‘“In the 60s, choreographer Yvonne Rainer came out with this whole manifesto: ‘No to spectacle, no to virtuosity ... ’” says Kevin Finnan, artistic director of Motionhouse dance company. Rainer’s No Manifesto continues: No to transformations and magic and make-believe … No to moving or being moved. “And the thing is,” says Finnan, “I don’t agree with any of that. I’m really fascinated with spectacle.”
He’s in the right job, then. Finnan is a master of mass spectacle, huge outdoor performances featuring hundreds of dancers and acrobats, flying bicycles, skydivers, planes, boats and moving machinery. He’s created events for four different European Capital of Culture celebrations, built a giant ship in the middle of Birmingham for the Cultural Olympiad, and choreographed the Paralympics opening ceremony in London. His latest job is Wondrous Stories, which opens the Birmingham 2022 festival in the runup up to this year’s Commonwealth Games. The important thing is just that it’s not empty spectacle, says Finnan, “otherwise it’s a firework display”. He tries to “engage the audience with beauty and strength and virtuosity,” he says. “But there has to be a relationship with the simple and the human and what we’re trying to say.”
