Work commissioned by Dance Works Rotterdam:
'Oblique', September 26, 2001, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
education/experience
Autodidact, danced for Beppie Blankert, Amanda Miller/Pretty Ugly and William Forsythe/Ballett Frankfurt.
creations
Johnny Panic 1992
Nth 1993
Pork 1994
The Rogue Tool for Batsheva Dance Company 1996
Arbitrary Fred 1997
Sub Rosa for Ballett Frankfurt 1997
Proxy 1998
The Gradual Instant 1999
Proxy Trilogy 2000
tours
U.S, Sardinia, Canada, Germany, France, and the U.K.
commissions
Cadance Dance Festival, Spring Dance Festival. Holland Dance Festival, Batsheva Dance Company, Ballett Frankfurt, Pretty Ugly, Chunky Move Australia, Moscow Chamber Ballet.
quotes
Paul Selwyn Norton stormed onto the Dutch Dance scene in 1992 with his successful solo programme Johnny Panic,
"Oh Wow! It's Johnny Panic. Totally class. Sharp. Cool. A slithery electric creature, MC of dark alley entertainments. A smart rapper who can dit-dit-da the now words of the hot scene. A sweet'n'slinky mover who can send his limbs every which way and then haul them back real slow so each little bitty sinew goes stretch kapow!" (Glasgow Herald)
Johnny Panic went on tour extensively in Europe and the U.S.
"An iconoclastic and dazzling tour de force" (New York Times).
Norton went on to create a series of eclectic works that was eventually honoured with the Phillip Morris Finest selection in 1997. The advisory board for this award writes:
" Norton's choreography reveals itself in a love of very refined construction that resolves an apparently unpredictable chaos into beautiful order. All the usual dance rules are thrown overboard. It is work that amazes, intrigues and excites. Norton does not strive for slick packaged dance, but rather he researches all the possibilities of the body's expressive voice, and he melts theses into a crisp and thrilling dance vocabulary."
His work came to the attention of such choreographic masters as Forsythe and Naharin who both went on to commission him for creations. These too were very successfully received:
The Rogue Tool: "Between the sometimes cruel images of the listless body being manipulated, to the warmth of his fabulous duet work, Norton is a magician who does with us what he wills."(Harets Tel Aviv))
Sub Rosa: "A complex beauty of great power and resonance" (Frankfurter Rundschau).
Norton is at home in the more eclectic arenas and his work has been presented on both the Opera Stage Frankfurt and Royal Festival Hall in London, plus the more alternative venues such as the Kitchen in New York and Third Eye centre in Glasgow.
