Versuchen GOLD - Frei

'Why aren't there Oscars or Baftas for what we do?'

The Guardian Weekly

|

February 28, 2025

From Matilda to Dear England, choreographer Ellen Kane's work has lit up show after show. It's time this art received proper recognition, she says

- Lyndsey Winship

'Why aren't there Oscars or Baftas for what we do?'

Ellen Kane is on a roll. When we speak, the choreographer and movement director has two shows running, Ballet Shoes at London's National Theatre and Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 at the Donmar Warehouse across town. She has just finished Why Am I So Single?, the follow-up from the writers of Six, the smash hit about Henry VIII's wives, and she's in rehearsals for the revival of Dear England, James Graham's funny and stirring depiction of Gareth Southgate's tenure as England football manager. If you watched all those shows you would have no idea the same person had a hand in them all, such is the art of the movement director, a job many may not even realise exists. But it's an essential one.

"Outside actually directing a scene, everything that moves on the stage is usually done by me," says Kane, chatting backstage at the National. That means any dance, obviously, but also scene transitions, characters getting from A to B, and working with actors on how they connect with the audience. She helps make visible a character's emotional experience. "So that we, the audience, can feel it," she says. "I love to feel. I can watch something and appreciate it, 'Oh that's beautiful.' But do I leave moved?"

WEITERE GESCHICHTEN VON The Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly

Feeling in a pickle? How leftover brine can give your cooking a kick

I’m an avid consumer of pickles. When I’ve finished a jar, how can I use the brine in my cooking?

time to read

2 mins

July 04, 2025

The Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly

Cool retreats Hill stations swamped by tourists fleeing heat

Until recently, the drive up the mountainous road to Landour was a highlight of a visit to the hilltop town, as drivers enjoyed glorious Himalayan views and breathed in the cool forest air. Today, the journey is something to be endured with up to 1,000 cars a day clogging the narrow, winding road - slowing to navigate hairpin bends. A journey that once took five to six hours from Delhi can now take up to 10 hours, especially at weekends in May and June.

time to read

3 mins

July 04, 2025

The Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly

How the rise of Zohran Mamdani has divided Democrats

The Friday night before election day, Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist running for mayor of New York City, walked the length of Manhattan, from Inwood Hill Park at its northern tip to the Battery - about 20km. Along the way, he was greeted by a stream of New Yorkers enjoying the sticky summer night - men rose from their folding chairs to shake his hand, drivers honked in support and diners leapt up to snap a selfie with the would-be leader of their city.

time to read

5 mins

July 04, 2025

The Guardian Weekly

‘It’s a fight for life’ Tipping points, doomerism and catastrophic risks

Climate expert Genevieve Guenther on the importance of correcting the false narrative that climate threat is under control... and why it is appropriate to be scared

time to read

5 mins

July 04, 2025

The Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly

Call to revive the spirit of Greenham Common

In August 1981, 36 people, mainly women, walked from Wales to RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire to protest against the storing of US cruise missiles in the UK.

time to read

2 mins

July 04, 2025

The Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly

Who are the jihadists waging a ghost war in the Sahel?

The scene is wearily familiar. It is dusk at a ramshackle military outpost, surrounded by miles of scrubby desert or on the outskirts of a major town.

time to read

3 mins

July 04, 2025

The Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly

Will Ghibli's magic fade as the studio turns 40?

The beloved Japanese animation house faces an uncertain future, with its figurehead, 84-year-old Hayao Miyazaki, claiming he has made his final film

time to read

3 mins

July 04, 2025

The Guardian Weekly

The Guardian Weekly

The ripple effect

After America's blunt intervention, Donald Trump says the war between Iran and Israel is over. But the perceived readiness of the US to employ force instead of negotiations could have knock-on consequences around the world

time to read

4 mins

July 04, 2025

The Guardian Weekly

Broken justice...

Critics argue that far from shielding the world from the worst crimes, international law has protected states by helping them justify their wrongs. Is the system dying or merely in hibernation?

time to read

16 mins

July 04, 2025

The Guardian Weekly

While the death toll mounts, Israel's allies must help build a future for Palestinians

“We cannot be asking civilians to go into a combat zone so that then they can be killed with the justification that they are in a combat zone.” It defies belief that the Unicef spokesperson, James Elder, should have needed to spell that out last week.

time to read

2 mins

July 04, 2025

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size