วันศุกร์ที่ 17 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2555

My muse and me

How to choose an artist a muse? What is it like to be one? Laura Barnett is a choreographer, a novelist, a painter - and people to help them

choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, and Lauren Cuthbertson

In 2010, when the choreographer Christopher Wheeldon began working on his acclaimed version of Alice in Wonderland for the Royal Ballet of London, was only a dancer in mind for the lead role: Lauren Cuthbertson. "I had worked with her a couple of times in the Royal Ballet School when she was 16 years," Wheeldon said, "over and over again when I was in the corps de ballet. Even then, I thought, 'This guy really has something. "Wheeldon, who at 39 is 12 years older than Cuthbertson, added:" She has a lack of effort, a way of doing what he does on stage seem inevitable "

Only one problem: Cuthbertson had been sidelined for a year with glandular fever and was having to sit the tests. So Wheeldon began working with several other dancers, while tending to Cuthbertson. "There is a kind of fear in his performance that I thought it was just so Alice did not want her to feel uncomfortable to have an adult role of a child -. J ' Needed to be an adult who was still in contact with the inside of the child. " When Cuthbertson was well enough, they began to create the character. Wheeldon had a rough idea: "I wanted it to be unlike any other that Alice had seen before, while remaining faithful to history." But he was in favor Cuthbertson bring their own ideas. "There had no confidence, "said Mr. Cuthbertson. "I wish I had an idea of ??what he wanted and bring something to the table, I never thought when you create a narrative ballet, like Alice, wants to even the smallest details -. Moments, for example, when Alice watching the White Rabbit -. make sense that if something does not make sense to me, I would say to Chris, and we would like to work on and on, until he did "

Their relationship, he said, was intense and instinctive. "I realized that Chris wanted with just a glance or a tic. I did not need coffee and Ribena. It feeds on energy. We were playing with things and have a laugh. "Wheeldon agrees." It was, "Let's play and find out who this character. ""

Wheeldon is the word "muse" apt. "My definition", he says, "is someone who works with, probably, on a regular basis, what inspires and informs you how to work a surprisingly unusual." Draw a firm line, however, between this definition and connotations are sexual predators surrounding some of the greatest classical choreographers as George Balanchine (who is married with five of his dancers) and Frederick Ashton (who, though now would was gay, was obsessed with his muse, Margot Fonteyn).

"Ashton said that there must be a little more in love with her dancers to create beauty," said Wheeldon. "There's something about this, but for me c is a different kind of love. A connection on an infantile level is to say, like kids on vacation, "Let's go out and build sand castles." This is definitely not sleeping together. "

Wheeldon and Cuthbertson work together again in Metamorphosis: Titian 2012, a series of dance inspired by the paintings of Titian - and we hope that their professional relationship that will last long. "At the end of my career," says Wheeldon, "if I can look back and say Lauren was my muse, I consider myself very lucky."

Metamorphosis: Titian 2012

is at the Royal Opera House, London WC1 (020-7304 4000) on the July 14.

Philip Hensher and writer

Zaved Mahmood

Writers

often told to write what they know. But his ninth novel, Scenes from the beginning, Philip Hensher was high on his head: the novel is a semi-fiction first-person account not his own childhood, but her husband of Bangladesh, the rights lawyer Zaved human Mahmood.

from the moment they met a decade ago, Hensher has always been fascinated by life in the early Mahmood in Dhaka, which grow in the shade of the independence war of 1971 which led to the formation of Bangladesh. "I always said," Come, tell me more ". There was a time that were much like my own childhood - we watched the same television programs, for example. And other times they were also completely different was that when I was a child, whenever I was not able to finish my meal, my grandmother used to say, "Think of the children dying of hunger in Bangladesh. Had I known I would end up married to one, I had a much faster return. "

Hensher began to think that someone should really have memories Mahmood on paper. Decide that the man was sitting with her husband through a series of formal interviews, and sometimes dinner while traveling on the six o'clock train through Germany. Only when Hensher had finished the first draft show Mahmood, who could not believe what was necessary. "I was so proud of him," said Mahmoud. "The book really took me back to my childhood, my family life of old, a very nice way. I asked him to change some things. I felt that my family had found a little like a king, so that 'In fact, they were middle class. But otherwise it was incredibly true. It was very nostalgic. "

not think the term "muse" is absolutely right. "It's kind of Alexander McQueen, the word" Hensher said, referring to the fashion designer whose main muse was the late stylist Isabella Blow. "This suggests to go find someone who inspires you, but it's not what happens to ZAV, although everything I wrote was, to some extent, for him. When I write something funny, often I think, "Is it going to make people laugh Zav? However," muse "seems a bit grandiose. Zav is more of a presence at home."

Mahmood is, however, intrigued by the parallels between the relationship and the famous artist-muse married couples, Picasso and Jacqueline Roque, for example. But he thinks that the most useful definition of "muse" is the idea of ??emotional support. "Otherwise," he says, "is very difficult for an artist to continue. Felipe supports my own work the same way. He is very understanding about how to take my life and vice versa."

Hensher Mahmood sees as a great source of inspiration, however. "It's interesting thinking of famous painters and how they interact with their muses," he said. "It made me think of this book as a portrait of someone I know very well, but with a number of ideas and a worldview that is not the same as mine It's always good as a writer -. In step into the shoes of another. "

scenes of life at the beginning is published by

Fourth

Joffe was intrigued when he saw Watkins again a few months later with a pair of red shoes, he decided to ask him if he could paint them. Watkins, still poorly understood. "Chantal said:" Are you sitting down? "I just wanted to say 'look," so I said yes immediately. Then, Chantal explained that he wanted me to pose for a portrait. I still said yes, but had some reservations. I really do not know what I mean the meeting, and I was not sure what it was about me that I found fascinating. "

Joffe had never asked a stranger to sit through it before. Until then, had been using mainly photographs of models cut out from fashion magazines as the basis for his paintings. However, his instinctive attraction pictorial Watkins produced 10 portraits. In many cases, Watkins is shown as white and bright blue eyes with an air of calm. Their ability to stand still, says Joffe, is one of the best qualities of Watkins. "She moves in her own world quite easily and, unlike some people who do not care what you do with your image. She goes, 'Oh, my nose is not good" or "different from my hair" . I feel very free. "



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