Norman Morrice

Morrice, Norman (b Agua Dulce, Mexico, 10 Sept. 1931). British dancer, choreographer, and ballet director. He studied first in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, then at the Rambert School (from 1952), and later with Graham in New York. He joined Ballet Rambert in 1953 and became a principal dancer, taking up choreography in 1958 and eventually becoming Rambert's principal choreographer in 1962. In 1966, when the company rewrote itself into a modern dance outfit, he was named associate director, responsible for carrying out Rambert's new policy and thus becoming one of the most important figures in the development of contemporary dance in Britain in the 1960s. Full-length classical ballets were dropped from the repertoire; new work was promoted and Tetley was invited to work with the company. Morrice was joint director of Rambert (1970-4). He resigned to pursue a career as a choreographer, working with Rambert and the Batsheva company in Israel. His work reflected his interest in contemporary themes told in a contemporary style. In 1977 he was appointed director of the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, where he remained until 1986. For the Royal he staged new productions of Swan Lake (1979) and Giselle (1980). He invited Richard Alston to make his first ballet, Midsummer, for the Royal in 1983. From 1987 he was director of choreographic studies at the Royal Ballet School. A list of his works includes Two Brothers (mus. Dohnányi, 1958), Hazana (mus. Surinach, 1959), A Place in the Desert (mus. Surinach, 1961), Conflicts (mus. Bloch, 1962), The Travellers (mus. Salzedo, 1963), Side Show (mus. Hindemith, 1966), Hazard (mus. Salzedo, 1967), Rehearsal (mus. Poulenc, 1968), Them and Us (mus. Xenakis, 1968), Blind-Sight (mus. Bob Downes, 1969), The Empty Suit (mus. Salzedo, 1970), That is the Show (mus. Berio, 1971), Spindrift (mus. J. Lewis, 1974), Trek (mus. Lester, 1975), Fragments from a Distant Past (mus. Janáček, Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers, 1976), and Seven Songs (Australian Dance Theatre, 1977).