The London Ballet Circle - Promoting interest in dance and kindred arts

We were delighted to welcome Cathy Marston, Director of The Cathy Marston Project, Associate Artist of the Royal Opera House, and newly appointed Director of the Bern Ballet. Cathy was interviewed by Robin Key.

Robin began by asking Cathy about her current project; a short work for the Washington Ballet in a programme entitled Seven by Seven - an evening of seven minute pieces. The theme of the evening is Shakespeare, so Cathy has created a ballet for three dancers based on the closet scene from Hamlet , to be premiered in May 2007. Immediately after the premiere, Cathy will rush back to London to finalise her new work for ROH2 at the Linbury. This is based on the ancient Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus. She described the creation of this work, which was the result of a long collaboration with the composer Stuart McRae. During her stay at Cove Park , an artistic retreat in Scotland , she was joined by the composer and, with the help of Ted Hughes's translation of Ovid, they decided that Echo and Narcissus would be an ideal subject for their proposed creation. Cathy uses a method of research and development to compose her dance pieces, and this project will include singers, dancers and a VJ, who will use video images in this contemporary interpretation, for which a dramaturge, Edward Kemp, will write a libretto. The actual rehearsals will start in April and the performances will be towards the end of May in the Linbury. She has been auditioning dancers and the cast will include Jenny Tattersall from the Royal Ballet, and other dancers known to us who have danced many times for Cathy.

Her next big project is for Northern Ballet Theatre in 2008, and will be a full length ballet on A Tale of Two Cities. The composer, designer, lighting designer and librettist have already been decided on and this will be a major production for Cathy.

Robin then asked Cathy about what led her to be a choreographer. As a child Cathy was a fan of the television policewoman Juliet Bravo and wanted to be her, so her mother arranged for Cathy to go to all sorts of classes as she was too young for drama. She had classes in horse riding, swimming and dancing, but eventually dancing took over. After attending summer schools, she was accepted for the Royal Ballet Upper School. At this time the Upper School was a two year course, and she was given the chance to choreograph, which she had already tried during summer schools. She enjoyed this opportunity and was encouraged by her teachers. Cathy and Matthew Dibble had asked for a contemporary class at Upper School and some classes were then provided. The Director of Zurich Ballet visited the School on a contemporary class day and noticed Cathy. She persuaded him to watch the video of her Ursula Moreton Award winning work, he was so impressed 1hat he gave her a contract wi1h Zurich Ballet.

On arrival in Switzerland Cathy immediately loved Zurich and its lake, suitable for swimming. She found friends awaiting her and settled into an apartment with other dancers. The company was very different from the Royal Ballet, being much smaller and with dancers of different shapes and sizes. However, when she saw the first mixed programme she was impressed by these dancers who were exactly right for the choreography. Cathy explained the Continental system of running dance companies, where Directors appoint dancers and when the Director changes, everyone gets fired! This is normal practice and it gave Cathy the opportunity, when the Zurich Director left, to work with Richard Wherlock in his new (much smaller) company in Lucerne, where she stayed for three years. During this time she was allowed to keep her connection with Covent Garden and create work for Dance Bites. However, at the end of three years, Richard Wherlock went to Berlin and Cathy then went on to Bern for a year, before finally going freelance. The Lucerne company was a small group and Cathy found herself working in contemporary technique, which she found incredibly hard but enjoyable and worth the effort.

At the start of her freelance career, Cathy had been offered some sponsorship which enabled her to use some Royal Ballet dancers in new works for the Clore and Linbury, and this led to more projects at the Opera House, following the formation of ROH2 with Deborah Bull as Director, and Cathy appointed as first Associate Artist.

As her projects expanded at the Opera House she began to use other dancers, as well as the RB dancers, and this new group formed the nucleus of her new company. Commissions came in, including one from David Nixon for a short work for Northern Ballet Theatre, Mats Skoog at ENB was supportive and Cathy's reputation grew. Cathy explained how her appointment as Associate Artist at the ROH helped the development of her career with reference to long term planning. When she decided to form her own independent company she had to manage the business side of running a company, which involved arranging tours herself, setting up the Board, becoming a charity and applying for Arts Council funding. Cathy stressed how important it is for her to have her own company to further her career, as it is very difficult to be taken on by a ballet company as company choreographer. Luckily, Cathy enjoys the business side and learning the practicalities of management, as well as creating choreography.

As soon as the Arts Council backing was secured, Cathy was invited to apply for the Directorship of the Bern Company. At the interview, she said that she wanted a repertoire company and not a company limited to doing her own work only. This plan would enable her to see the work of other people and allow the time to concentrate on her own creations. When the subject of full length ballets was discussed, she invited the Director to see her Ghosts based on Ibsen's play and after that she was offered the job. In the last few months Cathy has been busy planning programmes for Bern, using her small group of dancers and with a full orchestra. Some of her regular London dancers will be joining her in Bern and she has since engaged many new dancers.

Cathy told us about the ideas behind her interpretation of Ghosts and how these were developed with the librettist to explore time shifts in the play. The composer Dave Maric was also involved in this research and development process, before the actual choreography began. Cathy is now planning a version of The Firebird and wants to get away from the traditional Diaghilev story. She is researching the Russian historical background, with reference to events at the time of the ballet's creation; especially Rasputin and the Russian royal family.

The company in Bern has two stages; the main theatre is a traditional opera house and they have a new space in a converted warehouse with a very big stage; also a new ballet studio is being built. The company will have two premiers on the main stage and one premier on the warehouse stage.

Cathy described her early ballets as being mostly about her personal experiences, but later on she learnt to express her thoughts through the context of other characters. The state of contemporary dance in the UK, compared to Europe was raised, and Cathy considers that contemporary dance is more highly valued in Europe, e.g. Nederlands Dance Theatre is revered on the Continent but not popular in the UK. The differences between dance companies in the UK and in Europe were discussed, with regard to management style. choreographer-led companies, contracts and programmes.

Cathy answered questions from members, and said she prefers to commission scores and work with the composer in creating a new piece, and would like to make a full length work to a commissioned score. There is a new Intendant at Bern, where opera, theatre and ballet share the theatre; in fact, everyone is new except for the resident conductor who is staying. Cathy ended by thanking us for our support over the years and perhaps welcoming us to Bern for a performance of her new company. The evening ended with many thanks to our speaker for a most interesting evening and the presentation of champagne.