Studio Wayne McGregor

Outlier
2010

Company
New York City Ballet 

Duration
22 minutes

Concept and Choreography
Wayne McGregor

Music
Thomas Adès 'Concerto for Violin - Concentric Paths, for violin and chamber orchestra, Op. 23'

Set Concept
Wayne McGregor and Lucy Carter

Lighting Design
Lucy Carter

Costume Design
Moritz Junge

Originally danced by
Ashley Bouder, Robert Fairchild, Gonzalo Garcia, Craig Hall, Sterling Hyltin, Maria Kowroski, Joaquin D Luz, Tiler Peck, Amar Ramasar, Christian Tworzyanski and Wendy Whelan

Premiere date and venue
14 May 2010, David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York City, USA

Dates

Set to composer Thomas Adès' 2005 violin concerto Concentric Paths, Outlier was created for New York City Ballet's Architecture of Dance Festival, and was McGregor's first original work for an American dance company. 

Speaking of the creation of Outlier, McGregor stated:

'In 2010 I was asked to create a new work for the New York City Ballet in their architecture and dance series. The Philip Johnson building that houses the David H. Koch Theatre and is home to the New York City Ballet felt like a natural place to look for inspiration. Johnson was not only a great friend of George Balanchine and an influential architect, he championed the architects of the Bauhaus, like Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe, in the U.S.

I am fascinated by that Bauhaus art period and by abstract minimalist painters like Josef Albers and Barnett Newman. The visual context for the piece has been greatly informed by the minimalist's notion of simplicity and colour theory.'

Outlier has since been re-staged by Company Wayne McGregor, who have performed the piece since 2014.


Images of original production by Paul Kolnick.
Trailer of Company Wayne McGregor production for Sadler's Wells.