Jonathan Burrows Group

 Jonathan Burrows was born in 1960.  He started his career as a soloist with the Royal Ballet in London but formed the Jonathan Burrows Group in 1988 to present his own work.  The company travelled widely and gained an international reputation with pieces such as Stoics (1991), Very (1992), Our (1994), The Stop Quartet (1996) and Things I Don't Know' (1997). 

In 2001 he presented Weak Dance Strong Questions, a collaboration with Dutch theatre director Jan Ritsema, which toured to 14 countries. 

Since 2002 he has collaborated with the composer Matteo Fargion on a series of duets: "Both Sitting Duet" (2002), "The Quiet Dance" (2005), "Speaking Dance"(2006) and 'Cheap Lecture (2009).  The duo have now given over 170 performances of this work in 24 countries, including winning a 2004 New York Dance And Performance "Bessie" Award. 

Other high profile collaborators include Sylvie Guillem's performance of his choreography in Adam Robert's film Blue Yellow in 1996, and his invitation in 1997 to choreograph for William Forsythe's Ballet Frankfurt.  In 2008 he was Associate Director on Peter Handke's 'The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other' for the National Theatre, London. 

He was an associate artist 1992- 2002 at Kunstencentrum Vooruit in Gent, Belgium, was Artist-In-Residence at London's South Bank Centre 1998/9, and is currently Artist-In -Residence at Kaaitheater Brussels.  In 2002 Jonathan was given an award by the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts In New York, in recognition for his ongoing contributions to contemporary dance. He is a visiting member of faculty at P.A.R.T.S, the school of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in Brussels, and is also a Visiting Professor for the Department of Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University Of London, the Performance Studies Department of Hamburg University and the Freie Universität Berlin. 

Review extracts 

on Speaking Dance 

"Absurdist self-indulgence you'll be thinking, but what you see is revelation and joy.' The Evening Standard

"Captivating, inscrutable , dazzling' The Daily Telegraph

"Burrows and Fargion seem to have got in touch with some basic and fundamental truths about relationships - between each other and between themselves as performers and us in the audience. This is what, in my view, makes 'Speaking Dance' such a fine work." criticaldance.com, October 2006

'This is 50 minutes of highly intelligent fun' The Independent On Sunday

of The Quiet Dance 

'A surprisingly endearing conceptual comedy'  The Times, October 2005  

'How refreshing to encounter modern dance promising something other than bodies in high velocity, bullet-like action...' The Guardian 

of Both Sitting Duet 

'It was certainly one of the funniest and most ingenious dances seen in New York in a long time.' The New York Times

'The great thing about imaginative dancemaking is that it reminds you not just of the possibilities of the body in motion, but of the potentialities of life itself.  I emerged from the French premiere of 'Both Sitting Duet' in a veritable glow, my world expanded, its walls tumbling down.' The danceinsider.com

'An unspectacular spectacle.' Financieel Economische Tidj, Belgium

 Production highlights 

Production by Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion: 

Cheap Lecture (2009) 

Cheap Lecture is a talk on their work in the form of a musical performance. 

Cheap Lecture has been selected by Het Theaterfestival 2009 Belgium as one of the best productions of the season. 

Cheap Lecture was commissioned by Cultureel Centrum Maasmechelen and Dans in Limburg and first performed at the Cultureel Centrum Maasmechelen.

Production by Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion: 

Speaking Dance (2006) 

Choreographer Jonathan Burrows and composer Matteo Fargion present the final part of a trilogy of performances, which began in 2002 with Both Sitting Duet and continued last year with The Quiet Dance.  This latest piece continues their gentle exploration into how the relationship between music and dance is perceived, and the fragile but permeable boundaries between the two worlds.  Their performances are a formal but humourous meditation on the nature of communication, and the relationship between each other and with the audience.

Production by Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion: 

The Quiet Dance (2005) 

Choreographer Jonathan Burrows and composer Matteo Fargion are among the most widely travelled of UK performance artists and have gained an international reputation for the intelligence, humour and musicality of their shows.  At the heart of their work is a love of rhythmic form and the quiet intensity of communication this allows them to share with each other and with the audience.  The Quiet Dance is just what it says it is. 

The Quiet Dance is co-produced by Dance 4 Nottingham, Dance Umbrella London, Joint Adventures Munich, Kaaitheater Brussels and supported by Arts Council England and the Jonathan Burrows Group.

Production by Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion: 

Both Sitting Duet (2002) 

Sitting on chairs drawn up close to the audience, and with music scores at their feet, the two men draw us into a silent, unexpected and often funny conversation for two pairs of arms. 

Weak Dance Strong Questions (2001), a collaboration with Dutch theatre director Jan Ritsema.