Rambert's new boss: 'It's like a big mansion and I'm going to renovate it'

Dynamic artistic director Benoit Swan Pouffer has grand designs for Britain’s oldest dance company, from diversifying the audience to finding new choreographers

“I want this company, Rambert, to be one of the best in the world,” says Benoit Swan Pouffer, softly spoken but sure of himself. “To be recognised as the beacon for contemporary dance in the UK, and in Europe, and even the world.”

Pouffer, the French choreographer and former director of New York’s Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, has just been announced as the new artistic director at Rambert, Britain’s oldest dance company. When former director Mark Baldwin stepped down earlier this year following a 16-year tenure, Pouffer was brought in in a caretaker role. Having run Cedar Lake for a decade, he had no intention of taking on another company, but being back around dancers every day “dedicating their life to this art form” made him change his mind. “I was like a fish in water,” he says. “I understood what I wanted to do. So I applied.”

Pouffer comes with an impressive reputation. Under his leadership, the dynamic dancers of Cedar Lake were one of the most exciting outfits in dance, and he was an early commissioner of choreographers including Crystal Pite, Hofesh Shechter and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, introducing their work to the US.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Lc2Mzj

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