Dance

Alistair Spalding
Artistic director of Sadler’s Wells

‘The Wells needs to be the destination for dance in the same way that you go to Tate Modern to see contemporary art,’ says Alistair Spalding, the man behind the scenes at Sadler’s Wells. Feature continues

Spalding, 47, has been at the Wells since 2000, in which time he’s moved it away from just being a receiving house for successful touring productions to a facilitator of new work. Appointed artistic director last October, he’s invited top dancemakers to become artists in residence: Wayne McGregor’s company Random Dance; Matthew Bourne; the Ballet Boyz; and hip hop superstar Jonzi D. ‘We not only provide them with office and rehearsal space, we also support them – they present their work here, and I become an advocate for them internationally.’

Jonzi D produced the wildly successful hip hop festival ‘Breakin’ Convention’ in May. The Boyz did their first full-length work, ‘Naked’, in June, quickly followed by Akram Khan’s ‘Zero Degrees’. In September McGregor produces his biggest work yet, complete with a new score by John Taverner. Come Christmas Bourne’s ‘Edward Scissorhands’ makes it to the stage.

All these projects owe a lot to Spalding’s visionary willingness to take risks. ‘So far we’ve been hugely successful, but part of the territory is that some of these things could lay an egg. One day, one will fail, but that’s part of the deal.’

Other top artists are also forging close links with the Wells. Adam Cooper’s ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ is making its European premiere there until Aug 14. Then there are also companies such as Rambert, Alvin Ailey, Phoenix, William Forsythe and the National Ballet of Cuba.

In response, people have been flocking to the theatre, including Kate Moss and Jude Law. Bourne’s ‘Swan Lake’ played to 95 per cent capacity last Christmas. ‘Eighty thousand people saw it,’ Spalding says. ‘That’s phenomenal. There’s a positive momentum, and you can’t argue with the fact that success breeds success.’