He has been hugely influential thanks to his innovative style and prolific output.

His innovative style of riding the waves, in which fluidity and elegance were matched by spontaneity and creativity, left onlookers gasping with admiration.

He served as the company's artistic director from 1963, perfecting an innovative style in which meaning was shaped by stylised performances and set designs often inspired by famous painters.

Though purists were unsure of his innovative style - which included twisting and stretching the strings - they considered him one of the finest musicians of his age.

The company brings together the art of highly accomplished traditional theatre with a more anarchically expressive, colourful innovative style of performance.