between design and dance, and how our design choices would enhance our piece. In our first session, we split into small groups and chose an area of the school that we occupied with our design. Daphne, Alma, and I created a den with the intention of providing a relaxing atmosphere. We used pink and purple blankets to decorate the sofa. We were successful in this task and received feedback that our design created a space with a calming quality. In each session, we formed small groups to work in and shared our work at the end. By creating my designs and watching others I began to realise how a clear narrative could be created. Despite our final piece not having a narrative this element of storytelling helped in our creative process as it allowed us to think critically about how our piece would be perceived by an audience. In our last session with Sharon, we decided on our costumes for the protest project, as a group we discussed how we wanted to look pedestrian but not match our clothes or wear typical dance clothing, like jogging bottoms or t shirts, because we didn’t want to appear like a group of dancers but rather people from all walks of life who have come together as an anonymous group of bodies to protest.

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Another moment that we responded to feedback in the creative process was at the very end. Originally we had planned to walk out of the space, leaving the purple cloth on the floor. However, upon showing this to Eva she said that it was vital for us to bring the cloth with us. This led to a discussion about why we couldn’t leave the cloth which helped us identify our relationship with it further. I and many others thought that leaving the cloth in the space would be symbolic of passing the responsibility of protest on to the audience, however, Eva and other members of the class pointed out that our entire piece interacts with the cloth in a caring manner and to leave it on stage would destroy this connection. On reflection it was the right choice to take the cloth off stage with us as it resulted in a much more coherent ending.

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After watching us do this we received feedback from Tom who shared with us extracts about sleep being the final available method of protest in a capitalist society obsessed with productivity from a book called  '24/7' by  Jonathan Crary. This feedback really resonated with us as a group and we began to focus our sessions around this idea. After Tom’s insight, we started to think of more ways in which we could incorporate rest and sleep into our piece. This resulted in the final product having multiple pauses where we can be seen lying down peacefully.

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In our tenth session, we were exploring movement underneath the cloth contrasted with stillness, the cumulative nature of protest, and the initial action of getting involved. From this idea, we explored getting underneath the cloth one by one and spreading it out from underneath so that it covered the studio floor. We got feedback from Eva about how to first encounter the cloth thinking about how long we touch it before we join underneath, if we approach it alone or with someone, if we are hesitant to get under the cloth, etc. From this point, we contrasted movement from under the cloth with a collective stillness which let the cloth settle on our still bodies laying down. This action was also an attempt to subtly reference the “die in’s” carried out by ACT UP that we had discussed with Tom. Looking back this session was a significant moment in our process as our interaction with the cloth as a metaphor for interaction with protest only grew from this point forward.

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In this unit we were introduced to a variety of creative processes, the first of which was the protest project, led by Eva Recacha and Tom Hastings. We began our sessions for this project by discussing the aesthetics of protest and what protest meant to us. We talked about protest as a uniting force and as a visual representation of solidarity. With Tom, we also discussed a documentary about the activist group ACT UP and how they used their bodies in space to protest during the AIDS epidemic and how this protest alongside so many others was highly choreographed. In our first session, we started playing with props to emulate the aesthetics of protest. In this session, we found our way underneath a large purple cloth. In the next few lessons, we kept coming back to this cloth and so decided to make it a central part of our piece. We felt that being concealed under the cloth so that from the outside an audience member could only see a mass of bodies, provided a sense of anonymity. This was one of the elements of protest we had discussed in the first session; the sense that a large number of people could be united under one cause. In the next sessions we started to develop our relationship with the cloth as a group and began to experiment with lifts and contact improvisation underneath the cloth. This led to discussions that would take us on to the next stage of our process.