Angela

Gauthier Dance just announced they will not show a short dance film by Marco Goecke at their premiere on March 1st. The cooperation with Goecke as Artist in Residence will end, as planned from the beginning, in July 2023.

Denard was a former Etoile at Paris Opéra Ballet (1971-1989) and also Ballet Director at the State Opera of Berlin from 1993-1996 (Berlin still had three ballet companies then). https://newsinfrance.com/death-of-the-dancer-michael-denard-the-flamboyant-bird-of-maurice-bejart/

I have always seen the beautiful lines in his works as the ideal, the beauty he is trying to see and to find in a very dark world of distorted movements. And of course the beauty looks like ballet, clear and soft and rounded. That's why he is working with ballet dancers. Why oh why does it seem impossible to some people to like DQ as much as Goecke? You can like Rembrandt and Dali, Bach and rock music, why not classical ballet and modern ballet?

Voilà, that's how Mrs Hüster works.

Berlin State Ballet will also keep Goecke's Petrushka on the schedule in June, together with Pina Bausch's Sacre.

Bavarian State Ballet will continue to work with Goecke (only German at the moment, I hope they'll translate it) https://www.staatsoper.de/en/presse/presseinfo-statement-marco-goecke

I'm sure you don't want to suggest by remote diagnosis that 90 percent of Germany's ballet critics and at least half of the dance audience have fallen for a bluff.

Press release from the Opera House Hanover (rough translation) Hanover State Opera is separating by mutual agreemtn and with immediate effect from ballet director Marco Goecke The Hanover State Opera distinguishes between the employed ballet director and the creative choreographer Marco Goecke, whom it still appreciates artistically and whose work it will not delete from the repertoire. His works are not related to the events and remain in the repertoire of the State Ballet. This applies not only to the current pieces, but also to the pieces that were created for the house company that Marco Goecke formed. No new ballet by Marco Goecke was and is not planned for the next season, but his works will be on the program as revivals. Before a decision is made on a long-term successor, the deputy ballet director Christian Blossfeld takes over the management of the company. We have agreed to work with all dancers of the Staatsballett as part of their contracts until at least summer 2024. By then they will certainly be employed at the Hanover State Opera. The Opera Director Laura Berman states: “First of all, I would like to formally apologize to Wiebke Hüster. I can't even begin to imagine what it must feel like to be humiliated like that in public. The Hanover State Opera, my colleagues and I have a relationship with Marco Goecke on three different levels: There is the choreographer and artist Marco Goecke, whom I was able to win for Hanover in 2019. There is the manager Marco Goecke, who is not only responsible in a management position on an artistic level, but also as a department head for the entire ballet company and has always taken this responsibility seriously. And then there is the man Marco Goecke, whom we have all come to know and appreciate as a compassionate, considerate, humorous, occasionally very vulnerable person. A person who has also worked through his vulnerability artistically, for example in his work Thin Skin. A person with whom we have worked collegially, constructively and without any form of aggression on his part. That's why his behavior disturbed us all the more. In view of the sometimes drastic demands from parts of the media and the public, it was a great challenge for me as artistic director and direct superior to find a solution to this situation that was justifiable from a legal, human and artistic point of view between these different levels. We took the time to find this solution and to talk to the administrative management and the works council of the Lower Saxony State Theater and our top employer, the state of Lower Saxony, and last but not least with Marco Goecke. In order to make a professional decision about a separation, a personal conversation is required. It was also essential for us to have discussions with the ballet ensemble and not suddenly present the dancers with a fait accompli. They are all here in Hanover because of Marco Goecke. The ensemble is a creation by Marco Goecke, perhaps one of his most important given the restrictions on working conditions during the pandemic. And it is a wonderful ensemble, which also proved its excellence at the premiere last Saturday in very different choreographic styles. The Staatsoper Hannover, together with the excellent team of the Staatsballett, would like to preserve and protect this special group of artists. I think it's important and right that we took this time. It was clear to us very early on that ballet director Marco Goecke was no longer acceptable as a manager due to his misconduct. A trusting cooperation is currently difficult to imagine for the Hanover State Opera as well as for me personally. This thoughtless attack on the journalist and the person Wiebke Hüster violated too many principles of the State Theater, massively damaged the reputation of the house and last but not least has criminal consequences. Marco Goecke can understand that too. Therefore, in a detailed personal conversation, we agreed to terminate his contract as ballet director by mutual consent and with immediate effect. However, we still appreciate the choreographer Marco Goecke and will keep his works in the repertoire. This applies not only to the running pieces, but also to the pieces that were created especially for the Staatsballett Hannover, such as B. his masterpiece The Lover. We do not believe that an artist's work should be completely condemned for a single act of ill-considered, however disgusting. The choreographies are never the work of just one person, they are brought to life in every performance by an ensemble and many people backstage. We are all concerned about Marco Goecke as a person, but I am particularly concerned as my direct superior and friend. Of course we know the interviews he gave. We were surprised at their content. But they only show one side of him. Yesterday I met a Marco Goecke in a personal conversation who was devastated. We are now in contact with him and hope that we can help him through this time despite this break. Finally, I would like to address two other topics that concern me as artistic director. Criticism is important for the creation and further development of art, because it reflects the artist, what art does to people, what emotions, what thoughts are evoked. In today's society there is less and less serious interest in professional, differentiated reflection on art. Good, responsible criticism is at risk because polarizing statements attract more attention and more clicks. I believe we are all called upon to solve these problems. As artistic director, I also think about how I can protect artists. The criticism that an artist is exposed to today is not only the professional criticism in the established media. At a time when everyone can and is allowed to express their opinion on a wide variety of channels - partly anonymously and often without any sense of responsibility - a pressure is built up that an individual can hardly bear. Of course, this does not excuse or justify abuse of any kind. We will still need time to fully process what has happened. That can only happen if we work together and we hope that the audience will also be by our side.”

Goecke was REALLY unpopular when he started, he got boos and bad reviews, because his style was so dark, so nervous. Some people liked his works from the beginning, like Stuttgart Ballet Director Reid Anderson who hired him as house choreographer, like Scapino Director Ed Wubbe who hired him as associate choreographer, like - later on - NDT director Paul Lightfoot who hired him as associate choreographer. German critics were divided, but in some four, five years he won them over, as he won over the Stuttgart audience, I could observe that in many, many performances. They dearly loved his works after a while, even if they are very modern, fidgeting, dark - definitely not the stuff that popular ballets are made of. All big companies in Germany were after him for a new work. As I said, he is regarded one of the most important dance makers now in Germany, by a huge audience and the overwhelming majority of critics. You may compare it to William Forsythe's revolution in the 1980s and 1990s, which also shocked people at first. I think it's hard to judge by some trailers, maybe you should not talk about quality without having seen a single work on stage. I would never judge a choreographer by short video clips.

He has a dog which he walked during the intermission. In Germany you have to collect the dog poo and throw it in a waste basket, I guess that's what he intended. A German article says "He just wanted to talk to her, but her reaction was "aggressive, arrogant and condescending"." No justification, just an explanation.

Geoff, for a whole piece try "Äffi by Marco Goecke", that's an early solo. Another longer piece: "Australian Ballet in the "Kunstkammer". Johann Strauß - Marco Goecke. BRETT CHYNOWETH" I suppose it's allowed to post official trailers of the companies - if not please delete https://youtu.be/FTqsDFAuIdM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsgGVmE-z1Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bzNJl6W_a0

This may have to do with the fact that, at least in Germany, dance criticism is a female business wright now, very few men left. Regarding Clement Crisp, whose writing I really adore, may I add that by his constant trashing of Nederlands Dans Theatre, you missed an important part of modern ballet in the UK for decades. You're so right. But how would you like to be the one they laugh about? Having worked on a ballet for a year, with your ideas, with your soul, with your creativity and many many hours of rehearsals, and then somebody discounts it with half a sentence and vitriolic words, just for a pun. That's what I meant with decency towards the artists. We have a proverb in Germany, "Der Ton macht die Musik", which means something like "It's not what you say but how you say it". Some critics can be really rude and hurtful, and Mrs Hüster certainly belongs in that category. Jiri Kylián once wrote a very interesting text about critics and criticism, how artists feel about them: http://www.jirikylian.com/visuals/text/critics_criticism/

“Critics are an eternal mediocrity, living at the expense of genius, either to belittle it or destroy it; a race of insects happily eating away at the foliage of art.” - Bob Johnston, Music producer. I like that very much, not because critics are destructive (most of them are not), but because without artists, critics would not be there. There should be a least a tiny bit of decency and humbleness on their side, as tiny and miniscule as possible. You might call the German critic in case one of the people who has nothing of that. A critic can be at odds with the audience as often as he/she wants, if in the review he/she can describe believably why. In this particular case, she was also at odds with almost every single one of her colleagues - Goecke received rave reviews in Germany throughout, he is regarded widely as a very important, epochal choreographer. Yes, at the beginning people were stunned and shocked by his dark, nightmarish works, but it changed rather quickly - all the pictures, the connotations in the movement, the pure artistry of his dynamics, I sometimes sit there completely overwhelmed - which, after watching modern ballet for 40 years and having seen much medicre choreography or wanna-be Forsythe, is a great feeling, believe me. Goecke offered a half-hearted apology in the meantime, for the German version scroll down here: https://www.danceforyou-magazine.com/2023/02/13/hannover-suspendierung-von-ballettdirektor-marco-goecke/ The NDT and also Gauthier Dance at Stuttgart will continue to show his work, they stated today. In both companies he is associated choreographer. https://www.ndt.nl/en/statement-incident-marco-goecke/

You're absolutely right. On the other hand, she can never again write about his works because no one will believe her that it is an honest opinion. IF he ever works again...

Maybe you want to guess which FAZ journalist is responsible for the chaos at Tanztheater Wuppertal ten years ago... just saying...

In other, more civilised news, Hamburg Ballet published their next season today: https://www.hamburgballett.de/en/news/editorial.php https://www.hamburgballett.de/en/schedule/overview_2324.php?type=premieren&season=2324 https://www.hamburgballett.de/downloads/vorschau/vorschau_ballett_23_24.pdf?m=1676283377#season Alina Cojocaru is still listed as principal guest.

It's also useful to be the wife of the editor.

Until further notice. The theatre writes that they have to protect his dancers from him, which is outrageous - dancers love him wherever he works, because the work is so much fun. May I also add that it was not one review he was angry about, but 15 years of bad reviews by this critic. And I'm sure that many other directors and choreographers in Germany could not suppress a bitter smile when they read about it. Enough said. I know it's unforgiveable.

I guess he said subscriptions dropped, not ticket sales - but I'm pretty sure that's not the real reason behind all that, but he was seriously offended by her reviews.

Ticket sales didn't drop at Hannover, on the contrary - since Goecke's "A Wilde Story" a year go, the house was often sold out in dance performances, even the triple bill where the incident happened was very well sold. I remember 25, 30 per cent of attendance when Goecke started there, he really won over the audience in very few years. I think he was affected on a personal level by the constant bad reviews of this writer - but my god, nearly ever other serious German, Swiss, Austrian or Dutch ballet critic wrote rave reviews about him. So why bother about her. Because it's on the same level of genius as van Manen, Kylián, Forsythe are. He invented his own new movement language, based on the beautiful lines of classical ballet, but keeping the utmost distance from it. I just saw the NDT 2 with one of his pieces two days ago, it's so incredible from every point of view - inventiveness, dynamics, expression, musicality, the pure craftmanship of choreographing. What a sad, sad incident.

No. Again: I'm sorry. If I would know, I would post it here.

I know you hate Maurice Béjart over there in the UK, but his "Ballet for Life", aka "Le Presbytère n'a rien perdu de son charme, ni le jardin de son éclat" with music by Queen was an event every time I saw it. It had everything - Versace costumes, songs by Queen and music by Mozart, Aids, a devilish Gil Roman with great solos, the late Jorge Donn on a movie screen to "I want to break free", and Béjart himself standing on the stage in a moving finale with "The Show must go on". Those were the days... Queen recorded a "Making of" with the Béjart Ballet Lausanne later on, it's on DVD. The full-length ballet dates from 1996. One of the first ballets with popular music was Gerald Arpino’s "Trinity" in 1970, during the Vietnam war, with jazz/rock music especially composed. Then Twyla Tharps “Deuce Coupe” in 1973 with the Beach Boys, her “Nine Sinatra Songs”, her Broadway shows like “Movin’ out” (Billy Joel) or “The Times They Are A-Changin’” (Bob Dylan). William Forsythe made “Love Songs” in 1979, with songs by Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin it was a #MeToo ballet long before #MeToo (and alas, he won't license it any more, for nobody). The German choreographer Marco Goecke used music by Johnny Cash, Tori Amos, Björk, Kate Bush or Lady Gaga. So Carlos Acosta's idea is not really revolutionary, and the piece may very well be interesting!

Mayara Magri and Matthew Ball from the RB will be guests at two International Ballet Galas at Salzburg Landestheater, Austria on Feb 18th, with other guests from Munich, Stuttgart, Toulouse, Bucarest and Miami City Ballet. I'm sorry I don't know which other guests or what they dance. https://www.salzburger-landestheater.at/en/produktionen/internationale-ballettgala-10.html?m=449

They are dancing the Grand Pas Classique at the competition. Mackenzie Brown is great, she did Aurora, Olga in Onegin and other solo roles already, but I like her even more in modern pieces. Figueredo was injured a lot, but when he dances, his lyrical style can be pure magic.

Exactly.