In Memory of Bob Lockyer

Bob was the chairman of Lost Dog’s board from 2015-2021.

Visiting Bob’s house in Lewes was one of my favourite activities. It is hidden away down one of Lewes’ twitterns. Quietly in the middle of everything. It is full of art - pictures and sculptures. That makes it sound grand. It isn’t grand. It is a small house full of art. He lived amongst art - my cup of tea sitting next to a Japanese ceramic figure. And the art came with stories and history. But he would only share those if you asked. I liked his taste, what he chose to put on his walls. So the fact that he chose to support us meant a great deal. That someone who has been part of the British Dance scene for 50 years, who has pretty much seen it all; that someone like that chose to endorse us meant a lot. Bob often worried that as chairman of our board he wasn’t ‘doing’ enough. But he was. It is hard to explain the value he brought to our tiny company. He put his weight behind us and that gave us reassurance, support. It gave us belief that what we were doing was not worthless. It is no coincidence that our fortunes as a company picked up when Bob joined us.

I first met Bob when the Drummond Fund, that he set up in honour of John Drummond, supported a project I was part of at the Gate Theatre. Bob asked about our plans to record the work and I said we had no plans to record it - mainly because it was deeply flawed and best left to fade in the memory rather than be preserved for ever - he disagreed with my sentiment. Bob is quoted as saying ‘Dance has no past unless you can see what has happened.’ And while I’m not sorry we didn’t record that particular work I think he was right. I think contemporary dance suffers from the belief that is has no past. And Bob spent much of his career trying to counter that by getting dance onto the screen.

In 2015 we asked him if he’d be willing to chair our board and he agreed to step into that role but he said he’d only do it for a year until we found someone ‘better’ - his words. Of course we didn’t find anyone better and he stayed for six. He chaired our board meetings with a professional casualness ( bordering on the chaotic, particularly when we tried to do board meetings on Zoom ) which I loved as it reminded us not to take ourselves too seriously. He was warm, kind and however bad things got for us as a company during Covid he had a sense of perspective which made me believe it would all be ok.

I saw Bob soon after he became ill and I wish on that occasion I had made more effort to express my gratitude instead of leaving with the belief that I would see him again soon. I didn’t. I intended to of course, I thought about it but I didn’t find the time. It’s a lame excuse. What could be more pressing than spending time with this wonderful man who literally lived the history of contemporary dance in this country. How much better spent would my time have been to sit with him for a while. I will miss him very much.

Ben Duke
June 2022