The Rodin figures that inspired Russell Maliphant's hip-hop dance – in pictures

"A lot of the shapes in Rodin's drawings echo what you see in his sculptures. Many are bordering on the erotic. We felt we couldn't go there – but his colour washes are beautiful."
Photograph: Ed Alcock / MYOP Diffusion

"We thought: It's Rodin, it's sculpture, so are we going to involve nudity? But it's a different issue in dance. People in the audience are going to get distracted by the balls or the penis or the breasts moving – and they're not going to pay attention to the core of the body. So we decided on nudity but in a section that's dimly lit, and in a part of the stage that's quite intimate and enclosed."
Photograph: Ed Alcock / MYOP Diffusion

"The realism is incredible. One of the first pieces that Rodin tried to exhibit caused a scandal. People thought it must be a life cast – that he had cast the model, not sculpted it."
Photograph: Ed Alcock / MYOP Diffusion

"The Burghers of Calais was a real inspiration, all these angles and facings within the group. It's a frozen movement but it has so much energy."
Photograph: Ed Alcock / MYOP Diffusion

"This is an example of how the same Rodin figures recur in different works: the Prodigal Son is in here, as is the Falling Man. Rodin worked on The Gates of Hell for 37 years, taking figures off and putting them back on – but this wasn't actually assembled until after his death."
Photograph: Ed Alcock / MYOP Diffusion

"We couldn't use The Thinker. It's too postcard familiar. But the weight he's given to this figure that's just sitting is amazing. He's like a boxer: the curve of the body, the way the arms are resting."
Photograph: Ed Alcock / MYOP Diffusion

"Look at the angle he's standing at. He's like some huge gnarly tree. It's fantastic."
Photograph: Vanni Archive/CORBIS