Tag: Playlist

1 The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky

I have danced two different versions of this. The first was the Nijinsky version at the Municipal Theater in Rio de Janeiro, which was an amazing experience because the music was originally created for that ballet. I fell in love with it because it’s so progressive. I was the kind of dancer that never needed to count anything – but this music, you have to count, there is no way around it. When I moved to Europe, every time I saw an orchestra was playing this work, I would go. I loved watching orchestras play: you can’t see them when you dance, so it’s a completely different experience. I’m not one of those dancers that remembers every step of a choreography – more than anything, I remember the feeling. In The Rite of Spring you feel so rooted to the earth, so grounded – you merge with the music somehow.
As a choreographer, I have not had the urge to approach Rite because it’s just too big, too important. It’s almost sacred.

2 Clarinet Concerto K622 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 

I danced to this in a ballet by the American choreographer Lar Lubovitch, so I got very familiar with it – the clarinet solo is gorgeous. Again, I started watching it: I saw it in Holland and in the UK. Watching the soloist play is just so beautiful. I love the sound of the clarinet – Mozart uses the instrument in a way that I find very poetic. It is so dreamy and peaceful.

3 Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns

I absolutely love it. It’s got this sort of scary feeling, but not bad scary. It’s like a fun scary. I think it’s my childlike side that likes this piece – like going to a funfair and taking the ghost train. This piece has something dark in it, but also humour – you could make a good cartoon to it.

4 Piano Concerto in G Major by Maurice Ravel

I became familiar with this through concerts in Amsterdam: I went to watch orchestras in the Concertgebouw a lot. I didn’t know the piece, but fell in love with it. This is one that, for me, is not danceable. It is not one that I want to choreograph, but it’s really nice to watch live.

5 Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev

Romeo and Juliet is a masterpiece. The music does a great job of telling the story, and it’s so beautiful. I danced it, so I have my memories. But even if you’re not a ballet lover, there’s still so much value in it. Will I make my own Romeo and Juliet? Maybe one day.

1 Set and Reset by Laurie Anderson

Candoco’s reimagining of Trisha Brown’s seminal work Set and Reset/Reset has become something of a signature work for Candoco with new iterations being created and performed by the company in 2011, 2016, 2021 and again this year when we performed the work at Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York for the first time, and at Tate Modern in London.

Hearing Laurie Anderson’s playful looped score and seeing the dancers perform this seminal work, always gives me a thrill and reminds me of the contribution Candoco has made to dance history.

2 Life on Mars by David Bowie

A classic from the genius mind of David Bowie and a track that Arlene Phillips used when she choreographed Candoco’s performance on Strictly Come Dancing in 2018. This was a real moment for Candoco – almost as epic as Bowie’s sound track!?

Over 10 million viewers saw us performing with the Strictly professionals that night, making us the first contemporary dance company ever to perform on the show and the first time that same-sex couples were visible in the choreography. Arlene has always been a great fan and advocate for our work and it felt right that she would support our incredible dancers to be seen and valued on TV and beyond the contemporary dance world. 

3 Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra

This familiar and well-loved song was the closing track for Back to Front with Sideshows, choreographed by Emilyn Claid in the first few years of Candoco’s existence. Every time I hear it, I takes me back to those raucous and radical early years when we toured this work to audiences all over the world. This work captured the bold, sexy and mischievous spirit of the founding members, and particularly the deep and playful friendship between David Toole and Kuldip Singh-Barmi. David sadly passed away in 2020 and I cannot hear this song without picturing the closing image of Kuldip and Dave wheeling off together side by side into the distance with ridiculous hats on. It always makes me smile.

4 Noyalain (Burn) by Lisa Gerrard and Jules Maxwell

I have loved the work of Dead Can Dance since I was a student at Northern School of Contemporary Dance in the early 1990s. The first time I came across this evocative and expansive world music was in the opening scene of Strange Fish by Lloyd Newson. Since then their music has provided many a rich sound score for contemporary dance performance and I have now had the good fortune to get to know the lead singer, Lisa Gerrard. This song is from the recent album Burn, Gerrard’s 2021 collaboration with Jules Maxwell. It is a piece which seems to soar high whilst diving deep at the same time. An amazing cinematic experience.

5 Hurricane by Grace Jones

I’ve had the deep pleasure of seeing Grace Jones in concert numerous times over the years and her music and live performance is still such an inspiration to me. This song is one of my favourites; a wonderful evocation of life, womanhood and the dramatic power of music.

1 Lonely Town pas de deux
by Leonard Bernstein

I don’t know why this piece of music affects me so much. Maybe it’s because it is so purely an expression of wanting to belong. It feels otherworldly yet human in the same moment. Broken yet perfect. One of those pieces of music that makes you believe in something inexplicable that lies beyond simple technique.

2 Heartbeats
by José González

This track plays such a vital part in my journey to becoming a choreographer. I would listen to it endlessly whilst touring the States with Matthew Bourne’s Edward Scissorhands when I was around 20. I would escape to the studio to try to work out what I had inside me that was worth showing the world. It made me keep getting back up. I still get very nostalgic whenever I hear it.

3 Fire 
by Beth Ditto

The power of this woman and the way her music taps into a sort of rage and majesty I find incredibly exciting. Her music just has it for me. I’m desperate to create work with her. One day maybe.

4 Time after Time
by Cindy Lauper

Baz Lurhman’s Strictly Ballroom had a big impact on me growing up. I saw myself in it in many ways. I would make up dances to this track over and over and pretend to be Scott from the movie. I went on to direct and choreograph the stage adaptation as my West End debut, which was a very special full-circle moment for me.

5 Grand Waltz from Cinderella
by Sergei Prokofiev

Back at school, we had this amazing pianist called Mark Amos. He would regularly break the strings inside the piano with his extraordinary playing. Every plié exercise was a concert to him, an opportunity to change someone’s mood. The memory of his talent matched with this incredible music will forever get my heart racing. I’ve spent many hours daydreaming about choreographing a full length production of Cinderella because of this man (and probably because of Prokofiev too).