Richard Alston, trailblazer and guiding light of British dance, dies aged 77

Akram Khan among those paying tribute to ‘pioneering’ choreographer of intense musicality and grace who inspired generations of dancers

Sir Richard Alston, the British choreographer and teacher who took contemporary dance into new directions with his elegant and intelligent creations, has died at the age of 77. A former artistic director of Rambert and the Place, where he made more than 50 pieces for the Richard Alston Dance Company , he was celebrated for lucid, emotionally attuned work that was often as graceful as it was rigorous.

His death was announced on Monday by the Richard Alston Foundation , which was established in 2021 to promote contemporary dance and preserve his work. “It is with deep sadness that we have to report the death of Sir Richard Alston,” said the statement . “After a period of ill-health, and despite exceptional treatment at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead and the support of his closest friends, he passed away peacefully at his home on 7 September. While Richard is best known for his extraordinary career and contribution to contemporary dance, we will also remember him for his wit, warmth and generosity of spirit.”

Akram Khan was among those paying tribute to Alston. “Like so many of us, I grew to know Richard as a student, looking up to him as I began to find my own way in contemporary dance,” wrote Khan , who called him “a pioneer” and praised his kindness and encouragement. “It is now our collective responsibility to ensure that the legacy of these great leaders of British contemporary dance continues to inspire and is passed on.”

Alston’s eye for movement was matched by an ear for all kinds of music from around the world. “Why dance to Britten?” he wrote in an article for the Guardian in 2013, before his company’s performances with the Britten Sinfonia. “The simple answer is that his music breathes. It rises and falls, often with the voice, in lucid phrases that have a palpable sense of physical movement.” A statement from Rambert dance company praised his “extraordinary musicality” and said he had “shaped generations of dancers”. The Place’s tribute said his “lifelong conversation with music” shaped “every dance he ever made”. It continued: “His legacy cannot be measured by honours or dances alone. It lives in the dancers who still carry his movement in their bodies. In the students who continue to discover that music can be seen as well as heard. In the generations of artists who inherited from him an uncompromising belief in clarity, craftsmanship and beauty.”

Alston was born in Sussex in 1948 and educated at Eton. He left at 16 to study fine art and theatre design at Croydon School of Art. When he saw Frederick Ashton’s ballet La Fille Mal Gardée in the mid-60s he knew his future was in dance. He joined the nascent London School of Contemporary Dance (which became London Contemporary Dance School at the Place), choreographed his first work, Transit, in 1968 and formed a trailblazing experimental group, Strider, in 1972. That decade he also studied in New York under Merce Cunningham who would become a huge influence on him.

In 1980, Alston became resident choreographer at Ballet Rambert . He then ran the company as artistic director from 1986 to 1992 during which time it dropped the “ballet” from its name. He created 25 works for Rambert, which is marking its centenary this year. “Richard stands among the defining artists of our 100-year history,” said the company, calling him “an artist whose vision helped shape Rambert’s identity, its evolution and its future”.

In 1994, he launched Richard Alston Dance Company when he became artistic director of the Place in London. He received a knighthood for services to dance in 2019. The following year, his company closed due to funding difficulties and its farewell performances included a new work, Shine On, its title capturing the undimmed commitment of Alston, who mentored many in the dance community.

“I’ve never wanted to make loud statements,” he told the Guardian in 2008 . “What I believe in is the amazing power and complexity of the human body in steps, in rhythm and music. And that doesn’t change.”