📚 Infra — 6d.2
Style & Dancers
Wayne McGregor · The Royal Ballet · 2008
📚 What you'll learn on this page
- Name and describe the dance style of Infra precisely
- Identify the key movement characteristics McGregor uses
- State the number and gender balance of dancers, and why it matters
- Know the key facts about The Royal Ballet as a company
6d.2.1 Dance Style & Characteristics
The AQA fact file describes Infra as contemporary ballet. This is the precise term you must use — it captures both the classical training base and the pushing of that vocabulary to its extremes.
Contemporary Ballet
Classical Ballet
Pedestrian Movement
Pointe Work
Hyperextension
Back Articulation
Contemporary Ballet
Classical ballet pushed to physical extremes. Classical training provides the technique; McGregor exploits and distorts it. Arabesques and attitudes appear alongside pedestrian walks and floor movement.
Pedestrian Movement
Everyday, recognisably human actions — walking, running, sitting, gestural moves. McGregor starts from this prosaic language and develops it into richer movement. It is deliberately chosen to make the dancers appear like ordinary people.
Back Articulation
McGregor's most distinctive demand. Classical ballet tends to hold the spine straight — in Infra he requires full articulation in all directions, which he describes as the back "almost misbehaving." This creates the angular, sinuous quality.
Pointe Shoes — Differently
The female dancers wear pointe shoes, but not for traditional steps. McGregor uses them to further elongate or distort the line of the leg and to add sharper, faster dynamics to footwork — not to perform set classical steps.
Speed & Hyperextension
The AQA fact file states McGregor's style is "distinctive for its speed and energy and for the dynamic, angular, sinuous and hyperextended movements that push dancers to physical extremes." Royal Ballet dancers can move faster and extend further than dancers 50 years ago.
Show · Make · Task
McGregor generates movement three ways: Show (teaches vocabulary directly), Make (shapes movement on individual bodies) and Task (sets improvisational prompts). Each produces different types of movement that are then structured into longer phrases.
Examiner's Eye — always write "contemporary ballet"
Not just "ballet" and not just "contemporary dance." Both words are needed. Then add the key descriptors: dynamic, angular, sinuous and hyperextended — these four adjectives capture how McGregor's style looks and feels. Learn them and use them in your answers.
6d.2.2 Number & Gender of Dancers
12 dancers perform in Infra: 6 male and 6 female. McGregor is not thinking about gender in a binary way — his aim is to give a snapshot of the whole of society, the real world.
6 Male Dancers
6 of 12
Male dancers perform solos, duets and ensemble work. One male dancer wears long black trousers and no top — the rest wear fitted shorts and vests in the monochrome palette. Male solos feature body ripples, grand battements, explosive jumps and fluid arm gestures.
6 Female Dancers
6 of 12
Female dancers wear fitted shorts, vests and one dancer wears a short wrap-around skirt. The six female dancers wear pointe shoes for the majority of the piece — used to distort and elongate the leg line rather than for traditional ballet steps.
Plus: a brief crowd. Towards the end of the work, the cast is joined by extra performers wearing normal street clothes in the same monochrome palette — black, white and grey. They walk across the stage as pedestrians, oblivious to the solo dancer's grief. This is a deliberate contrast between trained dancers and 'ordinary people.'
McGregor on gender
The AQA fact file states McGregor "isn't thinking about gender in a binary way." He wants to show "the real world" — a snapshot of society, not a gendered ballet narrative. Male and female dancers have equal roles and there is no principal dancer hierarchy in Infra.
6d.2.3 The Company
🩰
The Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, LondonThe Royal Ballet is one of the great ballet companies of the world, based at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden. Under the leadership of Director Kevin O'Hare, grand balletic tradition and an illustrious heritage are united with innovation and exceptional standards of artistry.
The company's repertory spans 19th-century classics to cutting-edge new work. Wayne McGregor was appointed Resident Choreographer in 2006 — the first contemporary choreographer to hold the post. His appointment represents a commitment to developing the language of ballet for the 21st century.
Royal Ballet dancers today have, as McGregor notes, a deeper understanding of biomechanics and nutrition, meaning they can move faster, turn more and jump higher than dancers of 50 years ago — allowing McGregor to push them to physical extremes.
"Infra is a groundbreaking work which showcases the possibilities of modern ballet." — Kevin O'Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet
Examiner's Eye — know the company and venue
You must be able to state: choreographer = Wayne McGregor, company = The Royal Ballet, performance environment = proscenium arch (Royal Opera House). All three can appear in exam questions independently.
6d.2.4 💜 How Does the Style Shape Your Reading?
Below are three specific moments from the work. Each shows how the contemporary ballet style connects to intent.
The pedestrian crowd scene — style showing humanity
When the crowd walks across the stage in ordinary street clothes, the pedestrian movement style is at its most literal. These are real people — or people pretending to be real people — which is exactly what McGregor wants: the city's surface represented on stage, while the solo dancer below it reveals hidden grief.
Six simultaneous duets — style showing extremes
In the climax, all 12 dancers perform at once in six pools of light. The back articulations, extreme extensions, off-balance supported shapes and hyperextensions are at their most visible here — the classical training pushed to its limits, while the costumes keep everything human and pedestrian.
The male solo — style showing the tension
A male dancer performs a strong, confident solo with body ripples, elevations and gestural arm work, while a couple performs more pedestrian, mime-like movement behind him. The contrast between virtuosic ballet and everyday gesture is visible in a single moment — both coexisting, as McGregor intended.
💜 How does the style shape your reading of the work?
McGregor blends classical ballet with pedestrian movement deliberately. Think about what this combination does to your experience as an audience member.
Prompt 1 — The pedestrian choice
Why does it matter that the movement looks like something everyone could do? How does seeing a ballet dancer walk across a stage differently from seeing them leap?
Prompt 2 — The classical technique
The female dancers wear pointe shoes — not for classical steps, but to distort the leg. Does knowing this change what you see? Does it make the bodies seem more human or less?
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✍️ Revision Check — 6d.2
8 questions covering style and dancers. Answer all 8, then submit.
1. What are the two words in the precise AQA term for the dance style of Infra?
2. How does McGregor describe the extreme back work in Infra?
3. How are pointe shoes used differently in Infra compared to traditional ballet?
4. How many dancers are in Infra (not counting the crowd)?
5. Why does McGregor choose an equal split of male and female dancers?
6. What do the extra performers in the crowd scene wear?
7. In what year was Wayne McGregor appointed Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet?
8. Which four adjectives best describe McGregor's movement style in Infra?
Take a screenshot of your score and paste it into your ePortfolio document so your teacher can see your progress.