Wayne McGregor / UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey

UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey

Performed by Company Wayne McGregor (UK). A co-production between Studio Wayne McGregor and The Royal Ballet (UK) in association with The Jim Henson Company (USA).

Director and Choreographer: Wayne McGregor

Music: Joel Cadbury

Film Design: Ravi Deepres

Lighting Design: Lucy Carter

Costume and Head Pieces: Philip Delamore / Dr. Alex Box

Spoken Word Artist: Isaiah Hull

Playwright: Uzma Hameed

Cast: Winnie Asawakanjanakit / Rebecca Bassett-Graham / Jordan James Bridge / Salvatore De Simone / Chia-Yu Hsu / Hannah Joseph / Chien-Shun Liao / Jasiah Marshall / Salomé Pressac / Mariano Zamora Gonzalez

Wayne McGregor (born 12 March 1970) is a British choreographer and director who has won many international awards. He is the choreographer of The Royal Ballet and the artistic director of Studio Wayne McGregor. McGregor was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2011 for Service to Dance.

McGregor's name needs no introduction in ballet circles, his directorial work is impressive and includes over 20 full-length works for The Royal Ballet and over 30 full-length works for his company, Company Wayne McGregor. He also regularly creates new works for the world's leading ballet theaters, including La Scala, Opera de Paris, Bayerisches Staatsballett München, American Ballet Theater, San Francisco Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, New York City Ballet, Canada National Ballet, etc.

McGregor has created choreography and motion direction for numerous feature films and documentaries, including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), The Legend of Tarzan (2016), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), Sing (2016), "Mary, Queen of Scots" (2018) and "Audrey" (2020). McGregor has choreographed music videos for "Radiohead", "Atoms for Peace" and "The Chemical Brothers" as well as many TV and fashion shows such as "Brit Awards", "London Fashion Week", "New York Fashion Week", etc.

Studio Wayne McGregor leads large-scale learning and engagement projects nationally and internationally, artist development initiatives and research and development with technology partners. Notable large-scale engagement projects include a major dance show in Trafalgar Square as part of the 2012 London Olympics. He also directed the ABBA Voyage concert, which featured virtual avatars of the pop band ABBA, depicting the band members as they were in 1977.

UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey is a moving and startling meditation on the climate crisis. State-of-the-art immersive technology envelops super-human choreography in this contemporary ode to change. Inspired by the Jim Henson cult classic The Dark Crystal about an ailing planet and a divided race, UniVerse depicts an earth riven by extremes and urgently in need of healing. Breathtaking digital environments and cutting-edge costumes create a stunning blend of fantasy and documentary, while high tensile choreography in dialogue with spoken word, powerfully evokes the inseparability of humanity and nature. Performed by the extraordinary dancers of Company Wayne McGregor, this is a modern eco-myth that asks how we can come together to be whole again.

A team of world-class creatives led by choreographer and director Wayne McGregor, includes composer Joel Cadbury, film designer Ravi Deepres, lighting designer Lucy Carter, spoken word artist Isaiah Hull, dramaturg Uzma Hameed, costume designer Philip Delamore and face-and-body artist Alex Box. This collaboration explores themes of nature, exploitation, courage and rescue in an epic adventure through a troubled world in the context of our own ailing planet. The show is about innate deep knowledge of good and evil, and the umbilical connection with the natural world. McGregor explores the modern myth of how we can hold together to be whole again.

Wayne McGregor's homepage: https://waynemcgregor.com

Wayne McGregor on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_McGregor

Wayne McGregor at the TED Talk: www.ted.com/talks/wayne_mcgregor_a_choreographer_s_creative_process_in_real_time