Remembering Sir Richard Alston (1948–2026), a Giant of British Contemporary Dance

Sir Richard Alston, one of Britain's best-loved choreographers, has died at the age of 77. Dance Magazine writes that he witnessed the very beginnings of contemporary dance in the UK and helped shape it. He was artistic director of Ballet Rambert, Britain's oldest dance company, from 1986 to 1992, and led Richard Alston Dance Company from 1994 to 2020. His name became synonymous with deeply musical dance, set to Brahms's piano music, vocal works by Benjamin Britten and the minimalism of Steve Reich. Educated at Eton, he went on to art school, and in 1966 he became one of Robert Cohan's first pupils at what became London Contemporary Dance School. He founded the company Strider in 1972 and later studied in New York with Merce Cunningham, an important influence alongside the English ballet choreographer Frederick Ashton. He also made works for Royal Danish Ballet, Scottish Ballet and Ballet Black, and in 2020 he was named resident choreographer of New York Theatre Ballet. He was knighted in 2019. His own company was forced to close in 2020 amid funding troubles. Choreographer Siobhan Davies remembers him as "hugely kind and wickedly funny". Photo: Spudgun67, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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