Inspired by Wings

New Zealand choreographer and Rambert Dance Company’s artistic director Mark Baldwin is celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth with The Comedy of Change, a new work inspired by Darwin’s theory of the evolution to life. Fiji-born Baldwin wasn’t completely new to Darwinian Theory, having studied a little biology at Auckland University. The films of bird behaviour used by avian scientist Nicky Clayton to illustrate her Cambridge lectures were a fertile source of imagery and humour for Baldwin. “I’ve been able to steal loads of movement from the birds,” says Baldwin. In 2005, Baldwin won the TMA Theatre Award for Achievement in Dance, for the creation of Constant Speed and the high calibre of his artistic directorship of Rambert Dance Company. He has recently completed touring the highly acclaimed work Eternal Light. The Comedy of Change tours England September 16 through December 4.