Pas de Deux - Choreographer Wayne McGregor on turning a post-apocalyptic trilogy by Margaret Atwood into a three-act ballet in collaboration with composer Max Richter

Wayne McGregor is the master of creative collaborations. As resident choreographer at the Royal Ballet, a position he has held since 2006, he has translated an eclectic roster of literary, avant-garde and contemporary references into works for the stage, as well as taken the helm on film, TV, fashion and music videos projects, and founded his own London-based studio.

- By Hannah Silver - Photography by Frederike Helwig

Wayne McGregor is the master of creative collaborations. As resident choreographer at the Royal Ballet, a position he has held since 2006, he has translated an eclectic roster of literary, avant-garde and contemporary references into works for the stage, as well as taken the helm on film, TV, fashion and music videos projects, and founded his own London-based studio.

His latest project is an adaptation of Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s post-apocalyptic trilogy of novels, Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam, into a three-act ballet. The project marks 16 years of his partnership with composer Max Richter, whose haunting, post-classical music is the soundtrack to Atwood’s post-apocalyptic nightmare.

As the duo gear up for the Royal Ballet’s performances in November, following the production’s 2022 debut by the National Ballet of Canada in Toronto, they reflect on how they brought their ballet to life, and why they are capturing a mood, not a story.

Wayne McGregor The first time I heard Max’s music was at a concert at the Union Chapel in north London. I knew about Max and his music a bit, but it was the first time that I had experienced live music with electronics. It affected me in an incredible way. I went backstage to say hello, and then reached out about doing something.

Max Richter Everything we’ve worked on since has been pretty diverse, but what’s so interesting is that even though the projects are quite different, there’s always a feeling of entering this laboratory of possibility.

WM We’ve got a lot of options about what we’re going to spend our time on, so at the end of the day, it’s got to be something that’s going to get Max fired up. I try to never ask a composer to write for dance, I don’t think that’s interesting.