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.

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.

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.) 

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 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.)  

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].