Christopher Marney, Artistic Director of London City Ballet, is a passionate advocate for works that risk being forgotten. This Autumn, he becomes Resident Artist at Baryshnikov Arts Center, where he will meticulously reconstruct Jerome Robbins’ 1986 long-forgotten ballet, Quiet City.
Dance Informa caught up with him to discuss his upcoming project, reimagining London City Ballet and what’s next.
Resident Artist at Barishnikov Arts Centre
Quiet City has only ever run twice, both times in New York City. This year, nearly four decades since it was last performed, Marney will resurrect the ballet by legendary choreographer Jerome Robbins as part of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Fall Curation Series.
“The work is only around 10 to 12 minutes long, but it exists in various forms because there’s no notation of it,” Marney reveals. “So, to bring it back to life, we’ve had some amazing conversations with the New York Performing Arts Library, and I’ve had access to this incredible grainy film of Jerome Robbins recording himself on camera in rehearsal.”
Making sure the right voices are involved in the process has also been important. “Rather than just having an outside eye look at a video, we’re trying to bring in people who were there at the time,” he says. To do so, he is working in collaboration with original cast member and former New York City Ballet (NYCB) dancer Robert LaFosse. “He’s staging the piece for us and while he’s only performed it a handful of times, it’s still very vivid in his memory.”
Marney is also working with NYCB Repertory Director Christine Redpath, who was in the studio at the time. “Christine was the rehearsal director and made notes of exactly what Jerry wanted. Her notes are utterly fascinating,” Marney shares.
The Baryshnikov Arts Center is the perfect venue in which to bring the ballet back to life. “I wanted to do it in a way that really honours the work… recreating it in New York, where the ballet was made, and given the friendship between Mikhail Baryshnikov and Jerome Robbins makes it the perfect place.”
The ballet will then receive its UK premiere in November at the Royal Ballet and Opera’s Linbury Theatre, marking a new transatlantic moment for the nearly-lost ballet.
The London City Ballet
For Marney, this kind of work lies at the heart of his vision for London City Ballet, a company founded in 1978 and revived in 2023, with a focus on innovative programming and forgotten works.
“London City Ballet was very formative for me,” Marney says. “I used to watch them where I grew up in Hornchurch, Essex, and it was really my first introduction to ballet. What was brilliant about them was that they didn’t just do Swan Lake and Cinderella. They might do a few classics, but they would also bring mixed programmes. So even at a young age, I had a diet of more contemporary, shorter works by choreographers, well beyond the full-length classics.”
The original company closed in 1996, and left a noticeable gap in the UK dance landscape, particularly in mid-scale venues across the UK where the stages were deemed too small for large sets, orchestras and casts.
In 2022, Marney began researching and investigating whether UK theatres might support a company that focused on rarely seen works and mixed programmes, rather than the audience favourites. “I didn’t want to try and do Swan Lake with 14 dancers. I really wanted to bring a repertoire to these wonderful theatres and playhouses across the UK that was a little bit challenging – something the audience might be more familiar with alongside something they’d never seen before.”
That vision is now taking shape. This year, the company presents George Balanchine’s Haieff Divertimento, an early work thought to have been lost for 40 years after its premiere.
“I definitely don’t just want to repeat works you could see at Covent Garden, the English National Ballet or Rambert,” he says. “We’re finding our niche — excellent work by prolific choreographers that has perhaps been forgotten about.”
Championing new voices
Alongside reviving overlooked and forgotten ballets, Marney is also committed to supporting new work. “I think a lot of the time, when we hear about emerging talent, we think of choreographers in their early 20s. But I’m really interested in new work coming from different places, not necessarily just from young people who have a surface amount of experience, but others who are advanced in other aspects of their career and are now stepping into choreography.”
One such artist is Florent Melac, Premier Danseur at Paris Opera Ballet, who has created new work for the company this year. London City Ballet is also working with rising choreographic star Tasha Chu.
“Each year, we try to create at least one new work, which essentially becomes part of the voice of the company,” Marney explains. “I taught all the way through my career, and I really do enjoy it, particularly rehearsing. But what I really love is that programming element – researching and restoring works that aren’t often done anymore, while also creating a space for new voices to emerge.”
This season will see the company return to its historic home, Sadler’s Wells, with international stops including Reims, Santander and Logrono, before returning to the UK to visit Oxford New Theatre, York Theatre Royal and the Linbury, for Quiet City.
To find out more about London City Ballet’s upcoming performances, visit londoncityballet.com/whats-on.
By Allie D’Almo of Dance Informa.
