Kate Flatt lærði dans við the Royal Ballet School. Hún hefur komið víða við sem danshöfundur, jafnt heima fyrir í Bretlandi sem utan heimalandsins, og hefur meðal annars unnið við ballet og nútímadans, kvikmyndir, óperur og söngleiki. Hún samdi kóreógrafíu fyrir frumuppfærsluna á Vesalingunum árið 1985 hjá Royal Shakespeare Company, á West End og víðar.

Hún er Churchill Fellow, hefur unnið til Rayne Award verðlaunanna og hlaut verðlaun Royal Society of Arts fyrir rannsókn sína á hefðbundnum dönsum í Austur-Evrópu.

Kate Flatt hóf feril sinn sem aðstoðarkona danshöfundarins Leonide Massine, jafnframt því sem hún samdi kóreógrafíu fyrir ýmsa ballethópa.

Meðal verkefna Kate Flatt í óperuheiminum eru kóreógrafía fyrir Turandot, sem hefur reglulega verið endurfrumsýnd hjá Royal Opera og Gloriana hjá Opera North, ásamt kvikmynd sem er byggð á uppfærslunni og hlaut Emmy verðlaunin. Meðal annarra óperuverkefna eru Carmen (Opéra Bastille og Orange), La Damnation de Faust (Châtelet, París), Peter Grimes (Opera North), Betrothal in a Monastery (Glyndebourne) og Carmelites og Verdi’s Requiem (English National Opera).

Meðal verkefna hennar í kvikmyndum eru Chaplin, Restoration og The Avengers.

Hún samdi meðal annars kóreógrafíu fyrir The Dancing Room, (BBC2).

Meðal verkefna hennar í leikhúsi eru Albert Speer, Power, Three Sisters, Dream Play og Ends of the Earth (NT), ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Dr Faustus, Skellig og The Skin of Our Teeth (Young Vic), Hamlet (Old Vic), The Kreutzer Sonata (Gate), The Merchant of Venice (Myeondong leikhúsið í Kóreu) og Fiddler on the Roof (Sheffield, West End).

Nýlega leikstýrði hún og samdi dansleikhúsverkið Soul Play sem fór í leikferð um Bretland og Songs from a Hotel Bedroom, sem byggir á lögum eftir Kurt Weill.

Hún kennir kóreógrafíu við the Royal Ballet School.

Kate Flatt gerir kóreógrafíu fyrir Vesalingana hér í Þjóðleikhúsinu í vetur.

(Janúar, 2012).

Af heimasíðu Kate Flatt (kateflatt.com), um Vesalingana:

Les Miserables

By Alain Boublil and Claude Michel-Schoenberg

Directed by John Caird and Trevor Nunn

 ________________________________________

A very short history on its 'invisible' choreography.

This work is now so famous and historic it is hard to realise that it had beginnings and a struggle to find its form as the groundbreaking musical it became.

I was part of the original team which created Les Miserables at the RSC in 1985. Although my billing was musical staging, this title covered a multitude of activities across the two months of its making. The working process was fascinating. Rather than choreograph numbers, I created improvisations which became part of the language and movement material of the staging. I worked on body language for whores, convicts, the angry unemployed and malnourished beggars. I taught the cast to waltz and created the dance of death which snakes across the stage as Thenardier beguiles the bourgeoisie at Marius and Cosette's wedding. I made soggy-bottomed peasant dances - subtle interventions for the Prologue and the Thenardier Inn - dances which looked improvised and spontaneous but not choreographed. I invented a way to march which gives the illusion of the group advancing without going anywhere ,so that the group led by Enjolras remains centre stage.

I discovered a lot as the work unfolded - particularly about musicals - but also about working with not just one but two brilliant directors - each of whom offered challenges on a daily if not hourly basis. They shared a passion for staging the seemingly unstageable. Their working process had been well tried however on the fabulous Nicholas Nickelby and Peter Pan at the RSC and they brought their storytelling skills and deeply creative approach to the unfolding phenomenon of Les Mis. I also discovered the extraordinary musical and acting talents of the cast who worked creatively and arduously on the never ending revisions and re-shaping of the work. The technical rehearsals seemed to last forever and many rehearsal room ideas were scrapped in order to integrate the action with the remarkable set. Costume changes, I recall were a particular challenge.

The production went through further modifications and developments not only in London but small additions came from contributions of performers around the globe. With each new cast the work is re- created with the performers learning -not set moves- but to play the story of Les Mis within the framework of the production. so the work evolves and stays alive.

For domestic reasons I did not go to New York with the production in 1986 but did finally visit briefly in 1998 to re-stage the Wedding as it is now in the London production with the added Quadrilles. I returned to work though all the original movement material once again with the 2006 New York production. I was part of the two British No. 1 tour productions - one starting at the Palace in Manchester and another from Plymouth. I also have a relationship with two Tokyo productions and particularly enjoyed these times and working with the double cast ensembles. I also worked on the productions in Duisberg (where?) Amsterdam and Paris which was like bringing it home. I also visit to work with each new cast change and work with the current Associate and Resident directors at the Queens Theatre.