Staying True: Christopher Marney and the Rebirth of London City Ballet

This past July, the newly resurrected London City Ballet opened its first season since 1996 with a program of rarely seen works and new choreographies. Touring across the UK. and to locations such as China, Portugal, and New York (the 2024 season concluded with a week of performances at the Joyce Theater), the company has risen from the ashes of its former glory and reclaimed its spot as today’s premier touring company.

London City Ballet

With a group of 14 dancers, the new troupe is eschewing the classics like “Swan Lake” or “The Sleeping Beauty” in favour of staging little-known, small-scale works; these pieces include Kenneth MacMillan’s 1972 one-act ballet “Ballade,” unseen in Europe for over fifty years, Ashley Page’s “Larina Waltz,” celebrating its 30th-anniversary, and a brand new work by the Olivier-award winner Arielle Smith. Artistic director Christopher Marney—who has worked tirelessly over the last two years to restore the London City Ballet—hopes that this model will permit more ease with touring and allow wider audiences access to high-calibre dance. After a first hit season—with rave reviews from London to New York—it seems his vision is paying off. I spoke with Marney shortly after the company wrapped up their performances at the Joyce about his role at the helm of London City Ballet and the future of the troupe.

What prompted the rebirth of London City Ballet? Why now?

I was interested in creating a company of dancers who were representative of today's dance world and finding a way to tour with them. The venues that I spoke to–especially the UK venues–were very keen to have a British dance company touring through them because, financially and practically, it's become harder and harder for bigger companies to travel. With that in mind, I thought about creating a model of 12 to 14 dancers with a repertoire that was built for more intimate spaces and that we would be able to take on the road.

Alongside all of that, I was always harbouring memories of London City Ballet because they were the company that I used to watch when I was a child growing up; seeing London City Ballet was my introduction to ballet. I still have all of the old programs from when I was a kid; we actually keep them here in London City Ballet’s office. I've tried to create my own archive from those times and now we've got a lot of memorabilia and information that's really helped us on the journey of reforming and creating a new iteration of the company.

The world is obviously a very different place than when London City Ballet last performed in 1996. In what ways does London City Ballet now depart from its previous iteration?

Going forward, I knew that I didn't want to present the classics like “Swan Lake” and “The Sleeping Beauty.” There are companies that are already performing those beautifully and I didn't want to do those works an injustice by trying to do big productions with just 14 dancers. On the other hand, I was really keen to challenge audiences as well. A lot of the companies that have toured on that circuit around the UK have taken smaller versions of the classics and I wanted to find a new repertoire for those audiences. When I say new, I don't mean just new work—although we also perform new work—but reconstructing older works that are lesser known to audiences. I was really keen to look back at historic works from some of our great choreographers that don't get to grace the stage as often anymore.

Christopher Marney, artistic director of London City Ballet

How did you go about assembling the roster of dancers? What factors were important to you when putting together the group?

I wanted to have an international group from diverse backgrounds who reflect the audiences in 2024 that are coming to see the shows. Within that, I was also looking for diversity in age, because a lot of the works I'm programming are narratively driven. Different characters with different experiences are required to tell those stories. For that reason, I wanted to make sure that we had dancers who had established careers, who were well into their thirties, and who had something else to bring to the table. I also wanted to give an opportunity to younger dancers and new graduates, of which we have about three or four in the company. Having dancers from different backgrounds and of different ages inspires everyone because they are all bringing something new. We have people who trained in Cuba, people who trained in France; we're not looking to have a group of dancers that all seem the same. I want to promote individuality and uniqueness.

London City Ballet brings ballet to places that might not otherwise see dance, especially dance of that calibre. Why is touring foundational to your vision of the company?

The past iteration of London City Ballet was also a touring company and it really affected my journey into dance. When I was young, I wasn't able to come up to London and see the big companies; I would go to my local theatre and it was only because London City Ballet toured there that I was introduced to this wonderful world. Because of that, I always saw the importance behind touring and that there were audiences to reach outside of capital cities. Taking the dance to those communities was always a really important aspect. Also, in my own career as a dancer, I was constantly touring with companies that didn't have a home base. London City Ballet now has a studio base here in Islington with offices and a lovely studio, which is fantastic for when the dancers come back from tour, but I was used to living out of a suitcase and travelling to different countries with companies and productions. That was really my start. I felt how special it was not only to be an artist, but to be able to take that art to different places, rather than stay in one institution and expect people to come to me.

London City Ballet

In 2024, there are a lot of discussions about the future of ballet and its relevance as a historically elitist art. London City Ballet’s model—forgoing the classics in favour of shorter works, touring to diverse locations—seems to be a practical way to ensure more people can get access to ballet and enjoy it. In this sense, do you feel that you are aiding the form’s survival?

I hope so. By touring a mixed program of works, it's definitely more appealing and accessible to audience goers who might be put off by seeing “Swan Lake.” A lot of people would see the title of a big ballet like that and have a preconceived idea, whether they've seen it or not, as to if they’d like it. With the mixed programs, we can say, “There are some things you'll like, maybe some things you won't, but there will definitely be something in this that you can relate to.” Interestingly, I always hang around after performances in the foyers, listening to the comments of audience members as they leave the theatre, and quite a few times I heard people saying, “Oh, I didn't know I liked contemporary dance until now.” I thought, “Well, that feels like we've achieved our goal. Not only have we attracted people to come to see us, but we’ve given them a different influence.” That model is definitely something that I want to keep going forward. I will always include heritage work, too, because those ballets are important to retain the history and the roots of what we do, but I will also commission a brand new work each season. That way, the company has its own identity through pieces made on them.

To continue on this idea of helping ballet relate more to our times, earlier in your career you performed with both Mathew Bourne’s company and Ballet Boyz, two companies that have very clearly redefined ballet in their own terms, particularly in regards to queerness and allowing space for queerness in what—in terms of gender roles and story—is traditionally a very heteronormative art form.

How have those past experiences informed your understanding of what ballet can be and how, if at all, are you incorporating that into your vision for London City Ballet?

I come from quite a traditional background of training; I went to ballet school in London and we did the training as it has been set for many, many years. When I started working with Matthew, it was the first time that I danced with another man. It was also the first time that I experienced dancing a gay love story. Besides his queer version of “Swan Lake,” Matthew also made “Dorian Gray,” in which I created the role of Cyril Vane. There’s a gender swap from the Oscar Wilde novel, in which the character is an actress named Sybil Vane; in Matthew's version, the character is a man named Cyril. It was a really interesting time for me because there was the gender switch and then there was a gay love story within it. As a gay person, it was wonderful to be able to finally interpret that onstage.

Interestingly, looking back through heritage and historic work, there are gay stories that have been told, but it's harder to find choreographers from many years ago who were working in that idiom. When I was in New York last week, I had the opportunity to meet quite a few of the trusts and foundations of choreographers' works who were based there. There is one work that I'd like to include in our future seasons by Jerome Robbins that, while not explicitly queer, centres around male partnering. It's a beautiful, very serious ballet that I hope we'll be able to bring over to London City Ballet and perform in the UK. As you said, these kinds of works have informed my journey as an artist and they're also things that I'd like to incorporate within the new company.

London City Ballet

We are in a moment in ballet—and also in wider culture—where we are all redefining our boundaries and reflecting on past experiences with leaders. How do you view your role as a director today?

What I felt starting this from scratch—even though it’s based on the old company's legacy—was that we could write our own rule book. From years of being a freelance dancer, I knew there were things that I wanted to do differently to other organisations that I'd worked in. Approaching our first days with the company, we actually just spent that time getting to know one another and talking about what a ballet company should look like. We didn't dance for a while; we just sat, looked at old films, and talked about our experiences in the dance world, both as freelancers and as dancers that had come from companies. That was important to me because I did want to figure out a way to collaborate and be cohesive as a group; the dancer's voice needed to be heard. The schedule was integral too; in the past, I had been in organisations where you work from 10am till 8pm full out all day. I knew, and my colleagues knew, that that's detrimental to your well being, so we discussed a lot about what the schedule should look like. You know: how we push, when we push, when we hold back, when we rest. Of course there needs to be leadership within this, because everyone will have a different idea of what they want, but we are in constant consultation with the artists to talk and provide the best conditions for them. We've been together for one season now and I hope we will keep developing each year so that we can improve upon things and make sure that we're providing the best opportunities for everyone involved.

Looking towards the future, what’s next for London City Ballet?

What's been so wonderful is that our tour has taken us all over the world and we've had so many opportunities to get our message and our vision out. With those opportunities has come great feedback and offers from venues and festivals, so our calendar is really filling up nicely for 2025. We'll be again touring on a lot of international dates, as well as doing an extensive tour here in the UK. We'll have a new repertoire, which was important to me. There will be a new work. One step up from this year is that we'll also be bringing some stagers from overseas to set their works—we'll be performing works by a US choreographer, for example. We won't grow the company to big numbers, because I want to keep it appropriate for the sort of venues that we're touring to, but we will be able to present works from international choreographers, too. In that sense, we are expanding, but also staying true to our roots.

Phoebe Roberts

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