Interview with Calvin Richardson
Between performances as Oberon in the Royal Ballet’s Midsomer Night’s Dream, we caught up with newly promoted Principal, Calvin Richardson to find out how his new choreographic work, soon to premiere at Hatch House 2024, is progressing.
Photo credit: Andrej Uspenski.
From what inspires him, to how he balances choreography alongside his performances at the Royal Opera House, Calvin explains why he’s so excited to be choreographing on The Royal Ballet’s First Artists and Hatch House performers, Marco Masciari and Viola Pantuso.
Talk us through your journey with choreography
I’ve always choreographed from when I was at school in Melbourne, right through to Upper School at the Royal Ballet, when I became known for my Dying Swan choreography, which I made in my graduate year.
That took me around the world and from there, I have created solos and duets for galas and a piece here at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre. Then when the pandemic hit, lots of jobs fell through so it was a strange process. Once I came out of the pandemic, my dance career kicked off and I’m a Principal in the company now so the balance has really shifted.
Since my promotion, the focus has been on my dancing, so it’s really nice to have the opportunity to continue nurturing that side of my work as well.
Obviously Marco and Viola are emerging talent within the company. They are amazing artists and so to work with them has been a joyful experience; to be amazed by what they do.
What has been your favourite role since becoming Principal with the Royal Ballet?
Definitely Romeo, The Statement by Crystal Pite and then this year, I performed in Manon with Melissa Hamilton - that was amazing as well. You always have those dreams of like, these are the roles that I want to do. To actually start being able to tick those things off, I have to pinch myself a little bit at times, but it's been a great time.
Photo credit: Andrej Uspenski.
How do you balance your choreography with your dancing?
It’s a balance like everything. When you first start out you’re on stage a lot more, but maybe it’s not the same level of pressure, and then as you work your way up, you’re on stage less, but when you’re on, there’s a bit more pressure to deliver your performance and maintain a certain reputation. So it’s nice to find other things that aren’t always about you, about achieving and about success.
Tell us more about the piece you are choreographing for Hatch House 2024.
I’ve always wanted to create a piece to music by Colin Stetson; I’ve always been a fan. I was listening to his recent album, When We Were That What Wept For The Sea, and I found track The Lighthouse V, which is just beautiful, and I thought it would fit with a lot of images of the natural world. It’s composed by Colin, but it’s featuring Iarla Ó Lionáird who recites poetry throughout.
It’s just a beautiful piece and it’s got a lot of images of the natural world. The Lighthouse evokes images of a journey and when I was doing research on the album that he composed, I discovered that Colin’s father had passed away quite suddenly, so the album was created in a very short space of time and in light of that event.
It’s a bit more of a sombre subject matter, which I didn’t intentionally choose for Hatch, but I just knew that the music spoke to me in a way that would suit the location of the event.
Even just to watch the performance as a whole, in that location is going to be quite the spectacle, and I just thought that it would pair really well with the music’s images of the natural world really nicely.
How does your new piece evoke the natural world?
I want to evoke abstractions of nature in all of its different colours and textures. It highlights the beauty and brutality of our environment, which reflects our own human experiences on this voyage here together.
The dancers in some moments depict waves pushing and pulling and at other times evoke a human, emotional landscape between them. I thought it would be interesting to blur these lines that we enforce in our collective consciousness. The piece seeks to represent this sensed awareness of reality. One where things are not separate but unified by relationship.
What inspired you to create this piece?
Nature has been my inspiration for the movement. The images I’ve been working with are water, life and death journeys and light.
Photo credit: Andrej Uspenski.
My Grandma passed away recently and at the time when I found the music, I was going through that and I think it just spoke to me. It’s not that I am presenting that subject matter as the piece, but I think when I am creating there are always little signs to me and I just follow that even if it’s not directly a presentation of my thoughts or what I am experiencing. But it has been really nice to create movement from a genuine place; I try to maintain authenticity in what I am doing, even if it is not universally the most beautiful.
How much have Viola and Marco influenced the piece?
Marco and Viola are very natural artists and naturally emotive performers in how they use their bodies, so that’s already inherent in what we’re creating, just by being in the studio together. That has been a huge help.
Photo credit: @dancersdiary
Choreography for me has always been a bit of a spontaneous connection that you have with the people in the room. It’s inherent in the work. I always want it to be genuine and authentic in the studio when we’re creating, so I am always working against the idea that I am the choreographer and it’s me trying to tell the dancers what to do and making nice shapes. Obviously sometimes you shift in different roles, but I try to create a space where people can bring their own creativity and have fun with it.
Given the nature of what we do every day, there is always repetition and you are always under the public eye and you’re used to fixing everything to the last detail, so I try to move away from those temptations and sort of move in a felt experience.
Calvin, Viola and Marco in rehearsal at the Royal Opera House.
Why did you want to work with the Covent Garden Company?
I’m really supportive of Matt’s ambition to create a venue to give these sorts of opportunities to people to create new work, especially after the pandemic. I’m really grateful.
