Michael Clark

Michael Clark was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1962. He began traditional Scottish dancing at the age of four and went on to win numerous awards and trophies at Highland gatherings. In 1975 he left home to study at The Royal Ballet School in London. There he trained with Richard Glasstone for four years, at which time Glasstone created the leading role for Clark in Odd One In. In 1979 Clark joined Ballet Rambert, working primarily with Richard Alston who created roles for him in Bell High (1979), Landscape (1980), Rainbow Ripples (1981) and, subsequently, two solos: Soda Lake (1981) and Dutiful Ducks (1982).

Clark worked briefly as a freelance dancer in Britain with Mary Fulkerson and Ian Spink, following which he moved to New York to dance with Karole Armitage. The first public concert of his own choreography was in 1982, aged 20, at London's Riverside Studios. He became resident choreographer at Riverside, performing work, as it was ready to be seen and touring reduced scale versions of that work. By 1984 Clark had made 16 original pieces for himself, his friends, and various small-scale companies.

Michael Clark and Company was launched in 1984 with a programme of two works: Do You Me? I Did and New Puritans. The company was an immediate success and went on tour world wide with Not H.air (1984) and Our Caca Phoney H. Our Caca Phoney H (1985).

Through collaborations with fashion designers Bodymap, Leigh Bowery and the artist Trojan, Clark brought a rich visual element to the work. His use of contemporary music and his incorporation of bands such as The Fall, Laibach, and Wire also broadened both his work and his audience. During this period he created a number of original, large scale works for his company: No Fire Escape in Hell (1986), Because We Must (1987), and I Am Curious Orange (1988). These were presented in a series of sell-out seasons at the Sadler's Wells Theatre, London and internationally. Additionally, his commissions for major dance companies have included Le French Revolting (1984) for G.R.C.O.P., Angel Food (1985) for The Paris Opera, Hail The Classical (1985) for Scottish Ballet, Drop Your Pearls and Hog It, Girl (1986) for London Festival Ballet, Swamp (1986) for Ballet Rambert, Rights (1989) for Phoenix Dance Company and Bog 3.0 (1992) for the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

Clark has produced considerable work for film and video, most notably with Charles Atlas in the 1984 TV fantasy documentary Hail the New Puritan and in the 1989 TV film Because We Must. Clark also choreographed and danced the role of Caliban in Peter Greenaway's Prospero's Books (1991) – a feature film version of The Tempest by William Shakespeare.

In 1989, Clark was commissioned by the Anthony D'Offay gallery to create Hetrospective, one of his most intimate and personal works to date. After three years of commissions and solo work he created Mmm… set to Stravinsky's ‘The Rite of Spring’ which toured Japan and the UK in 1992.

Michael further developed his Modern Masterpiece with a new work centring on Stravinsky's 'Apollo': O in 1994. In 1998, after an absence of 4 years, Clark presented a new full-length work current/SEE in collaboration with Susan Stenger, Simon Pearson, Big Bottom and Hussein Chalayan, which filled The Roundhouse in London before touring the UK and Europe. The development of this work became the subject matter of a BBC documentary directed by Sophie Fiennes, The Late Michael Clark.

Before and After: The Fall was Clark's first European co-production, premiering at The Hebbel Theatre, Berlin in 2001 before touring the UK and Europe. It featured a revisiting of Clark's earliest work alongside a major new collaboration with the visual artist Sarah Lucas. In 2003 Clark created the first Satie Stud for William Trevitt of George Piper Dances, produced an evening entitled Would, Should, Can, Did, as part of the Barbican's Only Connect series and choreographed a solo for Mikhail Baryshnikov: Rattle Your Jewellery. (This was expanded to nevertheless, caviar at the Barbican in February 2004.) OH MY GODDESS opened Dance Umbrella's 25th anniversary season at Sadler's Wells, London in October 2003 before touring nationally and internationally. In the autumn 2004 Rambert Dance Company revived Swamp, a piece Clark created for it in 1986, and which received the Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production in 2005.

In 2005 Michael Clark became an Artistic Associate of the Barbican in London. O Stravinsky Project Part 1 premiered on the 1st of November 2005 and marked the first of three projects centred on seminal dance scores by Stravinsky. Mmm... Stravinsky Project Part 2 premiered on the 27th of October 2006. The project concluded with a new work I Do, presented alongside O and Mmm..., in one evening. The final instalment of the Stravinsky Project premiered at the Barbican Theatre on 2 November 2007.