Dance and Human Rights: An Interview with Christopher Bruce, Artistic Director, Rambert Dance Company

In this interview with Christopher Bruce from the online forum Criticaldance.com., his work as a choreographer is introduced as using social themes as a source of inspiration for dance works. In the late 1990's, as head choreographer for the Rambert Dance company of the United Kingdom (UK), he collaborated with Amnesty International UK to prepare Swansong, a dance-drama based on the interrogation of a prisoner by two guards.

The question asked him by the interviewer is: why might a choreographer include human rights themes in his work, particularly as there is a view that the arts should only be concerned with creating beauty? Bruce responded with: "...social and political themes emerge naturally as a reflection of ...[my] concerns, although ...[my] aim is always firstly to create a piece of dance, rather than to make a statement." In his response, Bruce compares creating dance with human rights themes to the poetry of Wilfred Owen, who wrote anti-war poetry as social commentary on World War I. He spoke of using artistic endeavour as communicating "some underlying truth behind the piece, inspired by a desire to promote civilised behaviour, rather than just an attempt to shape opinion."

His inspiration for a piece called Ghost Dances was meeting the widow of tortured and murdered musician Victor Jara, victim of the coup which ousted the elected Allende government in Chile. He used religious tradition and symbolism of the Day of the Dead with indigenous dance movements for the representation of the oppression of ordinary people of South American and their courage in the face of adversity.

"Bruce agrees that, on the evidence of Ghost Dances, Swansong, and Cruel Garden (about the death of Lorca at the hands of the Fascists in Spain), human rights themes have provided him with a strong source of inspiration. He remains a passionate advocate for the role of dance and the arts in society and believes that seeing good work and the chance to perform, either as an amateur or a professional, can not only enrich lives, but can also be a civilising influence."