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In the Line of “Coppélia” and “The Nutcracker”

“Leonce and Lena”
Aalto Ballett Theater Essen
Aalto Musiktheater
Essen, Germany
May 2, 2008

by Horst Koegler
copyright @ 2008 by Horst Koegler

At 39, Christian Spuck is the older one of Stuttgart´s tandem of resident choreographers – the other being Marco Goecke, born in 1972. Stuttgart can be happy to have two choreographers of such complimentary talents. Spuck, a product of the Stuttgart John Cranko School, joined the company in 1995, choreographing his first piece for the renowned Noverre matinees already one year later, then a  young man of 27. He is clearly the more intellectually programmed of the two, while Goecke, who hails from Wuppertal (but has nothing to do with Pina Bausch), is the more bodily minded one, starting as a choreographer at age 28. Today they are both regularly creating for their home company, but are in great demand in Germany and abroad – and they have both already worked with American companies, Spuck repeatedly with Hubbard II and Goecke with Peter Boal´s troupe.

Back to its African Roots

John Neumeier´s “Othello”
Stuttgart Ballet
Opera House
Stuttgart, Germany
April 24, 2008

by Horst Koegler
copyright @2008 by Horst Koegler

When John Neumeier, then  31 years old, started in 1973 his directorship of the Hamburg Ballet, he commissioned a full-length ”Othello” ballet from Gerald Humel, an American composer who lived in Berlin and had just scored a hit with “The Tortures of Beatrice Cenci”, written for Gerhard Bohner, one of the pioneers of  the infant German tanztheater movement. But when Humel delivered his score, Neumeier was not satisfied with it and thus the planned Hamburg staging was cancelled. However, the idea let him not go, and so he produced “Otello”, Verdi´s dramma lirico, in 1977 at the Bavrian State Opera in Munich (with Juergen Rose as designer). Eight years later the time of another attempt to deal with Shakespeare´s “Tragedy of Othello the Moor of Venice” had come, for which Neumeier emigrated from the Hamburg opera-house to the Kampnagelfabrik, a workshop setting, where his “Othello" was premiered in 1985 , Ballet by J.N. after Shakespeare, choreography, production, stage, costumes and lighting by J.N. -  a unanimous success, not et least thanks to an ideal cast with Gamal Gouda (Othello), Gigy Hyatt (Desdemona) and Max Midinet (Jago).

Bavarian State Ballet (Munich)

“Cambio d´abito”, “Adagio Hammerklavier”, "Violakonzert/II"
Bavarian State Ballet
National Theatre
Munich, Germany
April 12,2008

by Horst Koegler
copyright @2008 by Horst Koegler

Among the four German Ivy League ballet companies of Berlin , Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart, the Bavarian State Ballet, housed at the beautiful Munich National Theatre, is certainly the most classically oriented. Solidly established under the experienced direction of Konstanze Vernon in 1989 as part of the greater Bavarian State Opera establishment, it has been led since 1998 by Ivan Liska, formerly John Neumeier's star-pricipal in Hamburg. Its repertory offers the most comprehensive survey of Petipa of all German troups, including the Tchaikovsky classics plus “Don Q”, “La Bayadère”, “Raymonda” and the recently added “Le Corsaire”.  Other choreographers contributing substantially to the bulk of the repertory are Cranko (the three full-lengths), Balanchine, Neumeier, MacMillan, Van Manen and Kylián through Childs, Ek, Preljocaj, Teshigawara and Forsythe. Its annual Ballet Festival Week opened this year with Van Manen´s “Adagio Hammerklavier” of 1973 vintage, flanked by two creations: Simone Sandroni´s “Cambio d´abito” and Martin Schlaepfer´s “Violakonzert / II”.

A Pinch of Fresh Air

Young Choreographers of the Stuttgart Ballet:
Bridget Breiner, Douglas Lee, Demis Volpi and the late Uwe Scholz
Schauspielhaus
Stuttgart, Germany
March 14, 2008

by Horst Koegler
copyright 2008 by Horst Koegler

Stuttgart in these early spring days resembles a beehive of dancing activities. There is the series of Christian Spuck´s full-length "Lulu" performances at the opera-house. At the smaller chamber-theatre the highly popular annual "Behind the Wings" invite the audience to lecture-performances, delivered by members of the company from Intendant Reid Anderson down to dance-notator Georgette Tsinguirides (who just turned 80 this month) to concentrate on certain aspects of their craft.  "La Sylphide" in Peter Schaufuss´s staging is revived and polishing touches are put on Cranko´s weathered "Romeo and Juliet", including Marcia Haydée´s return as Lady Capulet, which in a week´s time will open the company´s visit to London. And as if this were not enough, the company presented its latest programme of "Choreographies Made in Stuttgart" at the Schauspielhaus — five pieces by former and present dancers from the company, most of them in their early thirties, plus a revival of a work by the late Uwe Scholz, who died in 2004. It is an immensely creative atmosphere that is generated by these activities, reminding me of what I have read about the early Rambert days in the London of the 1930s, with Ashton and Tudor emerging under the tutelage of (the later) Dame Marie. Whether Christian Spuck (born in 1969) or Marco Goecke (of 1972 vintage), already appointed resident choreographers of the Stuttgart, will ever achieve the cult status of Ashton and Tudor remains to be seen, but here they are revered as local heroes, being already much in demand abroad. Anyway the new choreographic scene in Stuttgart is as busy and creative since its Noverre matinées started just fifty years ago. It´s a pity that the forthcoming London season will concentrate only on the old Cranko warhorses, with not a single performance demonstrating to Londoners that there is no dearth of budding choreographers in today's youngsters.

 

Continental Europe's answer to the Anglo-American Christopher Wheeldon

"Contradanse“, "Jardin aux Lilas“, "Reformationssymphonie“
Ballettmainz
Staatstheater
Mainz, Germany
March 2, 2008

by Horst Koegler
copyright@2008 Horst Koegler

Mainz, capital of the German Rhineland-Palatinate, is a lovely city of 200 000 inhabitants on the left bank of  the Rhine, surrounded by vineyards. It boasts a State Theatre, recently completely renovated, which offers its customers at its two houses for opera and drama during ten months of the year a lively fare of opera, operetta, musical, drama and ballet performances. While ballet had been considered for decades only as a supplier for the more respected species of opera and operetta/musical, with hardly any ambitions of its own, the relationship has been changed drastically since  Martin Schläpfer was appointed artistic director and chief-choreographer in 1999, with the result that ballet-premiers and performances have increased ever since and houses are packed to 90% capacity.

Neumeier Celebration in Essen

Celebration of the 25th German Dance Prize
for John Neumeier in appreciation of his life time achievement
with guests from Hamburg, Stuttgart, Munich, Copenhagen, Moscow, Paris and Milan
Aalto-Theater
Essen, Germany
March 1, 2008

by Horst Koegler
copyright @ 2008 Horst Koegler

At 66, Milwaukee born John Neumeier looks back on living and working in Germany 45 years  now – which puts him in a line with Bournonville´s activities in Copenhagen, Petipa's in St. Petersburg and George Balanchine's in New York. In 2008 he is celebrating several anniversaries: his first professional engagement as a dancer in Stuttgart under Cranko in 1963, his appointment as Germany´s youngest ballet director in Frankfurt  40 years ago, his transfer to Hamburg in 1973, where he has resided ever since, has reformed in 1977 the opera-attached ballet school, establishing twenty years ago the Hamburg Ballet Center. John Neumeier was awarded in 1988 the German Dance Price, developing the Hamburg Ballet over all these years into an internationally acclaimed company, with his list of creations numbering so far 137. Reason enough for the organizers of the Deutsche Tanzpreis, Germany´s highest award for people connected with dance, to celebrate its 25th anniversary, by honouring Neumeier a second time for his ´life work.'

Where Life and Ballet Mix

“Tchaikovsky”
Ballet of the State Theatre Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe, Germany
February 2, 2008

by Horst Koegler
copyright @ 2008 by Horst Koegler

In her fifth season as artistic director of Ballet at the State Theatre Karlsruhe, Birgit Keil, former rival ballerina to Marcia Haydée at the Stuttgart Ballet, has firmly established her company among the leading classical  ensembles of the country. Not yet belonging to the Ivy League of German ballet companies – made up (in alphabetical order) of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart – it represents contemporary classical ballet with an accent all of its own. Perhaps it might be compared to the former Ballet Rambert, before its modern conversion. With its modest size of just 30 dancers, it is temporarily augmented for its full-evening productions through students from the advanced classes of the Mannheim Academy of Dance (as part of its State Academy of Music and Performing Arts), of which Keil with her partner Vladimir Klos has been director since 1997.