As Contemporary Dance Trust approached its 21st birthday in 1987, Robin Howard asked all his directors and heads of department to suggest ways to celebrate it and (after Sergei Diaghilev) instructed us: Étonnez-moi!

I proposed that London Contemporary Dance Theatre should offer to be the first dance company ever to perform at the BBC Proms. But the idea fell on stony ground.

The following summer, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company became the first dance company ever to perform at the BBC Proms.