13 Different Keys lowers the drawbridge between the very distinct cultures of classical and contemporary dance, making unlikely bedfellows of Artangel and The Royal Ballet. Such a proposition could never have been realised without the openness and the generosity of Siobhan Davies and Deborah Bull, who two years ago began a conversation with us propelled by Gill Clarke and enthusiastically joined by The Royal Ballet - which continued at The Atlantis.
Any fears we may have had about the barriers of language and training were swiftly confounded in the studio, where a level playing field and a true sense of company were created from the start. For the Royal Ballet dancers, this was an initiation into working barefoot without a barre or a mirror in sight.
For Siobhan Davies (her approach, quite literally, embodied by Gill Clarke and Matthew Morris) this was an opportunity to de-mystify the way in which contemporary practice empowers the dancer to create movement rather than have it imposed on the body by the demands of tradition and received notation.
The music of Marin Marais, interpreted by Reiko Ichise and Carole Cerasi, remains the only true classical component of the work Siobhan Davies has made for The Atlantis Building. Le Labyrinthe, which forms the cyclical structure of the event, was composed in 1717 as part of the Suite d'un goût Etranger - one of 33 pieces written in thirteen different keys.
Image: The audience surround two dancers as they perform in a blur of motion under the blue lights of the Atlantis Building during 13 Different Keys, 1999. Photograph: Sarah Ainslie