# Wayne McGregor

Sir Wayne McGregor, CBE (born 12 March 1970) is a British choreographer and director who has won multiple awards. He is the Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor and Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. McGregor was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 2011 for Services to Dance.

## Biography

McGregor was born in Stockport in 1970. He studied dance at Bretton Hall College of the University of Leeds and in New York. In 1992 he was appointed Choreographer-in-Residence at The Place, London, and in the same year he founded his own company, Random Dance (now Company Wayne McGregor). Company Wayne McGregor was invited to be the first Resident Company at the new Sadler's Wells in 2002. Appointed in 2006, McGregor is the first Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet from a contemporary dance background. In 2021, McGregor was announced as the Director of Dance for the Venice Biennale until 2024. McGregor is Professor of Choreography at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and holds an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Plymouth University as well as an Honorary Doctor of Letters from University of Leeds and University of Chester. McGregor also holds an Honorary Doctor from University of the Arts London. He is part of the Circle of Cultural Fellows at King's College London. In 2017 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the British Science Association. McGregor topped the list for dance in The Progress 1000 celebration of London's most influential people in 2018. In 2021 McGregor was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Prix de Lausanne.

## Career

Founded in 1992 (formerly known as Random Dance Company and Wayne McGregor | Random Dance), Studio Wayne McGregor encompasses McGregor's touring company of dancers, Company Wayne McGregor, and all of McGregor's creative work in dance, film, theatre, opera, fashion, technology, and TV. Studio Wayne McGregor also leads extensive learning and engagement projects nationally and internationally, artist development initiatives, and research and development work with science and technology partners. Significant large-scale engagement projects include Big Dance in Trafalgar Square as part of the 2012 London Olympics, and LightLens for Aarhus European City of Culture in 2017.
McGregor has made over 30 works for Company Wayne McGregor (including A Body for Harnasie, UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey, Autobiography, Tree of Codes, Atomos, FAR and Entity), and over 20 works for The Royal Ballet (including The Dante Project, Yugen, Obsidian Tear, Woolf Works, Carbon Life, Infra and Chroma).
He also regularly creates new work for international companies including National Ballet of Canada (MADDADDAM), La Scala Theatre Ballet (LORE), Paris Opera Ballet (Genus, L'Anatomie de la Sensation, Alea Sands), Bayerisches Staatsballett Munich (Sunyata), American Ballet Theatre (AfteRite, a co-production with Royal Danish Ballet), San Francisco Ballet (Borderlands), Stuttgart Ballet (EDEN | EDEN, Yantra), New York City Ballet (Outlier), The Australian Ballet (Dyad 1929), Ballett Zürich (Kairos) and Rambert (PreSentient), and has works in the repertories of companies including Bolshoi Ballet (Chroma), Mariinsky Ballet (Infra) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (Chroma and Kairos).
McGregor has worked on choreography and movement direction for numerous feature films and documentaries including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Legend of Tarzan, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Sing, Mary Queen of Scots and Audrey as well as choreographing music videos for Radiohead (Lotus Flower), Atoms for Peace (Ingenue) and The Chemical Brothers (Wide Open). He has also worked on numerous fashion and TV works and projects including choreography for Paloma Faith's performance at the 2015 Brit Awards as well as directing and choreographing the opening sequence for the award show in 2016, collaborating with Gareth Pugh for his London and New York Fashion weeks in 2014 and 2017 respectively, and fashion films Soma for COS and Torus for SHOWstudio. In 2016, McGregor directed and choreographed Selfridges' everyBODY advertising campaign.
McGregor has directed opera (Dido and Aeneas and Acis and Galatea for La Scala/Royal Opera), and choreographed for theatre (productions at ENO, Old Vic, National Theatre and Donmar Warehouse). In 2022 he choreographed ABBA Voyage, a concert featuring virtual avatars of pop band ABBA depicting the group as they appeared in 1977.
McGregor has collaborated with composers (Thomas Adès, Jlin, John Tavener, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Kaija Saariaho, Jon Hopkins, Max Richter, Joby Talbot/The White Stripes, Rokia Traore, Steve Reich, Jamie xx, Scanner), visual artists and designers (Thierry Mugler, Tacita Dean, Lucy Carter, Edmund de Waal, Random International, Olafur Eliasson, Ben Cullen Williams, Mark Wallinger, Vicki Mortimer, Aitor Throup, Shirin Guild), filmmakers and photographers (Ravi Deepres, Ruth Hogben, Nick Knight, Robin Friend), architects (We Not I, John Pawson), and writers (Margaret Atwood, Audrey Niffenegger, Uzma Hameed).
Studio Wayne McGregor's building opened at Here East on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in March 2017. Designed by architectural practice We Not I, the creative arts space for making contains three large dance studios, meeting and collaboration spaces. It also features artwork installations by Haroon Mirza, Carmen Herrera, a work by artist Ben Cullen Williams, original artworks by We Not I based on Josef Albers' Structural Constellations and Homages to the Square, and Anni Albers' Study for Camino Real, with permission from The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation.

## Awards

| Year | Association | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1996 | Olivier Award | Best Theatre Choreographer | A Little Night Music (Wayne McGregor) | Nominated |
| 1998 | L'Adami Prize for Performance | Choreography | The Millennarium (Company Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2000 | Critics' Circle Award | Best Modern Choreography | Aeon (Company Wayne McGregor) | Nominated |
| 2001 | South Bank Show Award | Dance | Aeon (Company Wayne McGregor) | Nominated |
| 2001 | Critics' Circle Award | Best Modern Choreography | The Trilogy (Company Wayne McGregor) | Nominated |
| 2001 | Critics' Circle Award | Best Classical Choreography | Symbiont(s) (The Royal Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2001 | Time Out Award | Outstanding Achievement in Dance | Symbiont(s) (The Royal Ballet) | Won |
| 2001 | Dance Magazine | 25 to Watch | Wayne McGregor | n/a |
| 2002 | Critics' Circle Award | Best Modern Choreography | Nemesis (Company Wayne McGregor) | Nominated |
| 2002 | IMZ International Dance Screen Competition | Best Choreographic Film | chrysalis (Company Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2002 | International Dance Screen Award | | The Dancer's Body (BBC Two) | Won |
| 2002 | Prix Benois de la Danse | Male Dancer | Aeon (Company Wayne McGregor) | Nominated |
| 2003 | Time Out Award | Outstanding Choreography | PreSentient (Rambert Dance Company) | Won |
| 2003 | Videoformes Festival | Prix de la Creation Video | chrysalis (Company Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2004 | Critics' Circle Award | Outstanding Achievement in Dance | 2Human (English National Ballet) | Won |
| 2005 | South Bank Show Award | Dance category | AtaXia (Company Wayne McGregor) | Nominated |
| 2005 | Critics' Circle Award | Best Modern Choreography | AtaXia (Company Wayne McGregor) | Nominated |
| 2006 | Critics' Circle Award | Best Modern Choreography | Amu (Company Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2007 | Critics' Circle Award | Best Classical Choreography | Chroma (The Royal Ballet) | Won |
| 2007 | Olivier Award | Best New Dance Production | Chroma (The Royal Ballet) | Won |
| 2007 | Olivier Award | Outstanding Achievement in Dance | Chroma (The Royal Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2007 | The Stage 100 | Opera/Dance/Musicals | Wayne McGregor | |
| 2008 | Dance Week Festival, Zagreb | Audience Award | Entity (Company Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2008 | IMZ Choreographic Capture Award | | Tremor | 3rd Prize |
| 2008 | Green Room Award | Dance Ensemble | Dyad 1929 (Australian Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2008 | Green Room Award | Betty Pounder Award for Choreography | Dyad 1929 (Australian Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2008 | Green Room Award | Design | Dyad 1929 (Australian Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2008 | Danza&Danza Magazine Awards | Best Show of the Year | Entity (Company Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2009 | South Bank Show Award | Dance category | Entity (Company Wayne McGregor) and Infra (The Royal Ballet) | Won |
| 2009 | International Theatre Institute | Excellence in International Dance | Wayne McGregor | Won |
| 2009 | Ballet Tanz | Choreographer of the Year | Wayne McGregor | Won |
| 2009 | Prix Benois de la Danse | Choreographer | Infra (The Royal Ballet) | Won |
| 2009 | Movimentos Dance Award | Movimentos Dance Prize | Entity (Company Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2009 | Critics' Circle Award | Best Classical Choreography | Infra (The Royal Ballet) | Won |
| 2009 | Olivier Award | Best New Dance Production | Infra (The Royal Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2009 | Olivier Award | Outstanding Achievement in Dance | Infra (The Royal Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2010 | Helpmann Award | Best Ballet or Dance Work | Dyad 1929 (Australian Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2010 | Helpmann Award | Best Choreography | Dyad 1929 (Australian Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2010 | Globe de Cristal | Opera or Dance category | Genus (Paris Opera Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2010 | Globe de Cristal | Musical category | Kirikou et Karaba (Maison de la Danse de Lyon) | Nominated |
| 2010 | South Bank Show Award | Dance category | Limen (The Royal Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2011 | Dora Mavor Moore Award | Outstanding Choreography | Chroma (National Ballet of Canada) | Nominated |
| 2011 | Dora Mavor Moore Award | Outstanding Performance | Chroma (National Ballet of Canada) | Nominated |
| 2011 | Dora Mavor Moore Award | Outstanding Production | Chroma (National Ballet of Canada) | Nominated |
| 2011 | Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) | For Services to Dance | Wayne McGregor | Won |
| 2011 | Evening Standard 1000 Most Influential Londoners | The Arts - Dance | Wayne McGregor | |
| 2012 | h. Club 100 (Hospital Club / Time Out) | 100 most influential, innovative and interesting people in the creative and media industries | Wayne McGregor | |
| 2012 | Golden Mask Award | Critics' Prize | Chroma (Bolshoi Ballet) | Won |
| 2012 | Grammy Award | Best Music Video | Lotus Flower (Radiohead, choreography by Wayne McGregor) | Nominated |
| 2012 | Dance on Camera, New York | | Wayne McGregor - Going Somewhere (director Catherine Maximoff) | Won |
| 2012 | London Award for Art & Performance | Dance | Wayne McGregor | Nominated |
| 2012 | Evening Standard 1000 Most Influential Londoners | The Arts - Dance | Wayne McGregor | |
| 2013 | Evening Standard 1000 Most Influential Londoners | The Arts - Dance | Wayne McGregor | |
| 2013 | South Bank Sky Arts Award | Best Choreography | Atomos (Company Wayne McGregor) | Nominated |
| 2013 | UK Music Video Awards | Best choreography in a music video | Ingenue (Atoms For Peace) | Nominated |
| 2013 | Huading Award, China | Global Best Dance Actor | Wayne McGregor | Nominated |
| 2014 | Sunday Times | Makers of the 21st Century | Wayne McGregor | |
| 2014 | Taglioni European Ballet Award | Best Production | Raven Girl (The Royal Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2014 | Power 1000: Evening Standard 1000 Most Influential Londoners | The Arts - Dance | Wayne McGregor | |
| 2014 | Dance Magazine Award | | Wayne McGregor | Won |
| 2014 | Helpmann Award | Best Ballet or Dance Work | Chroma (The Royal Ballet) | Won |
| 2015 | Golden Mask Awards | Best Ballet/Production | Infra (Mariinsky Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2015 | Golden Mask Awards | Musical Theatre Jury's Special Award | Infra (Mariinsky Ballet) | Won |
| 2015 | The Progress 1000: London's most influential people (Evening Standard) | The Arts - Dance | Wayne McGregor | |
| 2015 | Positano Premia la Danza | Leonide Massine Award: Show of the Year | Woolf Works (The Royal Ballet) | Won |
| 2015 | Sense Awards | Arts Partnership of the Year | Sense Creative Learning Project (Studio Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2015 | Manchester Theatre Awards | Robert Robson Award for Dance | Tree of Codes (Wayne McGregor, Olafur Eliasson, Jamie xx for Company Wayne McGregor and Paris Opera Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2015 | Manchester Theatre Awards | Best Design | Tree of Codes (Wayne McGregor, Olafur Eliasson, Jamie xx for Company Wayne McGregor and Paris Opera Ballet) | Won |
| 2015 | Critics' Circle National Dance Award | Best Classical Choreography | Woolf Works (The Royal Ballet) | Won |
| 2016 | UK Music Video Awards | Best Music Video: Dance | Wide Open (The Chemical Brothers feat. Beck, choreography by Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2016 | Olivier Awards | Best New Dance Production | Woolf Works (The Royal Ballet, Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2016 | South Bank Sky Arts Award | Dance category | Woolf Works (The Royal Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2016 | Creative Review Music Videos of the Year for 2016 | Music: Video category | Wide Open (The Chemical Brothers feat. Beck, choreography by Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2017 | World's Department Store Forum | World's Best Department Store Campaign | everyBODY (Selfridges) | Won |
| 2018 | Helpmann Awards | Best Ballet | Woolf Works (The Royal Ballet, Queensland Performing Arts Centre) | Nominated |
| 2018 | Helpmann Awards | Best Choreography in a Ballet, Dance or Physical Theatre Production | Woolf Works (The Royal Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2018 | Danza&Danza Magazine Awards | Best Contemporary Dance Performance | Autobiography (Company Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2018 | Olivier Awards | Best New Dance Production | Tree of Codes (Wayne McGregor, Olafur Eliasson, Jamie xx for Company Wayne McGregor and Paris Opera Ballet at Sadler's Wells) | Nominated |
| 2018 | D&AD Awards | Yellow Pencil Spatial Design / Set & Stage Design | Autobiography (Ben Cullen Williams, Studio Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2018 | The Charles and Joan Gross Family Foundation | Gross Family Prize | Autobiography, Wayne McGregor and Jlin in recognition of an outstanding new collaboration between dance and music (Company Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2018 | The Progress 1000: London's most influential people (Evening Standard) | Most Influential Person: Dance | Wayne McGregor | |
| 2018 | Critics' Circle Award | Best Classical Choreography | Yugen (The Royal Ballet, Wayne McGregor) | Nominated |
| 2019 | FWA | FWA of the Day: 16 January 2019 | Living Archive: An AI Performance Experiment (Wayne McGregor and Google Arts & Culture Lab) | Won |
| 2019 | The Frame Awards | Project with best use of digital technology | Living Archive: An AI Performance Experiment (Ben Cullen Williams, Studio Wayne McGregor) | Nominated |
| 2021 | Prix de Lausanne | Lifetime Achievement Award | Wayne McGregor | Won |
| 2021 | Aesthetica Art Prize | Future Now: Aesthetica Art Prize 2021 (Installation) | Living Archive: An AI Performance Experiment (Ben Cullen Williams, Studio Wayne McGregor) | Won |
| 2021 | Prix Benois de la Danse | Choreographer | The Dante Project (The Royal Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2022 | Critics' Circle Award | Best Classical Choreography | The Dante Project (The Royal Ballet) | Nominated |
| 2022 | South Bank Sky Arts Awards | Dance category | The Dante Project (The Royal Ballet) | Won |
| 2022 | Danza & Danza Magazine Awards | Ballet Company Production | LORE (Teatro alla Scala) | Won |
| 2023 | Prix Benois de la Danse | Choreographer | MADDADDAM (National Ballet of Canada) | Nominated |
| 2023 | Dora Mavor Moore Award | Outstanding Original Choreographer | MADDADDAM (National Ballet of Canada) | Nominated |
| 2023 | Dora Mavor Moore Award | Outstanding Production | MADDADDAM (National Ballet of Canada) | Nominated |
| 2023 | Walpole British Luxury Awards | Artistic Pioneer | Wayne McGregor | Winner |
| 2024 | Critics' Circle Award | Best Classical Choreography | Untitled, 2023 (The Royal Ballet) | Nominated |

## Personal life

McGregor and his partner, Antoine Vereecken, have restored a modernist house in southwest England.
He was knighted in the 2024 King's Birthday Honours "for services to dance".