Vivienne Westwood and the Royal Ballet

If you look around, it’s easy to spot how the arts are over-lapping to create new experiences and forms of expression. Take the GSK Contemporary at the Royal Academy. Not so much an exhibition ( event? happening? ) but a mash-up of painting, performance, music and a very decent bar provided by Bistrotheque.

It’s all about being, as the name suggests, contemporary. But being modern also means looking at the classics in a new light. Old Masters, Shakespeare, classical music and ballet have a place in this cultural mish-mash, and presenting them for a new audience may be challenging, but the results can be remarkable.

Now the Grande Dame of fashion, Vivienne Westwood ( who herself has written an Arts Manifesto championing the classics ) has teamed up with the Royal Ballet principal Fernando Montano and orchestra London Musici to create a performance art catwalk show, Chaos Point,  in aid of the NSPCC. It’ s the first time her Gold Label collection will have ben seen on this scale, and also the first time an orchestra will have participated live.
We caught up with the charming and talented Fernando – who choreographed the dance-work alongside Vivienne and will perform it with Romany Pajdac –  between a day of rehearsing and that evening’s performance of Manon.

You have a hectic schedule. Thanks for fitting us in.
That’s OK! I’m very excited about Vivienne Westwood and the show.
How did you get involved with it?
She saw my last two pieces of choreography and liked them.
What’s the inspiration behind the dance?
Vivienne saw a monument in France of a dragon and a serpent. She gave me her ideas, how she wanted the characters of both to come through the dance : the dragon is very vain, the serpent has ugly, awkward movements. But when they come together they are beautiful.
And everyone’s happy with the finished piece?
I was very nervous about how she would react. She didn’t see the piece until three weeks ago. We did it with the costume and it works really well. It made the choreography look even better.
How was it taking direction from someone who isn’t a dancer or choreographer?
Well, her notes were very clear, she’s a clever woman, she really explains what she wants. She’s not hanging around!
Is ballet able to reach out to a new audience by mashing up with the other arts?
Yes, definitely. Fashion, dance music, when you find a way to put these things together it works really well.
In the piece  the music is Ravel, for violin. So in the choreography the violinist is the alchemy,  he’ll be the fire , the fire to make the serpent and dragon  move. He’s on-stage with us the dancers, playing the violin.
 Vivienne’s costumes are an integral part of the piece too.
Vivienne has done costumes for opera and many years ago fashion designers worked on ballets. Things move much faster now, there are more possibilities -  in theatre, we’re at a good point. And the costumes can really enhance the performance and make it better. People don’t just want to see nice tutus any more.
And you, as a dancer, can learn from other arts?
It's nice to share  things with other artists. Ballet can be a very closed world, but you should be open-minded. Lots of my friends work in opera and I go to see how they rehearse and learn from them. I’m thinking of maybe later doing an opera/ ballet.
We’ll look forward to it….

The performance of Chaos Point is Tuesday 18th November – co-hosted by Nigella Lawson, Fiona Golfar and Susie Forbes at the Banqueting House, Whitehall Palace.  It will begin with a public matinee in the afternoon before a star studded celebrity gala dinner performance in the evening.
 
Individual tickets for the afternoon Performance-Art Catwalk are £75 per person, including tea.
For the evening a table for eight people costs £4,000 and a patron’s table costs £30,000. For more information about tickets please contact Beth Powell at Dora Loewenstein Associates 0207 823 8838 or beth@dlaevents.com