Dancing flat out at the Tate

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12 April 2012

Tate Modern tonight becomes a giant stage for a choreographer widely considered the master of modern dance.

Scot Michael Clark has worked with a team of 13 professional dancers and 48 untrained performers to create a new work tailor-made for the cathedral heights of the Turbine Hall.

Curator Catherine Wood said the commission, which had a gala opening last night, had been her aspiration since Tate Modern opened and began live events 11 years ago.

"Michael works with artists, designers and other performers to bring it all together," she said. "What he's doing is heartbreakingly beautiful."

The commission is not the first dance work in the Turbine Hall but is on a scale rivalled only by a major work by the late Merce Cunningham in 2003.

The dancers will at times race the length of the building to a soundtrack including music by David Bowie and Kraftwerk.

Ms Wood said: "One of the really exciting things Michael does is to take popular music we have all probably danced to and invent forms of movement that you would never have thought of doing yourself."

Clark himself has designed the project, down to the U-shaped seating for 450 people per performance. Ms Wood believes his staging suggests other future uses for the hall.

"The way he has made it into an arena has opened up possibilities for live events," she said. The Michael Clark Company performs at Tate Modern until Sunday, tickets £30. www.tate.org

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