All About Manchester

Stepping into the light

Leading New York choreographer Stephen Petronio has a formidable reputation for dark, fast and furious work. But as he heads to The Lowry to close this year's Queer Up North festival, he tells All About Manchester he has finally allowed himself to acknowledge a brighter side to life.

You will be in Manchester for your first performance in the North West of England during Queer Up North. How did your involvement with the festival come about?

I've been coming to Britain since I was 20 years old, so I was aware of Queer Up North but I'd never been there. Last summer, I was in Scotland working with the Scottish Ballet and Jonathan [Best] from Queer Up North came up. We met for lunch and he asked me to drop in and I said I'd be delighted.

Will this be your first visit to Greater Manchester?

No, I've been to Manchester before but it was a long time ago. I remember going out there; the city had a lot of great clubs.

Have you ever been to the Hacienda?

Of course. It was a must for anybody who was interested in music. I know the musical history of the city and its influence on popular culture.

Your Queer Up North programme features some UK premieres. Could you tell us a bit about what to expect from this show?

We'll be performing three different works, featuring music by some fabulous artists. Fischerspooner, an amazing lower Manhattan art-rock band, has produced beautiful work for a piece called Beauty and the Brut that was written specifically for the company. This piece has just premiered in New York and we've had a great response. I think what is different about it for me is that it's based on a story - it's about a dumb American boy picking up a cute French girl on the beach.

The show also includes another commission, by Rufus Wainwright, called Bloom, featuring the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman. This will be accompanied by a local music chorus. Bloom is a couple of years old, we've been performing this piece all over the world and we use a different chorus in every city we go to. It's a great way to engage the local population.

We also have This is a Story of a Girl in a World, with some music by Antony Hegarty from Antony and the Johnsons, whom I adore and whose voice is the trick to the whole piece. There are two works by him in this piece, followed by a version of Lou Reed's Candy Says, which is a tribute to Candy Darling - the former transsexual. There is also a section in silence that honours fabulous women in modern dance and burlesque, and then the last section is by a great young artist called Nico Muhly, who is more kind of classical-ish - I don't want to say 'classical' because he defies that definition.

Is Bloom a bit of a departure from your usual style?

Yes it is...

In what way?

I've been drawn to the dark in much of my work, but Bloom is more lush and glimmering with hope. It's more symmetrical and softer. It's a very beautiful piece. And it took a considerable amount of time to let myself make that kind of piece.

During Queer Up North you will also be undertaking a two-day educational residency, working with Salford's youth dance company, Commotions. This is obviously a fantastic opportunity for young dancers in Salford but is it something you think you might enjoy doing?

I've been touring the world for almost 25 years now. Coming to a city, for the first ten years you just go to the best restaurants and clubs in town and then you leave when the show is over. It gets very tiring after a while. Lately I've been looking for ways to keep myself interested in what I'm doing and to engage with the people in the places I visit. I really enjoy working with local kids. The whole focus of Bloom was on working with younger singers - I wanted that vibe of youth around us, surrounding the whole performance. There are newer influences that can attract teenagers and for me to get them exposed to art, to give them the opportunity to engage and see what happens is very rewarding. And I hope it's good for the audience and the kids who get involved.

Will you try to catch any of the other Queer Up North shows while you're here?

I don't think I'll be in Manchester very long so I'm not sure what I'll be able to see. But I do know that Sandra Bernhard is opening the festival and she's a friend of mine. I have seen her show and it's fantastic.

You once said in an interview that your dances are 'cave paintings of New York life'. Which aspects of this life do you find most inspiring?

There are a million different stories on the streets of New York and I think the energy of having all those stories jammed up against each-other is pretty exciting. To have that much energy in one city…there's nothing like it. Walking down the street you are constantly intersecting with all different kinds of life - from the most normal business person to the most fabulous film star - all the time and very quickly. I try to express that energy in my work.

Do you find that European audiences react differently than American audiences to your work?

I would normally say yes to that, but that's changed recently. I think it's not so much European or American; it's really city by city and it's about the cultural landscape of each city. New York responds to my work in one way, and generally London responds in a similar way, but Paris responds in a very different way. Two years ago we were touring the world with a piece by Lou Reed and a piece by Laurie Anderson. In London the critics and audience showed a preference for the Lou Reed work, which was more theatrical and kind of abrasive, and in Paris it was more about the Laurie Anderson work, which was more abstract and intellectual.

Your collaborations with musicians like Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, as well as visual artists and designers are legendary. What do you look for in these artists?

I want to be excited, provoked, moved and challenged by the artists that I engage with. I choose people who just make me want to respond.

Stephen Petronio Company is celebrating its 25th anniversary next year isn't it?

Yes, 25 years. It's hard to believe.

You've been choreographing for so long, do you ever get nervous before a show any more?

Absolutely, every night I get nervous. I want my audience to have a conversation with me; I want them to have a reaction to my work. So I'll never be nonchalant about it.

Looking back at your career, how would you say your sensibilities and style have evolved from the early days?

My work has always been very intuitive and never that carefully thought out, so that hasn't changed. But I think now I'm a little bit more generous to the audience. There was a period in my life when the harder and the darker and the more impenetrable it was, the happier I was. But now I'm much more interested in letting people in. There was a time when I would give people so much to look at they didn't know where to look and I still enjoy that, but I'd say I've gone slightly kinder over the years.

What next for the Stephen Petronio Company? Do you have anything interesting in the pipeline?

Yes I do, a couple of things. For our 25th anniversary season I'm extending the company and doubling the number of dancers. And we're doing a full evening-length work with Nico Muhly called I Drink the Air Before Me, which focuses on weather.

Stephen Petronio Company performs at The Lowry, Salford Quays, on Sunday, May 25. This will be the closing event of the 17-day long Queer Up North festival, which opens with a world premiere from Sandra Bernhard on May 9. For more information visit www.queerupnorth.com

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Stepping into the light

Leading New York choreographer Stephen Petronio has a formidable reputation for dark, fast and furious work. But as he heads to The Lowry to close this year's Queer Up North festival, he tells All About Manchester he has finally allowed himself to acknowledge a brighter side to life.