Interview with Michelle Ladd, Robin Hood Fight Choreographer
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This Mother’s Day weekend, Ballet Fantastique brings our world premiere of Robin Hood & Maid Marian to the Hult Center stage. The project features our first-ever collaboration with Hollywood-renowned fight choreographer Michelle Ladd Williams. Having worked on major film projects such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings, Michelle will be setting the significant fights scenes in this performance premiere in collaboration with BFan’s Donna and Hannah, including the Fight at the Banquet, Fight at the Tavern, the first meeting of Robin and Little John, and more. The Robin Hood collaboration will represent Ladd’s first project for a ballet company.
We caught up with Michelle to learn more about her career as a fight choreographer and director, and to discover what this collaboration will look like for our dancers.
Tell us a little about yourself! Where did you gain the skills to become a fight director? When and where did you start your career?
I actually started with a background in ballet. I was a classically trained dancer from the age of 4 up through graduate school. I received my MFA in theater and was introduced to stage fighting through that masters program. After studying Shakespearean acting in England one summer, I fell in love with the idea that staged combat was another way to tell a story physically. With my strong dance background, that idea really resonated with me. After that introduction, I threw myself (literally) into the world of staged combat and stunts. I became a stunt performer, fight director, then a motion capture director. Now I am a Fight Master with the Society of American Fight Directors and still work on stage and screen performing and directing action sequences while raising and homeschooling my three boys (who are also stunt performers). My husband is a Second Unit Director and Stunt Coordinator, so it’s a family affair, really.
In your words, what does a fight director/choreographer’s job look like?
A fight director has two primary jobs: the safety of the performers (and crew) and creating an effective story through the physicality and the acting of simulated violence. It takes great collaboration with the creative team which includes close communication with directors, props, costumes, and other technical elements. A fight director is also an advocate for the performer as they flesh out the nuances of their character dealing with these heightened moments in the story.
From the characters to the production team (including composer, choreographers, and libretto team), Ballet Fantastique’s Robin Hood & Maid Marian world premiere features strong women both onstage and behind the scenes. What can you tell us about your industry and how many women have a role like yours on big movie productions?
I have been so very blessed with my professional opportunities. I do credit that to amazing mentors who saw talent and offered me guidance as I entered a field that traditionally was not very open to female leadership. I am happy to say that the industry is most certainly changing. Within the last few years especially there have been many more female stunt coordinators and directors of all types (opera, theater, TV and film) taking on major projects. And, as more females are gaining experience in these directorial roles, their creative work will certainly increase. When I really think about why we are having this renaissance (of sorts) I think about exposure: growing up I didn’t realize I could be a stunt person, fire fighter, director, etc. because those female role models weren’t in front of me. I had Wonder Woman and Charlie’s Angels (both of whom I utterly adored). But it didn’t go much further than that. This new generation of females see role models that look like them in shape, size, color, build… Therefore, it has become normalized to imagine these strong, leadership positions as viable career options. How glorious!
We are so excited to have you in the studio for a week working with our artists and setting fight choreography for Robin Hood. What can the BFan dancers expect? Is there a specific process or approach you take, or does it vary depending on who is in front of you?
My process depends on whom I am working with, but it is always collaborative! As part of the creative team I want to be sure I am honoring their vision. I am a cog in the wheel, and we all work together to make the wheel move effectively. As I work with the dancers, each and every one of them become characters who have a story to tell. When I choreograph I find that if a performer does not remember an action it is usually because it doesn’t make sense to that performer’s character. Each action (each strike, push, pull) is part of the story - it has an objective behind it. So it is important as we choreograph that we are looking at the functionality of the movements to create lovely art but also looking at the motivation behind it. In this way the dancers can commit to the action and align with its intended purpose.
This will be your first time collaborating with a ballet company. Is there anything you are looking forward to about this experience? Are there any special challenges you’re anticipating? Why did you choose to collaborate with Ballet Fantastique?
I am absolutely thrilled to be here working with Ballet Fantastique. Since Hannah reached out to me in 2019 I have been an avid follower of BFan. This ballet company is ground-breaking and so very exciting! I am completely on board with their product and have become one of their biggest fans. Reconnecting with my first love of ballet is a primary aspect I am looking forward to but also the challenge of allowing myself the freedom of choreographing stylized combat. So often my work has to look aggressive and brutal. But here, the dancers are able to give the impression of violence while making the movements so graceful! The intention of the action will tell the story rather than the smoke and mirrors of traditional staged combat. What a joy to work on this production!
michelle with pirates of the caribbean cast & crew
Our Robin Hood & Maid Marian performance is set in the 12th Century. Will this particular time period have any effect on the type of fighting you will set or types of weapons the dancers will be using?
The time period most certainly affects the fighting style and the weapons used. In the Medieval period, the swords were still quite large. Moving through the MIddle Ages there was a transition from the massive two-handed broadsword towards the one-handed broadsword and shield, which became the primary weapons used in the Crusades for hand-to-hand combat. Spears, battle axes, and other weapons were designed to hack through armour. The long-bow and the cross-bow were also common, again to pierce through armour plates. For Robin Hood we will take some artistic liberties and use a smaller version of the one-handed broadsword and a shorter “long” bow. This will still give the appropriate look for the time period but allow our dancers more freedom of movement.
I’m truly delighted to be working with Ballet Fantastique. And I look forward to following their continued success. My only regret is that I don’t live closer and cannot come to every BFan performance in person.