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Revealing MacMillan - Conference October 2002


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I wanted to confirm that this board had received information about this important event. Below the call for academic papers and proposals for practical contributions. This originally went out with a deadline of 15th December 2001, but as there seem to have been problems ensuring that it reached interested parties, the deadline has been extended to the end of January. I would be grateful if those considering submitting a proposal could contact me as soon as possible to give an indication of their area of interest. On a less formal note the conference organisers are interested to hear from artists and other individuals who have had professsional or personal contact with MacMillan and who may have experiences they want to share.

ROYAL ACADEMY OF DANCE

“REVEALING MACMILLAN”

A CONFERENCE ON KENNETH MACMILLAN - CHOREOGRAPHER AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

TO BE HELD AT ROYAL ACADEMY OF DANCE HEADQUARTERS.

12-13 OCTOBER 2002

October 2002 marks the tenth anniversary of the death of Sir Kenneth MacMillan, and to commemorate the occasion the Royal Academy of Dance is organising a two-day conference at Royal Academy Headquarters on October 12-13 2002.

Trained at the Sadler’s Wells School, MacMillan danced with Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet and at Covent Garden, rising to soloist rank, but turned to choreography in the mid 1950s. By the early 1960s he had become one of Britain’s most acclaimed and controversial choreographers – the ‘angry young man’ of ballet. After a spell as Director of the Berlin Ballet, in 1970 he succeeded Frederick Ashton as the Royal Ballet’s Artistic Director, and in 1977 became the company's Resident Choreographer. His work enjoyed worldwide recognition during his lifetime and continues to enjoy increasing renown since his untimely death; he created works for American Ballet Theatre, Stuttgart Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and the Berlin Ballet, and his ballets have been mounted on companies from Australia to Russia.

MacMillan took ballet into realms of psychology and overt sexuality that were controversial in their time and remain remarkable today. He also created ballets to music many felt was ‘undanceable’ such as Mahler’s ‘Song of the Earth’, Fauré’s ‘Requiem’ and Poulenc’s ‘Gloria’, but silenced criticism by producing works of high emotional intensity which were profound comments on the human condition.

The Conference

The two day conference will combine workshops, reconstructions and panels with papers on all aspects of MacMillan’s work, bringing together memories and views of dancers, repetiteurs, critics, dance writers, scholars and audience. This will enable the conference to take a broad yet detailed view of MacMillan’s extraordinary legacy. Leading figures of the dance world have already agreed to take part in panels, workshops and demonstrations.

This will be the second conference organised by the Royal Academy of Dance, a sequel to their extremely successful 1999 conference, "The Fonteyn Phenomenon". The RAD is uniquely placed to present such a conference, as MacMillan created several roles for Dame Antoinette Sibley, President of the RAD, and his legacy is intimately associated with the Benesh Institute.

Call for Papers

Proposals for presentations are invited on any aspect on MacMillan’s work. A sample of possible themes is suggested below:

Influences on MacMillan: other choreographers, contemporary culture

Psychology in MacMillan’s ballets

Sexuality in MacMillan’s ballets

The pas de deux in MacMillan ballets

MacMillan’s narrative ballets

MacMillan’s dance language

MacMillan’s contribution to British ballet and the English style

MacMillan and his dancers

MacMillan’s work outside The Royal Ballet

The preservation and performance of MacMillan’s ballets today

Presentations may take the form of academic papers, lecture-demonstrations or workshops.

All submissions will be considered and will be selected by blind review. The deadline for proposals has been extended to the end of January 2002, but it would be appreciated if notification of intention to send a proposal could be received as soon as possible. Submissions should be sent to:

Conference Co-ordinator

Royal Academy of Dance

36 Battersea Square

London SW11 3RA

Fax: +44 (0) 20 7924 3129

Email: susiecrow@easynet.co.uk

Notification of acceptance: 1 March 2002

Guidelines For Proposals

 Papers

Abstracts should be no longer than two pages, and should clearly outline the topic, development of the presentation and conclusions, and should indicate the type and amount of illustrative material, if used. The proposed presentation should not have been given elsewhere, and should not take more than 20 minutes to present unless further length is shown to be justified.

 Lecture-Demonstrations

The outline should be not more than two pages in length. Lecture-demonstrations may run from 30-45minutes. If more than one presenter is involved, the principle presenter is responsible for the indication of others being involved. Please indicate clearly requirements for space, time, and audio-visual and/or electronic equipment.

 Workshops

The suggested time span for a dance workshop is 90 minutes. Please submit a written description of not more than two pages outlining the content of the workshop, approach and sources, and provide a statement of the time, equipment, and space required. Please indicate the level of experience and appropriate attire for the participants.

FURTHER INFORMATION

After acceptance of papers by the conference committee, presenters may be allocated a respondent, who will read the paper in advance of the conference and will open up 10 minutes of discussion after the paper has been presented.

It is hoped that conference proceedings or selected papers in book form will be published. Contributors to the publication will be asked to submit their papers by the deadline of 30 November 2002 on disc as well as in hard copy, according to guidelines that will be provided later.

CONFERENCE C0-ORDINATOR: Susan Crow

Tel: 020 8682 1385

GENERAL ENQUIRIES: Lisa Rich, RAD Development and Events Co-ordinator

Tel: 020 7326 8051

CONFERENCE STEERING COMMITTEE:

Luke Rittner (Chairman), Frank Freeman, Stephanie Jordan, Alastair Macaulay, Lady Deborah MacMillan, Monica Mason, Colin Nears, Christopher Nourse, Jann Parry, Jane Pritchard, Richard Thom, Lynn Wallis, Andrew Ward, Joan White, Sarah Woodcock.

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