Kenneth MacMillan and the Visual Arts: A Case Study

Abstract

Using Kenneth MacMillan’s ballet The Invitation as a case study, this article focuses on the influence that cinema and painting exerted on his choreography. It examines how the visual imagery and techniques that came from the acknowledged audiovisual and pictorial sources of this ballet entered into his choreography. It also reveals that paintings by Francisco de Goya are highly probable, but previously unacknowledged, sources of the ballet. A final reflection considers the tableau vivant as a choreographic technique for an image-based effect.