Christopher Bruce influences Flashcards
Walter Gore: connection to bruce?
Bruce briefly performed with Walter Gore’s company, London Ballet, in 1963, whilst a student at the Ballet Rambert School in London.
Walter Gore: who was he?
Gore was a pupil of Massine and Marie Rambert in the 1930s before becoming one of Ballet Rambert’s earliest significant classical choreographers.
Walter Gore: how can Gores influence seen in Bruces choreography?
His influence on Bruce is seen less in classical technique and more in the abstract presentation of social and psychological realism. This can of course be a characteristic of Rambert Ballet’s ‘house style’,
post-1966.
Norman Morrice: who was he?
As Associate Artistic Director of Ballet Rambert in 1966.
He was responsible for the company’s change in direction to a modern dance company as he introduced Graham technique to be taught alongside ballet.
Norman Morrice: how are his influences seen within bruce?
Morrice was interested in exploring contemporary themes and social comment.
Glen Tetley: connection to bruce
dance teacher
Glen Tetley: what did he teach bruce?
Tetley drew on balletic and Graham vocabulary in his pieces, teaching Bruce that ‘the motive for the movement comes from the centre of the body … from this base we use classical ballet as an extension to give wider range and variety of movement’.
Glen Tetley: how are his influences seen in his works?
Tetley’s collaborative approach, particularly with Nadine Baylis
and John B Read, also influenced Bruce.
His early work Living Space (1969) used the same designers.
Bruce’s preference for minimal stage settings, distinctive costume design and atmospheric lighting can be traced back to this.
Anna Sokolow: who was she
Anna Sokolow danced for the Martha Graham Company and
established a career as a dancer and choreographer starting in the 1930s until her death in 2000.
Anna Sokolow: connection to bruce?
She was a guest choreographer for Ballet Rambert in 1967 and 1970.
Anna Sokolow: influence on bruce?
Her works were socially and politically aware, and often used popular music.
Marie Rambert: influence on burce?
Marie Rambert instilled in Bruce high standards and emphasised
the need for theatricality.
