麻豆社

In the 1980s, Michael Clark was Scotland鈥檚 and the UK鈥檚 most talented young choreographer. He set up his own dance company at the age of 22 and wowed and outraged the dance world with his shocking performance pieces. Collaborations with people such as the late Leigh Bowery and The Fall planted his flag in the cultural landscape.

Where鈥檚 Michael Clark? explores the life and work of the punk prince of ballet whose navigated more twists and turns than a fairground ride. Clark famously used non-professional dancers in his ballets and was more likely to reference the Bauhaus than Swan Lake. From dancing with dildos to performing in platform shoes and bare bums, Michael talks candidly to Nick Grimshaw about his career.

Michael describes growing up with an alcoholic father, and how his pursuit of perfection led him to become addicted to heroin.

We hear from one of Michael鈥檚 fellow dancers, Les Child, who talks about what it was like to work with him and how the excess of the 80s informed Michael鈥檚 work.

After the death of his close collaborator Leigh Bowery and the breakup of a relationship, and his need to escape the hedonism of his creative circle, Michael moved back to Scotland to live with his mum and disappeared from view. Following a retrospective at the Barbican in 2020 and a recent dance piece celebrating an exhibition of the artist Peter Doig as well as the work of fashion designer the late Alexander McQueen, Michael continues to create new work.

In this extended interview, Nick Grimshaw speaks to Michael Clark, who talks frankly about his career, his battle with drug addiction, how he鈥檚 as inspired by punk rock as he is by classical music and his ambitions for the future.

Presenter Nick Grimshaw
Sound Design Cameron Rickards
Producer Belinda Naylor

A Whistledown Scotland production for 麻豆社 Radio 4