Mr. Christopher Bruce CBE This is Me

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1. 1. Christopher Bruce, Associate Choreographer

   www.houstonballet.org/Inside_H - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/11/2008   Last Visited: 6/11/2008

   Houston Ballet > Inside Houston Ballet > Artistic Staff > Christopher Bruce
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   CHRISTOPHER BRUCE, Associate Choreographer
   
   Hailed by London's The Daily Telegraph as "the Nureyev of contemporary ballet," Christopher Bruce was appointed Houston Ballet Associate Choreographer in 1989.In April 1994, Mr. Bruce assumed the artistic directorship of The Rambert Dance Company, Britain's most prestigious contemporary dance troupe.At the time of his appointment, The London Times hailed him as an artist who "could change the face of British dance."
   
   Over the last two decades, Houston Ballet has emerged as Mr. Bruce's artistic home in America.The company has ten works by Mr. Bruce in its repertoire.He has staged his Ghost Dances, Swansong, Sergeant Early's Dream, Cruel Garden, Rooster, and Land for the company and has created four original works: Guatama Buddha (1989), Journey (1990), Nature Dances (1992), and Hush (2006).In 1990, Houston Ballet traveled to Denmark to film Ghost Dances and Journey for Danish Television.
   
   Christopher Bruce's position as one of Britain's leading choreographers, working with both classical and contemporary companies world wide, was acknowledged in March 1993 when he received the International Theatre Institute Award for excellence in international dance.This followed a host of other awards throughout a rich career, including the first Evening Standard Award for Dance in 1974 due to his contribution to British dance, both as a performer and as a choreographer.In 1996, he received the Evening Standard Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement in Ballet.In June 1998, he was named a Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II as part of the Queen's Birthday Honors.
   
   As a choreographer, Christopher Bruce was undoubtedly stimulated by the variety and experimentation of Ballet Rambert in the 1960s, creating over twenty works for the company.Between 1975 and 1987, he was first associate director and then, as he was increasingly in demand internationally as a choreographer, associate choreographer for Rambert.
   
   During his career, he has choreographed for a wide range of productions including musicals, plays for the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, operas, television, and video.Although his productions have been mounted throughout the world, Mr. Bruce has developed special relationships with a number of companies, including Houston Ballet, Netherlands Dance Theater, Royal Danish Ballet, Cullberg Ballet, English National Ballet, Gulbenkian Ballet, and Le Ballet du Grand Theatre de Genéve.Among his best known works are Cruel Garden, Ghost Dances, Sergeant Early's Dream, Intimate Pages, The Dream is Over, Swansong, and Rooster, all of which have been televised.

2. 2. www.danceinsider.com

   www.danceinsider.com/f2005/f11 - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/1/2005   Last Visited: 3/15/2007

   LONDON -- Rambert Dance Company, whose dancers are skillful at tackling the work of a wide range of choreographers, looked as confident as ever November 16 at Sadler's Wells, performing eclectic work by Rafael Bonachela, Christopher Bruce and Michael Clark, a performance in which it was joined by its associate orchestra London Musici.
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   "A Steel Garden," by Rambert's former artistic director, Christopher Bruce, is disappointing in light of the other pieces; while the dancers perform competently the choreography looks dated and jaded.

3. 3. B.co Christopher Bruce - leaving Rambert

   ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_01/d - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/23/2001   Last Visited: 6/9/2008

   Christopher Bruce
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   When, earlier this month, Christopher Bruce announced his intention to retire as Artistic Director of the Rambert Dance Company, he took the UK dance world by storm.He seemed comfortably fixed in the job, a rare thing in today's revolving-door world of artistic directors, particularly dance company artistic directors.Rambert hastily called a press conference, and Bruce (Marriott) asked me to attend in his place, a novelty for me, but, I reasoned, I could easily piggy-back on the questions asked by the real journalists to produce the required short report.
   
   It didn't turn out like that at all.To begin with, the event took place in the echoing vastness of the Royal Opera House's Floral Hall and I wasn't nearly as inconspicuous as I had hoped.Still, I managed to bluff my way through.
   
   Christopher Bruce joined the Rambert as a dancer 1963 - in the days when it was still known as the Ballet Rambert - and created his first choreographic work for them in 1969.Over the years he has created many works, probably the most outstanding of which are ‘Swansong', ‘Ghost Dances' and ‘Cruel Garden', a collaborative work he created with the performance artist Lindsay Kemp based on the life of the Spanish playwright Gabriel Garcia Lorca.His early training in classical dance has enabled him to move comfortably across the entire span of dancing - classical, folk and rock - and has earned him an international reputation (he has choreographed for the Royal Danish Ballet, Sweden's Cullberg Ballet and the Houston Ballet amongst others).
   
   From where I was sitting in the Floral Hall, you might have taken Bruce for a trendy architect; he's a black polo-neck sweater sort of man, quiet of voice and steady of gaze.He confirmed in his low voice that he would be staying on as Rambert's AD for at least another year, and would be very much hands-on in that time.He indicated that he would stay on longer if required.He felt, he said, that eight years was ‘long enough' in the job.He wanted to get on with his many other interests - gardening, wall-building, drawing, writing etc. as well as learning at least one musical instrument.
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   Christopher Bruce will indeed be a hard act to follow as Rambert's AD.Not many dance companies can boast an AD who is both a talented administrator and a gifted, prolific choreographer.As the latter, Bruce's style falls usefully between classical and contemporary, allowing him to roam freely between works like the sassily rock-orientated ‘Rooster' and the more serious ‘Swansong', a three-man ballet , which, with its story of two uniformed men brutalising a helplessly chair-bound third, is often pressed into use at Amnesty galas and the like.Ironically, Bruce is on record as saying the piece has nothing to do with politics - it was created at a time of personal pressure in his life when his dancing career was drawing to an end and he felt trapped, for financial reasons, by the necessity to carry on (he had a young family at the time).
   
   ‘Ghost Dances' is another piece with seemingly political overtones - the dancers, resembling skeletons, die into each others'arms and with its use of Andean pipe music, it is impossible not to think of the ‘disappeared' of Pinochet's Chile.It remains one of his most haunting and moving works, and looking at the body of his work, one is struck by its unique qualities of humanity and compassion.Offhand, I can't think of any other contemporary choreographer with a social conscience to match Bruce's.
   
   His immediate future plans include a visit to the US in the New Year to stage 'Ghost Dances' for Ballet West in Salt Lake City and he will be doing further work for Houston Ballet.
   
   The company's own plans for 2002 look enticing - their Spring tour, which opens in Truro in February and goes on to Sheffield, High Wyombe, Mold, Norwich, Newcastle, London and Brighton - includes a revival of Lindsay Kemp's 'The Parades Gone By' and will include works by Mats Ek, Siobhan Davies, Richard Alston, Wayne McGregor, Jiri Kylian and Bruce himself.
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   I asked Bruce finally how the Rambert dancers had taken the news of his impending retirement..He smiled. 'They're a bit sad' he said 'but they wish the best for me and they know they'll have me around for little a while yet'.