Creative Movement Director

STEPHEN GALLOWAY

Represented by About Stephen

Stephen Galloway is the go-to choreographer and creative consultant for the world’s most progressive image-makers and brands. Though best known for his stellar 25-year career in ballet and dance theatre, he has worked across many related fields, from costume design and musical performance to fashion photography, magazine publishing and brand consultancy. Galloway has acted as creative advisor to the Rolling Stones for the past 15 years.

Leaving Erie, Pennsylvania for Germany in the mid-1980s, Galloway became principal dancer with choreographer William Forsythe’s esteemed Ballett Frankfurt; perhaps the most progressive classical theatre group of the period. While Galloway remained at the company until 2004, he also collaborated as a choreographer and a performer with many of the other leading companies and esteemed directors of the day. These include Christian Moeller, Jan Lauwers of Needcompany and Jan Fabre.

A voracious consumer of magazine imagery, Galloway’s vast sartorial knowledge led to him being appointed the Ballett Frankfurt’s head costume designer and style coordinator in 2000. His ability to invigorate a company’s signature aesthetic soon led to Galloway’s designs being featured in productions by other international companies including the Kirov Ballet of St. Petersburg, American Ballet Theater, the Paris Opera, La Scala Opera in Milan, Scottish Ballet and Finnish National Ballet.

Galloway’s rare command of both performance and aesthetics has meant he is highly celebrated in the fashion world. He has staged fashion shows for the industry’s foremost design houses, including Yves Saint Laurent, Costume National, Versace and Issey Miyake, for which Galloway worked as creative director from 1993–97. His longstanding collaboration with fashion photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin has produced some of the most innovative editorial imagery of the past two decades – published in leading magazines Paris Vogue, US Vogue, V and W – in addition to prestigious advertising campaigns for luxury brands YSL, Calvin Klein and Gucci. The recent proliferation of fashion film has meant Galloway is much in demand to choreograph motion image sequences; he contributed to behind the scenes films for Gucci’s fall/winter ‘08–09 and ‘09–’10 campaigns. Galloway has also consulted to a range of luxury brands including Mercedes Benz and Saab, as well as editing the quarterly magazine BRAVE!

Galloway has enjoyed considerable success as a musician, releasing two albums, From This Day On (2002) and The Return of Lubrious (2009). He was invited to act as creative consultant to Mick Jagger in 1997, and has worked intimately with the Rolling Stones ever since. Under a myriad of job titles – from ‘choreographic concert consultant’, ‘movement director’ and ‘stage choreographer’ to ‘movement consultant’ or ‘hips and lips director’ – he has consulted on all aspects of the band’s creativity. This includes all their videos, TV appearances and concerts, including the epic Bridges of Babylon and Bigger Bang tours, during which Galloway collaborated with Martin Scorsese on his 2008 documentary Shine A Light. Skrebneski for the album Baby, It’s Me, in which the shoulder. Thus the image captures a moment that is thoroughbred athleticism, or persuade a near-naked singer poses with her back to the camera, dressed in a technically static — with no actual move ment shown or Rihanna to abandon herself in a quasi-feline solo slinky metallic gown. suggested — yet conjures the impression that the human romp. As Galloway describes in a recent shoot with the figure at its center is about to turn. barbadian singer, the process involves equal measures of She looks up at the light above her, a potent blast of disco discipline and play. firmament that bathes her divine silhouette. Galloway The work’s power lies in that conceit, a game of nuance cannot tear himself from his phone. He is checking the that Galloway has turned into a job. “It was a physical dialogue, a tango of sorts. Rihanna is status of a print he is trying to buy of the iconic black- very smart and understood that it was about us getting and-white picture. Apart from the glamour it oozes, for THE “MAGIC” confused in each other – not really knowing who is Galloway, the picture captures the optimism of an era. leading and who is following. I like it that way. It keeps In 2002, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin me honest.” THE CREATIVE CLASS “I find myself referencing the 70s a lot, and trying to invited Galloway, who was then at the peak of his dance figure out why that is. I think the music was good, and career, to collaborate with them on an assignment for Dubbed “The Model Whisperer” by The Wall Street Stephen Galloway’s Magic Touch there was a certain freedom. People were curious. There Calvin Klein in New York. The brand had enlisted the Journal, Galloway invariably delivers the moments of was still the idea of the future. We are so confronted Dutch photographer couple — along with the graphic engineered serendipity that every photographer is after. Courtesy of 032c, BoF brings you an exclusive with the immediacy of the present now that people design studio M/M — to reinvigorate its image with While working with a subject can involve him actively profile on Stephen Galloway, a ‘creative movement don’t think about the future anymore. We’ve lost the a fresh advertising campaign featuring model Jessica demonstrating moves and positioning body parts, director’ who guides models on how to move and excitement of, ‘What I can become?’ Or, ‘What is still to Miller. Galloway’s guidance sometimes occurs in a mysterious pose, delivering moments of engineered serendipity. come in my life?’ Or, ‘Yeah, this is great, but wait till the language of nods, looks, or other minute gestures. 90s are here!’” For the task, van Lamsweerde and Matadin asked Galloway to create “a whole new physical language, a However, in every case, there is a moment when a silent One of the six tattoos on Galloway’s body spells the word new vocabulary of movement and fashion positioning.” rapport grows between Galloway and the person being HOPE, and the anticipation of a new, sexier tomorrow photographed. Trust and an environment of minimal has not failed to inform his own trajectory. As a six- It marked the beginning of Galloway’s second career — self-consciousness are requisite ingredients for his work. foot-four teenager, he left Erie, Pennsylvania for the or third, or fourth, depending on what how one counts. The reason why a growing number of top brands think industrious midlands of Germany, where he arrived in Since 1997, he has been a special consultant to the that some of the best-paid photographers, models, 1986 as ballet Frankfurt’s youngest principal dancer. Rolling Stones, advising Mick Jagger and his bandmates and actresses on the planet could still benefit from the on how to move on stage. He has also designed costumes presence of a self-described “giant black guy standing in For almost two decades, Galloway was the star of what for opera and ballet productions around the world. the corner,” can only be explained in terms of the unique became — under the visionary choreographer William vantage point Galloway brings to a shoot. Forsythe — the most progressive classical dance Galloway had already been involved with fashion, art company in the world. But even before Ballet Frankfurt’s directing shows and special projects for a number of “Of course a photographer knows all the possible final performance in 2004, Galloway had started to carve design houses, most notably for Issey Miyake in the 90s, placements for a set of hands. But I see things out parallel careers straddling fashion, music, and visual but it is the specific vocation that began with the Calvin differently. I see the negative space around it, and I culture. Klein job that today occupies the bulk of his time and always see things in motion.” provides him with the most satisfaction. There’s another fact that helps explain why Galloway According to Galloway — aside from his people skills, loves the Diana Ross photo so much. It’s all sinuous Neither choreographer nor coach, Galloway refers focus, and intuition — the answer lies in his gift for line. And, more importantly, it’s all back — a body part to what he does as “creative movement direction.” In improvisation, which is a direct result of his years with that happens to interest Galloway more than any other addition to his work with van Lamsweerde and Matadin, ballet Frankfurt. physical feature (except for, perhaps, an elongated neck). he has worked with other leading fashion photographers and for an array of fashion magazines and labels. “It was like being in a laboratory with some of the “For me it’s all about the back of a shoulder, or the greatest scientists in the dance world, the most gifted underpart of a neck. And I am always super concerned “I bring a three-dimensional, sometimes four- dancers of a generation. And it influences everything with the back.” dimensional, roundness to a flat image. It’s about I do today. I was raised to walk into a room and do a making a person move, even if they are standing still.” dance with whatever I found. That’s how we worked, Galloway’s anatomic infatuation is key to the special always looking at what’s around, underneath and on niche that he has now come to occupy within the Put in more tangible terms, Galloway instructs top of what you see, never taking anything at face value, competitive world of high-end image-making. supermodels and celebrities on how to pose, walk, always tilting it and turning it to its side before looking NEW YORK, United States — Stephen Galloway jump, and roll around for the camera with a maximum at it. It gives you a different frame of mind.” is obsessed with Diana Ross’s behind. Drinking a In Skrebneski’s shot, the erstwhile Supreme dramatically awareness of their bodies. Depending on the job, bloody Mary in Manhattan’s NoMad Hotel, the 48 year exaggerates the arch of her spine, while the precise Galloway’s directives may maximize Gisele bündchen’s Working under Forsythe in a think-tank of avantgarde old dancer pores over a 1977 picture shot by Victor lighting accentuates every contour of her hyper-defined mid-exhale magnetism, multiply Karlie Kloss’s dance instilled Galloway with a curiosity and an insistence on looking at things from a different angle that their dancer friend to create yet another fresh set of Every Saturday, a pre-teen Stephen and his aunt would In Galloway, Forsythe found his ideal protégé. The have found a seamless application in fashion, an industry movements. practice for the day. They watched Soul Train, the famously cerebral choreographer regarded dance as a that is chronically hungry for the new. popular American television show featuring R&B, language, a semantic system with its own vocabulary and The 7-minute video was met with divided opinions. soul, and funk dancers. She took him to his first Prince grammar. The point, however, was to break and upend “When I am on set with photographers, like Inez and Some found it not innovative enough, while others concert when he was eleven, not without first warning these rules. Galloway’s fluid style, raw physicality, and Vinoodh, I am trying to not only see what they’re deemed it excessively strange. Many think it is a him, “Listen, he’s going to be in women’s clothes, but quick wit provided Forsythe with a limber vehicle to give seeing before they see it, but to also always ask the masterpiece. but no commentary fails to point out the don’t worry. That’s okay.” life to his theoretical compositions. question: why they are seeing it? And for what reason? Billy [William Forsythe] taught me to be the most Pieces like the challenging Artifact — which Galloway curious person in the room, and the person with the says played to an empty house in ballet Frankfurt’s early most expertise in the room at the same time. To know years and, toward the end, sold out every occasion it was everything and absolutely nothing. That, to me, is performed — showcased the brilliant pairing of urbane ultimate freedom. And it’s where the magic of creating a prodigy and visionary mentor that helped make the great fashion image happens.” company an international success.

Another factor that explains the growing demand for his While Forsythe may not physically be in the room when services is Galloway’s innate physicality, perfected and Galloway is directing models and actors (and even a few intellectualized in his years as a dancer at the highest politicians) on how to move and pose for the camera, level. It allows him to connect and communicate with his radical frame- work of ideas is certainly present. subjects in a way that even the best photographer would The “fourth dimension” that Galloway says he adds to a find difficult to achieve. fashion image is the logical extension of the non-verbal language he learned while working with the experimental Galloway gets hired for the irreplaceable complicity choreographer — a body of knowledge and a knowledge he shares with people that, like himself, are trained to of the body that Galloway carries with him wherever he use their body as high-precision instruments. The best goes. models and actresses, he says, have an awareness and command of their bodies that is akin to the physicality of “It’s a historical thing. It’s about information. It’s about a professional dancer. knowledge. It’s about understanding the physicality of what your boundaries are and cannot be.” “I really think it comes back to my understanding of the body, and of how a physical dynamic in a room can One can still see the precocious kid who practiced be altered – how the physical presence of a model, or of for Soul Train every Saturday in Galloway’s playful, any person that is having their portrait taken, can be charismatic, and overtly sensual personality. But his captured. It’s all about capturing. And sometimes that natural effervescence — as well as the ease experienced just means reminding the person to keep breathing. by everybody he comes in contact with — does not hide For example, Julianne Moore is like a ballerina. She the extreme focus that is equally integral to his character. perfectly understands the power that the arch of a back striking movement scheme Galloway came up with, To wit, this Bloody Mary is his first drink after a month can have, or how expressive leaning this or that way, or which has Björk’s limbs — digitally elongated to appear Melba, who had studied in Europe, also alerted her of rigorous abstinence for the sake of a packed work looking over her shoulder just so can be.” tentacular — flailing, waving, and air-hugging as she young nephew to the existence of homosexuals — among schedule. makes her way through the song’s emotional lyrics. At which she had many friends — and to a whole fantastic AUNT MELBA times enticingly fluid, and at times jaggedly staccato, world outside of the confines of Erie. Little did she Dancing, modelling, acting — to Galloway, it is all Galloway’s choreography perfectly complements the know that Stephen, an avid Vogue reader and in total part of the same thing. Contradictions are essential to As part of the massive media blitz surrounding her haunting melody as well as the singer’s varied register of command of his body from an early age, was already who he is. He knows everything and nothing. He is, album Vulnicura, Björk released the music video to expressions. aware of all this. simultaneously, the definition of laid-back as well as “Lionsong” on March 12th of this year. Directed by van the product of extreme discipline. He can swerve from Lamsweerde and Matadin, the video had to capture Though he didn’t officially start dancing till he was Soon, having received a classical training in his ferocious masculinity to flamboyant brio in a second. He the heartbreak of the song, yet undercut any overt 13, Galloway says he has been dancing since he was hometown, the long and ultra-limber teenage Galloway goes with the flow and, at the same time, alters, controls, sentimentality in keeping with the Icelandic singer’s born, thanks in no small part to his father’s sister. was off to Europe himself. He left the United States in and reinvents that flow. penchant for outlandish creativity. Notwithstanding the influence figures such as Ross, part because of the negative impact Reaganomics had on Forsythe, and Jagger have had on him, the person who the arts, but also to work with the likes of Maurice Béjart, The only constants to Galloway’s world are presence, The solution, in van Lamsweerde and Matadin’s minds, has had the most lasting effect on Galloway may be his Jiří Kylián, and the Stuttgart ballet. Instead, he ended up movement, and grace. but, as his ever-expanding résumé would be to make Björk appear “smooth like a spider aunt Melba, who, according to Galloway, “Got the Red in Frankfurt, where Forsythe — at the time still relatively shows, there is a lot he can do with that. waiting in her web and seductive like a balinese dancer Hot Chilli Peppers all of their tattoos, and was buddies unknown — instantly offered him a job. cast in bronze.” Naturally, the photographers called on with Grace Jones when Grace met Dolph.” BY SULEMAN ANAYA | MAY 20, 2015 the exchange

around each other’s shoulders, they walk off set like two performers who have just completed a success- elegance,” he says. “When it’s there, you ful pas de deux. know it. When they get it, you can feel it. “we spent weeks Galloway, a self-described “creative movement And when you see it, you have to catch it. trying out director” who has worked with top brands like Because when that works, it sells every- different moves. sui generis Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci and photographers thing—the hair, the makeup, the dream.” such as Juergen Teller and Inez van Lamsweerde That aspirational dream was one he i hope some and Vinoodh Matadin, occupies a unique place voraciously pursued as a child. Raised in Erie, of his great motion reflector in the fashion world. Drawing on two decades of Pennsylvania, by his mother, he was studying style rubbed copies of Vogue by the sixth grade. At age 10 he experience as the principal dancer for Germany’s off on me.” Stephen Galloway has carved out a singular niche in the Ballet Frankfurt, he imbues the physical tableaux discovered the arts at the Martin Luther King Jr. of glossy ads and fashion editorials with a stylized Memorial Center, a local cultural institution, and –mick jagger world of high fashion by coaching models (and the occasional language of movement—a turn of a wrist, a fell into dance mostly by accident, when a produc- rock legend) in the art of physical expression. cocked head, an extended leg—that’s equal parts tion needed boys with the strength to lift young female dancers. (“I was always the tallest,” he says. Balanchine and voguing. live-action play While he sometimes dictates specific actions, “I was like, I’m built for this.”) Seduced by the stage clockwise from above left: BY christopher ross usually the process is subtler: Triangulating and the physicality of the medium, he thrived on dree hemingway aims the rigorous discipline required by classical bal- high for french Vogue, between photographer, model and himself, he cre- 2009; mick Jagger on ates a physical feedback loop that is informed by let training and soaked in trips to Pittsburgh and stage in 1998; galloway the brand’s vision for the campaign. He shadows the Chicago to see the New York City Ballet troupe and and gisele bündchen. Merce Cunningham shows. By the time he was a teenager, Galloway was an accomplished dancer. With the help of a National “he works like a magic Foundation for Advancement in the Arts grant, mirror, seeing how he traveled to Europe and auditioned at the Ballet the clothes will move Frankfurt, where he was accepted at the age of 17. Under the tutelage of the company’s new direc- best for me.” tor, William Forsythe, one of the most influential –raquel Zimmermann figures in modern ballet, Galloway became the principal dancer and developed the improvisational, flowing style that has become his trademark in a model, who in turn shadows him as he introduces variety of fields. new motions, amplifications and alterations— “Even at a young age, the refinement of his épaule- an operation that can sometimes seem to verge ment—a complex set of coordinations that high-end on reflexive telepathy. Once, while working with ballet dancers have to know—was very sophisti- Christy Turlington for YSL, Galloway wanted her cated,” says Forsythe. “It was clear that he was a star. index finger to move down a few inches on a frame He was daring and fearless. Anyone who saw him on she was holding. They caught eyes and made a stage could not deny it.” connection, and Turlington winked at him as her Van Lamsweerde and Matadin, who were also index finger dropped, just as he’d desired. starting their careers in Germany at the time, took For non–fashion insiders, his vocation might note of Galloway. The photographers invited him body posture seem to strain credulity—a job so nuanced and spe- to join them on shoots to consult on the framing

galloway instructs cific to the world of appearances that it seems like of the models’ bodies. “We started out working many of the world’s top something dreamed up by a Zoolander character. with Stephen on developing a body language with models on set. clockwise the model Jessica Miller for a Calvin Klein ad cam- from above: raquel Yet he is in constant demand from the top names zimmermann strikes in the business. “Stephen is a pioneer in his field,” paign,” van Lamsweerde says. “To this day, when a pose for french Vogue, emails model Raquel Zimmermann. “He works like a other people work with [Miller], they say, ‘Give me 2011; daria Werbowy in a Galloway.’ We call him the third brain on shoots— french Vogue, 2009; an magic mirror, seeing how the clothes will move best acrobatic 2009 Jean Paul for me. He makes the process delightful.” he really understands what it takes to make a great gaultier ad featuring Though he’s best known for his unique dance- fashion image, and he has an incredible ability to lara stone; zimmermann connect with whomever he meets.” strides along a balcony meets-fashion synthesis, Galloway has found for nina ricci, 2012. countless applications for his theatrical and bal- Between his burgeoning career in the fash- letic expertise: He has designed iconic costumes for ion world and his duties at the Ballet Frankfurt, n a dark studio inside New York’s Chelsea foot over the other. When she leans forward, he leans numerous ballet houses, done art direction for the Galloway had his hands full. But then came a call Piers, model Edita Vilkeviciute, clad in lacy forward. When her arm drifts languidly at her side, discerning Issey Miyake, recorded two music albums during rehearsal one day that he couldn’t ignore: Jagger holed up in a tiny dance studio in Amboise, Frankfurt, but like a good dancer, he doesn’t keep black lingerie, strikes a pose and aims a sultry fingers pinching a small decorative gift box, his arm and served as the choreographer on multiple Rolling Would he be interested in coming to London to meet France, freestyling as they listened to everything his feet on the ground for long. Romantically unat- Mick Jagger? Recommended to the Rolling Stones from Prince to the Egyptian singer Oum Kalsoum. tached, he jet-sets between Los Angeles and New look at the camera. “Chin up!” instructs pho- does exactly the same. Stones tours, which may make him the only man to rchive a Itographer Daniel Jackson, who is shooting a holiday “More down here,” Galloway tells her in an urbane quite literally have moves like Jagger. by a friend, he was eventually invited to help cho- “His enthusiasm was so infectious,” Jagger emails. York for shoots. He is also working with his old reograph steps for Jagger to perform along to the “I would always go out on stage and have fun when mentor, William Forsythe, at the Boston Ballet and fashion campaign. She shifts her hips from side to drawl, accentuating the bend at the hips even more, Whether he’s massaging Kate Moss’s stance or runk t P right: redferns; courtesy of gisele bündchen; courtesy of side and drops her left shoulder. Out of the corner of his hand delicately grasping an invisible box. “Hold it blocking steps for a new performance, Galloway music. “I set up a whole series of movements which we were working together. We spent weeks trying with a theater in São Paulo, and is helping to design eerde & vinoodh matadin (5) her eye, she watches the edge of the shadows where like it’s this really precious thing.” defines his mission as one of locating and elevating W I felt were, essentially, him doing him: a vocabulary out different moves. I hope some of his great style productions for opera houses in Paris and Zurich. the slinky, six-foot-four figure of choreographer When Jackson signals that he’s got the shot, instances of true expression in motion. Tattooed on of movement which he could then use at any point rubbed off on me.” Galloway is hoping to break into film, too, where he ise from to he wanted,” says Galloway. “I took what was already This year, for the first time, Galloway opted not sees an opening for the same kind of physical chore- Stephen Galloway, 47, mirrors her every move. When Vilkeviciute turns to Galloway and giggles, sidling the inside of his left arm are the words Stay Focused. W Mick and turned it up 500 percent.” For “Bridges to to go on tour with the Stones as he retrains his ography that he’s plied in fashion. “I feel like it’s the she brings one foot over the other, he brings one up next to him in her towering heels. With arms “You’re trying to capture that magical moment of Wetherell/Paul nez van lams clock i Babylon,” their first tour together in 1996, he and attention on other projects. He resides primarily in beginning of my second act,” he says. •

116 wsj. magaZine WALL STREET JOURNAL (Magazine) September 2014 28 28 THE FIVE 29 THE FIVE 29

THE FIVE THE FIVE 02 02 ridiculous we’d say, “Can weridiculous really put we’d this say, “Can we really put this onstage?” We pushed the envelopeonstage?” ourselves, We pushed the envelope ourselves, YUMIKO SEKINE YUMIKO SEKINE often because we were inoften that because position we as were in that position as PRODUCT DESIGNER PRODUCT DESIGNER performers. Billy always performers. used to say Billy you always used to say you should show people why you’reshould onstage show people and why you’re onstage and they’re not. they’re not.

How exactly do you get How people exactly to move do you get people to move and interact in a photograph?and interact in a photograph? It’s about creating energy.It’s Basically about creating I’m energy. Basically I’m there to be a mirror to enhancethere tothe be person, a mirror to enhance the person, whether that’s through atmosphere,whether that’s music through atmosphere, music or movement. With movement,or movement. sometimes With I movement, sometimes I don’t even have to say anythingdon’t –even it’s almosthave to say anything – it’s almost a nonverbal communication.a nonverbal I love working communication. I love working with [the model] Freja becausewith [the we literally model] Freja because we literally just move with each other. justI don’t move have with to say each other. I don’t have to say things like, “Shoulder up athings little bit like, more.” “Shoulder up a little bit more.”

Is it like you’re dancing withIs it them? like you’re dancing with them? Totally. That’s how I like Totally. to approach That’s it how if I like to approach it if I’ve never worked with theI’ve subject never before. worked It with the subject before. It also becomes a bit easier foralso them becomes to fathom, a bit easier for them to fathom, because you’re dealing withbecause the idea you’re of them dealing with the idea of them doing the opposite. If I’mdoing moving the my opposite. left If I’m moving my left shoulder, they’re moving theirshoulder, right. they’re moving theirAge right. Age 45 45 Location Location Tokyo Tokyo How close to them are youHow standing? close to them are you standing? Upcoming events ThisUpcoming winter Sekine events will launch a workshopThis winter above Sekine Fog will Linen’s launch a workshop above Fog Linen’s It all depends on whom I’mIt all working depends with. on whom I’m working with. Tokyo shop with the Brooklyn-basedTokyo artist shop Lotta with Jansdotter, the Brooklyn-based artist Lotta Jansdotter, Inez and Vinoodh shoot at Inezthe same and Vinoodh time, so shoot at the same time, so who creates products covered in whosimple, creates organic products patterns covered in simple, organic patterns »»»»»» »»»»»» I’m going back and forth I’m because going they back are and forth because they are constantly changing position.constantly It must changing look position. It must look FROM AN INNOVATIVEFROM CHOREOGRAPHER AN INNOVATIVE TO CHOREOGRAPHERTHE LATEST GO-TO TO ARCHITECT, THE LATEST GO-TO ARCHITECT, crazy to the models becausecrazy they to are the having models becauseYumiko they Sekine, are having the designer Yumiko behind Sekine, the the designer behind the FIVE OF THE WORLD’SFIVE CREATIVE OF THE TALENTS WORLD’S DISCUSS CREATIVE THEIR TALENTS WORK DISCUSS REGIMES THEIR WORK REGIMES to deal with three sets of eyes.to deal with three setsJapanese of eyes. textile brand FogJapanese Linen, is textile a firm brand Fog Linen, is a firm believer in the philosophybeliever that less in means the philosophy that less means All of you are creating theAll picture. of you are creatingmore. the “Whenpicture. I started producingmore. “When my own I started producing my own 01 01 Exactly. It’s funny becauseExactly. I was It’s recently funny becauseproducts,” I wassays recentlySekine, “I wasproducts,” worried says that Sekine, I “I was worried that I STEPHEN GALLOWAYSTEPHEN GALLOWAY working with Inez on herworking own portrait. with Inez wouldn’t on her ownbe able portrait. to sell through wouldn’t all the be ablestock, to sell through all the stock, It was so weird because It she was was so actually weird becauseso I only she made was actuallya few products so I onlythat madecould abe few products that could be CHOREOGRAPHER CHOREOGRAPHER having her image taken. Shehaving was her like, image “Oh taken.used She every was day.” like, “OhSekine used initially every worked day.” Sekine initially worked my gosh! While you’re doingmy that,gosh! theWhile girls you’re as doing an importer. that, the She girls began as manufacturing an importer. She began manufacturing must be cracking up.” » MLmust be cracking up.”housewares » ML and clothinghousewares from – as and one clothing from – as one Stephen Galloway makesStephen you Galloway move. overseeing makes you everything move. fromoverseeing choreography everything As fromsomeone choreography who gets peopleAs someone to move whofor gets people to move for would assume – linen morewould than assume 10 years – linen more than 10 years Drawing on decades of Drawing experience on – decadesas to general of experience aesthetics, – asand oftento general collaborates aesthetics, a and living, often you collaborates must be incredibly a living, aware you must of be incredibly aware of ago, when she was unableago, to find when shein Japan was unable to find in Japan principal dancer of the principal Frankfurt dancer Ballet ofwith the photographers, Frankfurt Ballet such withas the photographers, renowned yoursuch surroundings. as the renowned your surroundings. the affordable, everyday the linen affordable, that had everyday linen that had under the legendary Williamunder Forsythe, the legendary as a DutchWilliam duo Forsythe, Inez as van a LamsweerdeDutch duo andInez vanYeah. LamsweerdeI’ve always been and slightly Yeah. hyperaware I’ve always of been slightly hyperaware of surrounded her during hersurrounded childhood. her “My during her childhood. “My >> >> choreographer and as a costumechoreographer designer and – asVinoodh a costume Matadin, designer to – createVinoodh images Matadin, that toeverything create images around thatme andeverything everyone inaround the me and everyone in the mother liked linen very much,”mother she liked says. linen very much,”Fog she Linen’s says. products, such as theseFog Linen’s products, such as these he brings movement to photographs,he brings movement film, capture to photographs, single moments film, capture with undeniable single moments room – with whether undeniable it’s walking room onto – thewhether set of it’sa walking onto the set of a The collection launched withThe collection a spartan launched withscarves, a are spartan made in Lithuania, scarves, are made in Lithuania, fashion shows or whateverfashion else needs shows a bitor whateverdynamism. else needs As his a bit projects dynamism. continue As to his photoshoot projects continue or into a restaurant. to photoshoot It’s kind or ofinto a a restaurant. It’s kind of a seven items – essential objectsseven for items her –small essential objectsusing for generations her small of expertise andusing generations of expertise and of energy. Essentially, Gallowayof energy. acts Essentially, like a evolve Galloway beyond acts his like work a evolve as a dancer beyond and his workcurse. as I must a dancer admit, and I will curse.always I bemust a ballet admit, I will always be a ballet apartment – and has grownapartment as Sekine – and has has grownexperience as Sekine has experience mirror, doing whatever necessarymirror, to doing enhance whatever choreographer, necessary to enhance Galloway haschoreographer, become known Galloway dancer. has become Working known in a company,dancer. having Working to in a company, having to moved into progressively largermoved apartments into progressively larger apartments his subjects. He has beenhis working subjects. with He hasas been a creative working movement with director,as a creative a title movement he really director, rely on 40 a title people he onstage,really relyperforming on 40 people onstage, performing and needed additional householdand needed items. additional All household items. All the Rolling Stones for morethe than Rolling a decade, Stones forfeels more encapsulates than a decade, exactly whatfeels encapsulateshe does. exactlyfor 3,000 what people he does. – it reallyfor does 3,000 make people you – it really does make you of Sekine’s products, rangingof Sekine’sfrom linen products, trays onranging the computer,from linen designingtrays on or the working computer, on designing or working on very aware of your surroundings.very aware of your surroundings. coated in poly resin to aprons,coated teapot in poly covers resin colors.to aprons, It’s teapot not all covers looking colors. at textiles It’s not and all looking at textiles and Age Age 47 47 and tablecloths, are simpleand and tablecloths, unassuming. are simpleswatches!” and unassuming.Sekine’s designs swatches!” are then sentSekine’s to designs are then sent to Location Location New York City Do you everNew see York things City peopleDo you do ever in real see things people do in real “I like my spaces to be clean“I like and my tidy,” spaces she to Lithuania, be clean and where tidy,” they she areLithuania, crafted by where linen they are crafted by linen life and incorporate themlife into and your incorporate work? them into your work? says. “I prefer tidying up tosays. cooking.” “I prefer tidyingproducers up to cooking.” who have beenproducers manufacturing who have been manufacturing Upcoming events Upcoming events In addition to his photographic projects,In addition Galloway to his photographic will be projects, Galloway will be working with the National Ballet ofworking São Paulo with to the create National BalletIn a of city São like Paulo New to create York youIn see a city crazy like stuff. New York you see crazy stuff. Despite their natural Despite appearance, their the natural material appearance, for generations. the material The result for is generations. The result is BEYOND BY LEXUS costumes for an upcoming productioncostumesBut for an then, upcoming a lot production of the stuff ButWilliam then, Forsythe, a lot of the stuff William Forsythe, Fog Linen’s products areFog often Linen’s designed products beautiful, are often long-lasting designed productsbeautiful, that long-lasting stand products that stand one of the most creative andone ofexperimental the most creative and experimental >> >> using a computer. “I quiteusing like workinga computer. on “Iup quite to likeeveryday working wear on andup tear, to everyday which is wear and tear, which is Issue 4 Galloway’s ability to create dynamicGalloway’s ability to create dynamic dance makers of this generation,dance andmakers I would of this generation, and I would photographs is seen in this imagephotographs by is seencomputers,” in this image by says Sekine. computers,” “I start working says Sekine.essential “I to start Sekine: working “It’s importantessential toto Sekine:make “It’s important to make come up with for the Frankfurtcome Ballet up with was for so the Frankfurt Ballet was so Inez and Vinoodh for Vogue NipponInez and Vinoodh aroundfor Vogue 8:30Nippon a.m. and spendaround most of8:30 the a.m. day and products spend most that ofdon’t the wearday out.”products » AT that don’t wear out.” » AT THE ROOM Issue 17

DOSSIER Issue 9

INDUSTRIE Issue 4

Butt Magazine // Interview as published in BUTT 9 on pages 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31 (February 2, 2004) HYSTERICAL BALLET DANCER AND ARTIST AND CHOREOGRAPHER AND STYLE CONSULTANT AND R&B SINGER IN GERMANY LOVES POPPERS Photography by Viviane Sassen

BUTT Issue 9

Stephen wears a special home-made T-shirt dedicated to the hottest porn star ever choreography for a musical in Munich, for a director I’d never worked with then there’s also the phenomenal professionalism. I’ll never forget, I was in before. I was also consulting on a presentation for Mercedes Benz at the Toronto where we were rehearsing this tour, and I’m walking around when STEPHEN GALLOWAY automobile show in Paris, which basically took eight months out of my life I hear Mick going “la la la la la la la la la” (sings scales) I almost started — these people need to know everything, like how many hairs are going to crying — which was my own emotional state of course — it was fantastic. be laying on the dancer’s left temple. And I was on tour dancing and cre- ’Cause this is a man who works about fifteen hours a day before a tour American-born Stephen Galloway moved to Frankfurt as a teen in the ating costumes for another Forsythe piece, which was to be performed at starts…he’s got to get the whole body going, works an hour with a personal La Scala. I literally had like five major projects going on at the same time, trainer, works two hours with me, has lunch. Does telephone calls — ’cause mid-eighties to dance with William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt. These and I was really kinda happy, but when I closed my eyes at night I thought she’s got like five other lives also. Goes to band rehearsal from like four in days, he still dances and still lives in Germany, but his curriculum I was going crazy. I realised I had to figure out how to make it work that it the afternoon to easily two in the morning…it’s insane, it’s absolutely mad. was all splintered off in different directions, you know? At one point it was And yet, here she was: “La la la la la la la la la.” It’s really really about the has expanded to include singing, costume designing, and giving his driving me crazy, I would be looking at a swatch of wallpaper, thinking it work. So yeah, I’m inspired by the idea of working… would look really nice as a pair of jeans, which made me think I could use What’s lined up between the Stones job for you? opinion on various matters such as how the models should pose in a those jeans as costumes for the ballet. But if I make ’em into costumes for The next three weeks I will solely focus on the production of the next Ste- Calvin Klein ad campaign. Stephen and I have been friends for years, the ballet in stretch fabric, then I might as well make an umbrella out of it, phen Galloway album. and then turn it into a backdrop, and wouldn’t it be cool to shoot a movie in Right, you’re an R&B performer as well these days. I missed your first but we never seem to be on the same continent for more than a few it, you know? Endless…so, all of a sudden I was getting jobs to design cos- release. What was that album about? days. In his room in the posh Hotel George V in Paris, where he is tumes for other companies, and Saab was flying me to Copenhagen to smell When I signed my record deal, I had just broken up with a major boyfriend, leather for their car seats. I was like “I cannot believe I’m here for three and it was a super intense time for me because I had no idea what was go- staying as part of the entourage of the Rolling Stones, we catch up. We days, and I’m being paid to be smelling leather!” ing on. I just needed to have space…all…around…me (vogues arms in all di- How do you land all these gigs, since you’re not technically a “consult- rections), which had nothing to do with him; I just had to be kind of alone. I start by discussing the night before, when a bunch of us had dinner ing” or “branding” firm or something hideous like that? didn’t give him any reason not to be together anymore. And it’s funny that and then retired, while Stephen and I decided to meet again later at A friend of mine said, “The problem with you, Stephen, is that you’re a when I started writing the album it was all love songs; “Baby I need you, I word-of-mouth-artist. Many people know about you, but they don’t know want you.” Writing songs is funny anyway; I had no idea what I was doing! cruising dungeon Le Depot. how to get in touch with you.” That’s how I missed a big fragrance job last My songs would be like nine days long! I didn’t know nothing about verse, year. Now that I’m getting older, I’m thinking about adding some structure. or chorus, or bridges. My producers would be like, “Uh, Stephen, we have I’ve been thinking of starting a company that incorporates everything that to bring this down a little bit.” But this time around I want everything to be Tim: Where were you last night? I do: The Galloway Center for Research and Development. lo-ong…the longer the better. Stephen: We must have missed each other by a hair. First of all, I wasn’t so sure of the ad- I love it! The Galloway Center for Research and Development, based How so? dress, so I had to call down to the front desk to ask, before heading out the door. in Frankfurt am Main, that sounds like an industrial automobile re- I want the new one to be a triple CD. The first CD of the three is about fuck- You asked here at the Hotel George V? search plant. Do you like it in Frankfurt? ing, sex, dancing. The second one is going to be instrumental. I want that Yes, the desk lady calls me back at my room and asks: “Monsieur, is it a gay and lesbian sex I do, it’s a great place. I’m always more than happy to support the city, one to be thirty minutes, just music and guests and me talking and going club?” and I was like “Oui, it is.” So I took a cab and got there and that place, she’s lit like spend my money there. I can buy Comme des Garc,ons in Japan or Paris, on. Just something continuous without separate tracks. the president’s arriving or something… but if someone carries what I like, I always make a point of buying at stores Oh, a soundscape. Yeah, it’s not very discrete. in Frankfurt. The problem is that the store buyers cater to what they think Right. And the third one I want to do a gospeldelic-unplugged-Kronos Quar- Those lights! Then I walk into the place — first of all I was a little sauced from dinner cause people want, so they leave out all the parts of the collections that I like. tet-art-Meredith Monk-meets-funk type of thing. I had how many drinks? Vodka-tonic…Johnny-and-Coke…anyway I walk in and it smells I remember that you wanted to open a store called “George Bush.” That sounds a bit hard to digest. like ass. “George Bush.” Yeah. I’ve been thinking about that a lot again lately. That Totally! It’s the only way to do it, especially now that people are so used to That was the overflowing toilet. That’s why I ran out of the place. must have been around 1996. I think Bush Sr. was still in power then… seeing how pop performers are being manufactured. It smelled like sweaty crack. And it wasn’t necessarily the sweaty kinda crack that you’d be No, he left in 1993. Since fags are hot in entertainment now, do you think you’ll let your- into. I actually hadn’t been to the Depot in a long time — two years maybe — and you know Oh. Anyway, I wanted that shop, at that time, to be the complete opposite self be marketed as a fag entertainer? what it reminds me of? It’s nothing but Bijou 82 on Second Avenue in New York. of what Bush was politically. If I would open up “George Bush, the men’s After the first album I learned that I know more about the music industry Bijou’s a little darker and mysterious, with ambient music. fashion shop,” I would want you to walk into a wall of energy. You’d have to than I thought I did, because of all those other jobs I’ve done consulting car It’s got the big movie screen with the seats. prepare yourself for walking in…something new. brands and detergents and rock bands. I’ll never make the mistake again And you can walk around behind the movie screen, which is sort of surreal. You go back and forth between the worlds of High Fashion, dance the- of leaving my career in the hands of people who actually have no idea of And then the stalls all around it…my friends used to call me Peek-a-boo Polly, ’cause they’d ater, and now Rock ’n’ Roll. What’s the Rock ’n’ Roll life like, dude? what they are dealing with as far as Stephen Galloway goes. My record always see me spying on them over the partitions — I’m too visual, that’s why I’m not a Well, I’m the only fag here on tour, but I never encounter any problems. I company at the time of the first album really didn’t care that I was a gay darkroom person either. One fantasy of mine is the whole group-sex thing. You know, a mean, it is Rock ’n’ Roll, but hey, you wanna hang out with Miss Galloway. man with a debut album coming out. It was so not a subject, it was never group of ten having uninhibited wild sex. But it could never happen! ’Cause I’d be doing art You know, she’s funny, she’s smart — let’s have her around. It’s like, “Oh, really brought up. At one point I was being interviewed by a gay magazine, direction for everybody: (uses hands as megaphone) “You there, come here, and you put let’s ask Stephen” when it comes to what blouse to wear or where you can and they asked me if I’d done poppers ever. The A&R woman who was with your foot up in the air. Now wait, and you, start sucking.” I think there’s just a side of me get the best manicure in Abu Dhabi…stuff like that. But you know what me on this promo thing freaked: “We can’t talk about things like that!” I that would not be able to completely let go. I think that’s why I’ve only had sex in a dark- it is? If you’re not doing a good job, you wouldn’t be here, and everybody was like, “Miss Thing, of course we can talk about things like that.” room twice, and that was not in the last fifteen years! knows that about one another. Which also means that whatever sugges- So do you use poppers? Tell me what you’re doing on tour with the Stones now. Are you Mick Jagger’s stylist? tions or ideas you have are taken seriously, even when I’m talking to Mick. Only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Yeah, you know what, I start- No. Mick has a stylist that he works with. I’m not even on the tour the whole time. I’m just, That must be a thrill… ed taking poppers because I don’t do any drugs…I’ve never done any blow, you know, “the clean-up crew,” as we jokingly call it. My title doesn’t actually exist. I give It kind of is. It’s a confirmation of the investment I’ve made in myself. Af- I’ve never even smoked any hash. I’ve never done anything! And so, one notes about everything: Lights, clothing, choreography. I’m a liaison; Mick just wants me ter reading every magazine on earth for years, because my magazine con- time, I had an Australian staying with me who used poppers all the time. to come in and take a look at things when he’s been on his own for a few weeks. Or when sumption was getting kind of scary. My accountant was like, “Stephen, I And when he was out — and I was being a total horndog — I go to the re- there’s a television or DVD taping, or something. And it’s nice that way; I can keep looking can’t write any more Vogues off, we’re doing Singapore Vogue now?” About frigerator, dig down in the freezer, get this obscure stuff — poppers — from at the tour with fresh eyes…besides to be on the tour full-time is not really my thing ’cause four, three years ago I was on overload; I got to the point where I could not down under. And Tim, I take a whiff, and girl, you should have seen me I’m also with the Ballett. look at magazines. I did not buy magazines for a whole month and it was sitting on my television set. I was trying to get all of my Sony Trinitron up I’m still confused about what you do. the most difficult thing to do! my ass; I was like, this is fantastic! I can understand the confusion, but I’m learning now that it’s OK, because what I do is not It does help though, reading all that crap. When you least expect it, it I haven’t had poppers for ages. I was devirginised on poppers, though. easily definable. I’m walking on this somehow “un-dictated” territory where I’m doing a suddenly puts you at an advantage to know that Brideshead Revisited Oh gosh, girl. That’s the best way to go. You can get anything in there. You wide variety of things, whether it’s working with Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Mata- is the next big thing. know what I call it now? I call it the “change-of-mind.” ’Cause sometimes din on the Calvin Klein ads, or consulting the Stones or Issey Miyake or a toothpaste brand, Totally! It’s great being able to remember that type of information and re- when you’re in a situation, and you might not necessarily be feelin’ it, you or being a ballerina. But some people just need to know, and sometimes it’s been really alise where you’re going to position it. To call it up and define it — editing is take a hit of poppers, and it will change your mind. Once you start huggin’ difficult because not everyone is flexible enough to see my résumé and say, “oh we like that not the right word — it’s about distribution. To be aware of how things take that bottle, baby… and we can work with her too.” But until now I’ve never thought about it much, because it’s their time. We didn’t talk about your foot fetish. just what I do. I flip back and forth between all these mediums, and that is a natural thing Is your work with Mick inspiring? Right, my foot fetish, which I have because we dancers have ugly feet, so I for me. It feels un-natural to try and describe it… Oh my God. You cannot believe how much so. First of all to see how the like to see clean gorgeous feet underneath a butt. And we didn’t get to my Well, let’s try anyway. Do people pay you for your taste generally, perhaps? whole thing functions. And then I’ve learned so much from Mick. Like how slight obsession with wanting to be a s kinny seventeen-year-old white boy That’s part of it. Which in return has always made me nervous, because when I think about important it is to remain curious, open and nice. I’ve known him now since with real baggy pants that make me look even skinnier. it like that, I get the tendency to overanalyse everything I see and hear, thinking that I nev- 1997, and I’ve never seen him come out of his face and get ugly or wrong. Hate to burst your bubble, but you’ll never be a skinny white boy. er know when I might have to be able to pull a certain reference… She just takes in every aspect of a situation, and then maybe she’ll have I don’t really want to be a seventeen-year-old white kid, but they’re just Sounds like a dream job to me. an opinion on it. He doesn’t make any differentiation between me or the so cool. Let me just state that I actually have a great appreciation for our It is and it isn’t. Around the time when I first did the Stones, I was doing costumes and busboy, he doesn’t have to be nice to anyone, but he just always is. And bear-like brothers out there too. 032c The Magic Touch Summer 2015 VOGUE NIPPON Fred and Ginger March 2011 TOM FORD Spring/Summer 2016 EMPORIO ARMANI Spring/Summer 2016 V MAGAZINE Body Electric, #65 VOGUE PARIS ADN de la Mode, #899 August 2012 JEAN PAUL GALUTIER Spring/Summer 2009 CALVIN KLEIN Fall/Winter 2009 EXPRESS 2015 H&M Christmas 2011 ISABEL MARANT (L) Spring/Summer 2015 (R) Spring/Summer 2016 DIESEL #DIESELREBOOT Tel. 00 00 00 00 00 ‘SECRET GARDEN 2-VERSAILLES’ WWW.DIOR.COM CHRISTIAN DIOR Secret Garden Pt.2 www.ninaricci.com

NINA RICCI Spring/Summer 2012

www.ninaricci.com MIU MIU Fall/Winter 2013

See full video campaign at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe9u52smm9Y VALENTINO Fall/Winter 2013 GUCCI Flora Fragrance 2009 GUCCI (L) Fall/Winter 2008 (R) Fall/Winter 2009 (B) Spring/Summer 2009 YVES SAINT LAURENT Fall/Winter 2009 For more information, please visit:

www.theCollectiveShift.com

Contact:

Aeli Park [email protected]

Will Shen [email protected]

85 Broad Street 29th Floor New York, NY 10004 T: +1 212 226 1544 F: +1 646 619 4349