Rethinking the future of dance with Cameron McMillan

‘For me it all exists on a continuum and we will always look back at life, culture, dance, politics, fashion etc. from where we are today. Our individual and collective pasts inform us now and in the future on so many levels,’ explains New Zealand born choreographer, dancer and movement director Cameron McMillan (he/him). 

Classically trained at Melbourne’s Australian Ballet School, McMillan has performed with companies across the spectrum of dance. From his arrival in London in 2001 as soloist for English National Ballet, to joining Rambert for five formative and experimental years, he became deeply captivated by the space between classical and contemporary dance. 

Since leaving Rambert in 2007, McMillan has constantly examined the limits of his art form, drawing from his formal dance background and the search for a new language of movement. His work uses the architecture of dance to respond to the complexities of life: exploring the tension between past and present, and challenging the constraints of the choreographic norm.  

While McMillan continues to create and perform works for theatre, it’s in the field of choreographic movement direction, often within the world of fashion, that he is taking dance forward. Collaborating with photographers, visual artists and directors, he continuously interrogates the possibilities of his art form in the 21^st century. We caught up with McMillan just as his latest work Beneath Sky Snakes is shortlisted in the 2021 POOL International Dance Film Festival in Berlin. 

ON BRIDGING CLASSICAL AND CONTEMPORARY

‘I have always been drawn to the contemporary sides of the form, so moving into contemporary dance was a very natural transition. I loved being involved in the creation of new work and I always had the desire to choreograph, so it was a lot to do with finding my own direction and place as a dancer. For a long time, I pushed against my classical history as a way to move past the conditioning that comes with the training, but now with some distance I can see it and work with it in a way that makes sense to my contemporary point of view.’ 

ON PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF DANCE  

‘Contemporary dance is on a constant forward momentum, sprawling in so many directions. It’s both inspiring and challenging to stay connected, find platforms for your work and stay true to your development as an artist, as so much can seem out of your hands. Ballet is in a position where the world is moving fast, and in some ways, it’s facing a reckoning of relevance. Dance and visual art are becoming more intertwined and politics, sustainability and equity are driving people to make work. Technology and innovation will continue to have a huge impact on how work is made and shared.’  

ON REFRAMING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE 

‘I had spent years recalibrating my thinking and approach to dance in a more contemporary framework. So, the challenge was, ‘How do I bring all this new information and these skills into a process that doesn’t undermine all the specific ones in ballet?’ I looked at the evolution of my dance languages in ballet and contemporary dance in The Inheritance of Form, contrasted mythology with a futuristic vision of AI in Irresponsible Gods, and broke down the gender binary in ballet in Un(i)Form Sonatas.’ 

ON DANCE AND THE DIGITAL AGE  

‘Social media is having a major impact on the way we create and consume content. Dance can be particularly attractive in this format, but I think it can be a bit of a double-edged sword. It gives the artist agency to engage, share their work and expand their audience on their own terms, but the format has its limitations. Algorithmic success is not always an indicator of good work, and the effects of social media on mental health are problematic.’  

ON CULTURE AS SOCIAL CHANGE  

‘Culture has always been a leading protagonist in the march of social change. It’s the way communities express themselves, communicate and process new ideas and is vital to the growth of society. The role of dance in this is always shifting and simply the way we ‘move’ is fundamental to how we communicate and express ourselves. From our body language and everyday interactions, to dance’s deep connection to the music we listen to, its variations help us communicate and define and develop our subcultures. Dance still has a lot to do, but at its core it can harness the energy, inquiry and mood of the moment and is inherently collaborative.’   

ON CREATING WORK THAT ADDRESSES SOCIAL ISSUES 

‘We have a responsibility as artists to ask questions, reveal inequities, platform underrepresented voices and reframe what has gone before. A lot of my work has been an ongoing process of choreographic practice and development, building from piece to piece and responding to the context in which I’m creating. I can now see the arc of my work more clearly and feel bolder in my choices. For example, Perimeter Interior was created with a set of systems, parameters and directions that the dancers and I had to negotiate throughout the process, from changing clothes and following specific maps and rules, much like everyday life.’  

ON DANCE WITHIN THE COMMUNITY  

‘I think it’s vital for people to be able to access the experience of performance outside of the theatre. It expands the context and expectations of the art form, often by directly engaging with people in our public spaces and is connects to audiences that may not have that access. Everybody has the right to art and for it to be a possibility for them to engage with it.’  

ON CHOREOGRAPHIC MOVEMENT DIRECTION 

‘I’m interested in the physical intention as well as an emotional and intellectual drive. When our physical and mental intelligence are both in play, it makes for a rich creative playground. I always encourage my dancers to take ownership of their dancing in the context of the work we’re creating together. Ultimately, it’s about collaboration. It’s important for me that the performers feel they're free to contribute.’ 

ON PUSHING HIS DANCERS  

‘I believe in giving dancers agency to bring themselves to the work, as it was in environments like this I thrived as a dancer. So much of my creative process is intuitive, and I’m trying to lean more and more into that. I offer as much information and detail as I can with movement and in shared generative processes, and the dancers often solve problems and offer ideas. What we do is ephemeral, but technology helps, I now use video editing software in the process to experiment and refine structure and enable the process to continue when out of the studio.’ 

ON MUSIC AND DANCE 

‘Sometimes I hear pieces I instantly visualise and want to respond to. At other times, it’s about finding a sound world for the dance to exist in. I loved the challenge of working with the driving complexity of Steve Reich’s Triple Quartet in The Inheritance of Form, and collaborating with Hungarian composer Richárd Reideraur reinterpreting the Gluck score for Orpheus + Eurydice. J. S. Bach is an endless spiral of genius, who is daunting to work with, whilst electronic music feels like the only truly contemporary sound world.’ 

ON CONNECTING WITH YOUTH CULTURE  

‘My work FutureDogs came from a desire to tap into a side of me that I had not really worked with for a while. I wanted to push against what I had been making, which had been more about understanding my relationship to form in dance and connect with a different side of myself that wanted to throw things away. Armed with a super talented bunch of young dancers, we played with the tension of the digital age, group dynamics, gender and sexuality, outsider status, and the hedonism of youth. I try not to dictate what the work is saying, and I look to create space for the audience to interpret and hopefully recognize something.’  

ON STYLE AND FASHION  

‘I think style is very much a sense of how you present to the world, but in a way that is comfortable and authentic. It shows an unforced attention to detail and aesthetic awareness. Fashion always seeks new modes of visual communication; I like its fast pace. I also enjoy working with creatives outside of my field, as it brings new ways to create and points of view.’