Wayne McGregor

McGregor was born in Stockport in 1970. He studied dance at Bretton Hall College of the University of Leeds^[3] and in New York. In 1992 he was appointed Choreographer-in-Residence at The Place, London, and in the same year he founded his own company, Random Dance (now Company Wayne McGregor). Company Wayne McGregor was invited to be the first Resident Company at the new Sadler's Wells in 2002.^[4] Appointed in 2006, McGregor is the first Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet from a contemporary dance background. In 2021, McGregor was announced as the Director of Dance for the Venice Biennale until 2024.^[5] McGregor is Professor of Choreography at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance^[6] and holds an Honorary Doctor of Science degree^[7] from Plymouth University as well as an Honorary Doctor of Letters from University of Leeds^[8] and University of Chester.^[9] McGregor also holds an Honorary Doctor from University of the Arts London.^[10] He is part of the Circle of Cultural Fellows at King's College London.^[11] In 2017 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the British Science Association.^[12] McGregor topped the list for dance in The Progress 1000 celebration of London's most influential people in 2018.^[13] In 2021 McGregor was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Prix de Lausanne.^[14]

Founded in 1992 (formerly known as Random Dance Company and Wayne McGregor | Random Dance), Studio Wayne McGregor encompasses McGregor's touring company of dancers, Company Wayne McGregor, and all of McGregor's creative work in dance, film, theatre, opera, fashion, technology, and TV. Studio Wayne McGregor also leads extensive learning and engagement projects nationally and internationally, artist development initiatives, and research and development work with science and technology partners. Significant large-scale engagement projects include Big Dance in Trafalgar Square as part of the 2012 London Olympics,^[15] and LightLens for Aarhus European City of Culture in 2017.^[16]

McGregor has made over 30 works for Company Wayne McGregor (including A Body for Harnasie,^[17] UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey,^[18] Autobiography,^[19] Tree of Codes,^[20] Atomos,^[21] FAR^[22] and Entity^[23]), and over 20 works for The Royal Ballet (including The Dante Project,^[24] Yugen,^[25] Obsidian Tear,^[26] Woolf Works,^[27] Carbon Life,^[28] Infra^[29] and Chroma^[30]).

He also regularly creates new work for international companies including National Ballet of Canada (MADDADDAM^[31]), La Scala Theatre Ballet (LORE^[32]), Paris Opera Ballet (Genus, L'Anatomie de la Sensation,^[33] Alea Sands^[34]), Bayerisches Staatsballett Munich (Sunyata^[35]), American Ballet Theatre (AfteRite,^[36] a co-production with Royal Danish Ballet), San Francisco Ballet (Borderlands^[37]), Stuttgart Ballet (EDEN | EDEN, Yantra^[38]), New York City Ballet (Outlier^[39]), The Australian Ballet (Dyad 1929^[40]), Ballett Zürich (Kairos^[41]) and Rambert (PreSentient^[42]), and has works in the repertories of companies including Bolshoi Ballet (Chroma^[43]), Mariinsky Ballet (Infra^[44]) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Chroma^[45] and Kairos^[46]).

McGregor has worked on choreography and movement direction for numerous feature films and documentaries including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,^[47] The Legend of Tarzan,^[48] Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,^[49] Sing,^[50] Mary Queen of Scots^[51] and Audrey^[52] as well as choreographing music videos for Radiohead (Lotus Flower^[53]), Atoms for Peace (Ingenue^[54]) and The Chemical Brothers (Wide Open^[55]). He has also worked on numerous fashion and TV works and projects including choreography for Paloma Faith's performance at the 2015 Brit Awards^[56] as well as directing and choreographing the opening sequence for the award show in 2016,^[57] collaborating with Gareth Pugh for his London and New York Fashion weeks in 2014 and 2017 respectively,^[58][59] and fashion films Soma for COS^[60] and Torus for SHOWstudio.^[61] In 2016, McGregor directed and choreographed Selfridges' everyBODY advertising campaign.^[62]

McGregor has directed opera (Dido and Aeneas and Acis and Galatea for La Scala/Royal Opera^[63]), and choreographed for theatre (productions at ENO,^[64] Old Vic,^[65] National Theatre^[66] and Donmar Warehouse^[67][68]). In 2022 he choreographed ABBA Voyage, a concert featuring virtual avatars of pop band ABBA depicting the group as they appeared in 1977.^[69]

McGregor has collaborated with composers (Thomas Adès, Jlin, John Tavener, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Kaija Saariaho, Jon Hopkins, Max Richter, Joby Talbot/The White Stripes, Rokia Traore, Steve Reich, Jamie xx, Scanner), visual artists and designers (Thierry Mugler, Tacita Dean, Lucy Carter, Edmund de Waal, Random International, Olafur Eliasson, Ben Cullen Williams, Mark Wallinger, Vicki Mortimer, Aitor Throup, Shirin Guild, The OpenEnded Group), filmmakers and photographers (Ravi Deepres, Ruth Hogben, Nick Knight, Robin Friend), architects (We Not I, John Pawson), and writers (Margaret Atwood, Audrey Niffenegger, Uzma Hameed).^[70]

Studio Wayne McGregor's building opened at Here East on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in March 2017. Designed by architectural practice We Not I, the creative arts space for making contains three large dance studios, meeting and collaboration spaces.^[71] It also features artwork installations by Haroon Mirza, Carmen Herrera, a work by artist Ben Cullen Williams, original artworks by We Not I based on Josef Albers' Structural Constellations and Homages to the Square, and Anni Albers' Study for Camino Real, with permission from The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.^[72]

McGregor and his partner, Antoine Vereecken, have restored a modernist house in southwest England.^[106]

He was knighted in the 2024 King's Birthday Honours "for services to dance".^[107]