Work of the Week - Mark-Anthony Turnage: Blood on the Floor

A new ballet by choreographer Wayne McGregor on Mark-Anthony Turnage’s classic work Blood on the Floor opens for 12 performances at the Opéra Bastille in Paris on 29th June. Ensemble Intercontemporain, conducted by Peter Rundel, will be joined by soloists Peter Erskine (percussion), Martin Robertson (saxophone), John Parricelli (electric guitar) and Michel Benita (bass guitar) for what is set to be one of the season’s highlights on the international ballet scene.

Blood on the Floor is named after a painting by Francis Bacon, whose work Turnage has referenced on many occasions, and was commissioned by Ensemble Modern in 1993. One of Turnage's most fiercely emotional scores, it succeeds effortlessly in finding space for improvising jazz players within the structure of notated music. This challenge has now been inherited by McGregor in his choreography - how do you choreograph to improvised music? As Turnage explains in the following video interview, you ask dancers to improvise as well:

McGregor will be working with Turnage again in the near future on a programme at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre that includes a new staging Turnage’s chamber opera Twice Through the Heart. The opening night takes place on 1st December.

• Mark-Anthony Turnage - Profile
• Opéra Bastille
• Sadler´s Wells