When it comes to the use of existing music, I’m very uncomfortable with the imposition of a theme or narrative, which is alien to the music, being put upon it. Very occasionally however an idea and, in this case, a much-loved and familiar score, collide in a moment of ‘inspiration’ which makes it seem that the music was ‘written’ for the purposes of the ballet.

In 1994 I was thinking of the danse macabre, the medieval dance of death, as described in Liszt’s Totentanz, as a possible idea for a piece for San Francisco Ballet when I heard of the death of a friend who had fallen victim to the Aids virus. I was listening to Shostakovich’s Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings at the very moment and The Dance House became both danse macabre and a lament for my friend, who had been a gifted dancer. The ballet’s creation was given extra poignancy by taking place in San Francisco, where so many had succumbed to that modern-day plague.

A close collaboration with the artist Robert Heindel, well known for his paintings of dancers in the studio, and the desperately sad gallows humour of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America were powerful influences on the piece.    

'A little masterpiece'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH