Dance Revolutionaries, A New Film

Dance Revolutionaries goes on general release on 26 June. To find a participating cinema near you click here

Each in his own way, both Robert Cohan (1925-2021) and Sir Kenneth MacMillan (1929-1992) were determining figures in the development of dance in the UK; and over the years Yorke Dance Project has done a lot to bring their work, especially rarely performed pieces, to wider attention.

Dance Revolutionaries, directed by Emmy-nominated David Stewart, is yet another step in that direction. Produced by Yorke Dance Project in partnership with The Royal Ballet and the featured artists, It's a collection of short works by Cohan and MacMillan, all of them danced in specific locations. It opens with Cohan's 'EDD', performed by Edd Mitton.

Edd Mitton in Robert Cohan's EDD. Still from Dance Revolutionaries
EDD is one of five pieces created by Cohan for each of these particular dancers. The co-founder of the London Contemporary Dance School, Robert Cohan had a determining influence in the development of contemporary dance in the UK. Still working until very near the end, in November 2019 he started choreographing a series of solos, which he called Afternoon Conversations with Dancers. When the pandemic intervened, he finished the work by Zoom.

The five pieces, set to music by Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds, are gathered in this film under the heading 'Portraits', a very apt description, in that both setting and choreography perfectly fit each of the dancers: besides Edd Mitton, this section features Dane Hurst (pictured top), Jonathan Goddard, Freya Jeffs and Romany Pajdak.

Sir Kenneth MacMillan brought blood and guts into British ballet, with his uncompromising, powerful approach to visceral stories in ballets such as Mayerling, Manon and Judas Tree; as well as, of course, his perhaps most popular ballet, Romeo and Juliet. German expressionism influenced a period of his work; and is visible in Sea of Troubles, his radical recension of Hamlet, which won the Critics Circle Award for Best Dance Film 2024 and makes up the second and final section of Dance Revolutionaries.

Dane Hurst and Freya Jeffs in Kenneth MacMillan Sea of Troubles. Still from Dance Revolutionaries

Filmed on location in the house and grounds of Hatfield House, the Grade I listed country house built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, this is an absorbing, multifaceted take on the character of Hamlet and his key relationships in Shakespeare's play with Ophelia, the ghost of his father, his mother Gertrude and uncle Claudius. As well as Dane Hurst and Romany Pajdak, the other roles are danced by Oxana Panchenko, Freya Jeffs, Edd Mitton and Benjamin Warbis.