Chroma (ballet)

Chroma marks the second time Wayne McGregor choreograph for the Royal Opera House main stage, having previously created works for the Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio Theatre.[1][2] According to McGregor, it was created within three weeks, with four to five hours of rehearsals each day.[3] The ballet is performed by ten dancers, some of the original cast members went on to be McGregor's frequent collaborators, such as Edward Watson, Steven McRae and Eric Underwood. The original cast also featured several Royal Ballet lead dancers, some of whom were working with McGregor for the first time. The female dancers are completely off pointe.[2]

The music include four pieces by British composer Joby Talbot, as well as Talbot's rearrangement of three songs by Jack White of the American rock band White Stripes, including "Aluminum", "The Hardest Button to Button" and "Blue Orchid".[1][4] The set was designed by British architect John Pawson, who was known for his minimalist style. Pawson was brought in after he was approached by McGregor to create "amazing plain canvases in which anything can happen." Chroma was the first time Pawson design for a stage.[1][5]

The choreography, design and music received critical acclaim, with The Times noted "McGregor’s Chroma is ravishing on all fronts, choreography, music and design," and The Guardian wrote that the ballet was "the tension between chaos and minimalism is extreme."[6][7] The success of Chroma led to McGregor being appointed resident choreographer of the Royal Ballet, a position that was previously held by Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan, thus making him the first contemporary artist and the only one without any ballet training.[8]

The Royal ballet had since revived Chroma and was performed on tour. Other ballet companies that had danced the piece include National Ballet of Canada (2010), San Francisco Ballet (2011), Bolshoi Ballet (2011) and The Australian Ballet (2014).[1] In 2013, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is the first modern dance troupe to perform Chroma.[9] In 2016, on the 10th anniversary of Chroma, the Royal Ballet was performed Chroma alongside five dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, including Jacqueline Green and Jamar Roberts.[10][11]

• World premiere: Federico Bonelli, Alina Cojocaru, Lauren Cuthbertson, Sarah Lamb, Steven McRae, Ludovic Ondiviela, Tamara Rojo, Eric Underwood, Edward Watson, Jonathan Watkins[12]
• Royal Ballet DVD: Federico Bonelli, Ricardo Cervera, Tamara Rojo, Mara Galeazzi, Sarah Lamb, Steven McRae, Laura Morera, Ludovic Ondiviela, Eric Underwood, Jonathan Watkins, Edward Watson[13]
• National Ballet of Canada premiere: Aleksandar Antonijevic, Greta Hodgkinson, Tanya Howard, Zdenek Konvalina, Noah Long, Tina Pereira, Brendan Saye, Robert Stephen, Dylan Tedaldi, Bridgett Zehr[14]
• San Francisco Ballet premiere: Frances Chung, Taras Domitro, Jaime Garcia Castilla, Dana Genshaft, Isaac Hernández, Maria Kochetkova, Pascal Molat, Garen Scribner, Anthony Spaulding, Yuan Yuan Tan[15]
• The Australian Ballet premiere: Adam Bull, Juliet Burnett, Brett Chynoweth, Daniel Gaudiello, Lana Jones, Andrew Killian, Christopher Rodgers-Wilson, Amber Scott, Leanne Stojmenov, Vivienne Wong[16]

In 2011, Opus Arte released a DVD of a performance of Chroma performed by The Royal Ballet, along with McGregor's Infra and Limen.[13]

In 2015, a performance danced by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at Lincoln Center, along with three other pieces, was filmed as a part of Lincoln Center at the Movies: Great American Dance, which was screened in various cinemas and was released in a DVD. The Lincoln Center released the video online in light of the impact of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic on the performing arts.[17][18]

• Royal Opera House
• Studio Wayne McGregor
• Extract performed by Laura Morera and Eric Underwood
• Sarah Lamb on Chroma