American dancer, choreographer and director Mark Morris is one of the most successful and influential of contemporary modern choreographers. Interviewed by Gerald Dowler, he talks frankly about the role of improvisation in choreography, egalitarianism in dance, his experiences with international dance forms other than ballet and his particular affection for British dance.

The interview is introduced by the dancer and founder of Voices of British Ballet, Patricia Linton, in conversation with Natalie Steed.

Mark Morris was born in Seattle in 1956. Having been excited by both flamenco and his sister’s ballet classes, he himself began studying Spanish dance at the age of 9. In 1970 he joined a dance ensemble specialising in Balkan dance, which was the beginning of a lifetime’s passionate immersion in dance and music of all sorts. He went to New York in 1976, during the era of Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp and Lucinda Childs, to pursue his study of dance. He began working with a group of like-minded modern dancers, who shared Morris’ focus on beauty, genuine musicality and community. From 1980 on Morris began choreographing in earnest and his group was henceforth known as the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG). From the start his work was recognized for its musicality, and its deep understanding of the medium of dance. Hallmarks of the Morris style were the recognizable ordinary body-types of the Company dancers and its up-front treatment of contentious issues, both political and sexual.

From 1980 until 1988, the growth of Morris’s reputation as a choreographer and dancer resulted in an engagement as resident company at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, following the departure of Maurice Béjart. While there he created two of his most famous works: L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (based on poetry by Milton and music by Handel) and The Hard Nut (a revelatory version of The Nutcracker). The company remained there until 1991. From 1990 until 1995, with Mikhail Baryshnikov, he founded and ran the White Oak Dance Project. In 2001 Morris and MMDG moved into a permanent headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, which included a community centre and a school. As well as working with his own company, Morris has created works for many international ballet companies and for opera productions in San Francisco, Washington, Boston, London and New York, among other places. His own works for the MMDG, around 150 of them, are notable for their range of musical styles and genres, from Bach and Vivaldi through modern composers to jazz and the Beatles, the repertoire also includes music from Balkan and Asian traditions, as well as collaborations with folk performers and Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project.

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