Carmen Herrera was a painter of space, an artist who evoked infinity. Wayne McGregor’s new ballet, Untitled, 2023, was inspired by her. Before her death last year, at the age of 106, she designed its set – a great slash of green in acres of white, a triangular sculpture.
The shape of its title (Untitled, followed by a date) is informed by the way she often named her geometric, abstract paintings. More importantly, the shape of McGregor’s choreography feels impelled by her clarity, by her cool concerns. The green and white costumes by Burberry carve the dancers’ bodies into angular forms; lighting designer Lucy Carter bathes the entire stage in shifting washes of subtle colour. At one point, a group of dancers gather in the distance, seeming to recede into a distant perspective.
