News from Germany, Austria, Switzerland

[Jeannette]

On 27/10/2020 at 06:52, Angela said:

Stuttgart Ballet live-streams the premiere of a new evening with five creations by company members on this Friday at 19.00 CET- for the links check the calendar.

 

 

Did anyone else watch this? Wow, so creative! I especially loved Agnes Su’s extremely glowing and positive piece, Resonanz...the penultimate one performed. Try to watch it before it disappears.

[Angela]

It's still on Youtube until this evening.

[Angela]

During the November Lockdown in Germany, Ballet Hannover streams its premiere "Restless" on 8. November via Youtube. The recording will stay there for the whole month. It's a triple bill with "Moonlight" by Juliano Nuñes (Creation to Beethoven music), "Double You" by Jirí Kylián and "Masculine/Feminine" by Lukáš Timulak.

 

For ballet buffs:  Though Ballet Hannover is a rather modern company, the have a Camargo and a Viganó in the company ... 😀

 

 

[Christine]

Quote

Did anyone else watch this? Wow, so creative! I especially loved Agnes Su’s extremely glowing and positive piece, Resonanz...the penultimate one performed. Try to watch it before it disappears.

 

Sorry I am responding to this so late, Jeannette. Yes, I did watch it, live, three times, actually, as this was the last chance for the next couple of weeks if not longer to watch live performances in Stuttgart. I loved Resonanz, too, it really seemed to be the most positive piece of the lot, with the second part evoking some of the melancholy reminiscent of DAAG (if you can forgive the comparison with an absolute masterpiece), in the sense that it brings up memories of better times. I admired the tension of the PDD of Giaquinto’s Aedis where the couple very imaginatively dance with a table. And, upon the third viewing I really grew to like the last piece, Mehlberg, too, with its cartoon character like movements. The last performance I saw was with another cast and the piece worked very well, if not even better, on this so very different trio.

Edited November 6, 2020 by Christine
to highlight the Jeannette's quote.

[Christine]

On 03/11/2020 at 17:20, Angela said:

During the November Lockdown in Germany, Ballet Hannover streams its premiere "Restless" on 8. November via Youtube. The recording will stay there for the whole month. It's a triple bill with "Moonlight" by Juliano Nuñes (Creation to Beethoven music), "Double You" by Jirí Kylián and "Masculine/Feminine" by Lukáš Timulak.

Thank you for this tipp Angela. I'll be watching.

[simonbfisher]

Angela, I cannot find Rastlos on YouTube ... is it still there? Or only in Germany? 

[Naomi M]

You can watch Rastlos here

https://www.staatstheater-hannover.de/de_DE/mediathek-staatsoper

[simonbfisher]

Of course! Thank you, Naomi - why did I not think of that! x

[Angela]

Opera Zurich has cancelled all performances until 2. January 2021.

[Angela]

Stuttgart Ballet cancelled all performances until 31. January 2021. Most other German companies don't play until the end of December, a longer lockdown might be likely. Berlin State Ballet is off until 3. January, Hamburg still plans to bring a Neumeier premiere on 22. December: "Beethoven Project II". 

 

Bavarian State Ballet at Munich presents a triple bill online on 20. December:

"Paradigma" unites three choreographies by Sharon Eyal ("Bedroom Folk"), Russell Maliphant ("Broken Fall") and Liam Scarlett ("With a Chance of Rain"). Just as every paradigma is characterized by its structure, so is each of the three choreographies, where the forces within the choreographies fight the dominant structure and from that gain their creative potential. Both "Bedroom Folk" and "With a Chance of Rain" are new works that are presented for the first time at Bavarian State Ballet. "Paradigma" premieres live on 20th December 2020 on STAATSOPER.TV, free of charge. As video on demand from 22. December for 9,90 Euro, online for one month.

The cast for "Broken Fall" is Jeanette Kakareka, Jonah Cook and Jinhao Zhang.

https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsopertv.html

         

In December, the company will record Ray Barra’s Swan Lake to stream the performance at the end of the year.

Cast: Ksenia Ryzhkova (returning after her baby break), Jinhao Zhang as Siegfried and Emilio Pavan as Rotbart.

 

[Jeannette]

2 hours ago, Angela said:

[edit]

...

Bavarian State Ballet at Munich presents a triple bill online on 20. December:

"Paradigma" unites three choreographies by Sharon Eyal ("Bedroom Folk"), Russell Maliphant ("Broken Fall") and Liam Scarlett ("With a Chance of Rain"). ...[edit]...l. Both "Bedroom Folk" and "With a Chance of Rain" are new works that are presented for the first time at Bavarian State Ballet. "Paradigma" premieres live on 20th December 2020 on STAATSOPER.TV, free of charge. As video on demand from 22. December for 9,90 Euro, online for one month.

...[edit]...

 

 

Wait - wait - wait...stop the presses!  I can’t believe what I’m reading. Liam Scarlett’s With a Chance of Rain is being performed and livestreamed on 20 December? The full thing? If so, it will include a horrendously vulgar Pas de Deux with moves termed “The Grope” (with jiggling) and “The Twerk” that disgusted many of us in the ABT audience. If that particular pdd will be omitted or significantly modified at the Staatsoper, then fine. If not, please alert viewers to keep the children far away.

 

For reference, here’s a review of its ABT premiere in 2014:

https://criticaldance.org/american-ballet-theatre-with-a-chance-of-rain/

 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2020 by Jeannette

[Ian Macmillan]

Other reviewers at the time were not impressed either:

 

Links, 24 October 2014

 

 

[Jeannette]

31 minutes ago, Ian Macmillan said:

Other reviewers at the time were not impressed either:

 

Links, 24 October 2014

 

 

 

Ok. Thanks, Ian. 

 

It’s not about being a prude. I can handle any topic if tastefully presented. This one is just so crude and demeaning to women (or to all). It must be mentioned that the same ballet has moments of beauty within other segments, particularly one pdd to Rachmaninoff’s Elegie.

 

A year or so after the NY premiere, the ballet was scheduled to be presented in ABT’s annual tour to the Kennedy Center. A photo of Copeland & Whiteside in the “groping pdd” - of an inoffensive moment - was on the brochure to publicize the run. The ballet was ultimately canceled for the Kennedy Center and replaced with Robbins’ Other Dances. A wise decision.

[alison]

I grieve with the people of Trier tonight.

[Jan McNulty]

It’s dreadful news from Trier.  My thoughts are with the families of the people killed and everyone affected by this awful incident.

[alison]

Trier is normally such a quiet, out-of-the-way place - and, sadly in this context, with a very large pedestrian zone - that it seems even more obscene that this could happen there.

[Naomi M]

Chloé Lopes Gomes Speaks Out About Racial Harassment at Staatsballett Berlin

https://www.pointemagazine.com/chloe-lopes-gomes-ballet-2649095670.html

 

Chloe Lopes Gomes, a black corps de ballet  dancer at Staatsballett Berlin was harassed by the ballet mistress and she did not get her contract renewed.  

[Angela]

Bavarian State Ballet streams „L’histoire du soldat“, a new creation by Norbert Graf to Igor Stavinsky’s music. Dancers: Carollina Bastos, Nicholas Losada and Ariel Merkuri. The musical director is Vladimir Jurowski, the new chief conductor of the Bavarian State Opera.

Live-stream on 15. February, 20.15 CET, for free on this evening. VoD from 17. February for 4.90 Euro

 

Resident choreographer Andrey Kaydanovskiy starts with his work on „Der Schneesturm“ (The Blizzard), after a novel by Alexander Pushkin, which will premiere on 16. April. Lorenz Dangel composed the music. Cast: Ksenia Ryzkhova, Laurretta Summerscales and Maria Baranova as Maria; Jonah Cook, Yonah Acosta and Dmitrii Vyskubenko as her fiancée Vladimir. It’s not certain yet if the premiere will happen as a live-stream or in front of an audience.

 

 

[Angela]

From Mauro Bigonzetti to Sharon Eyal
Digital stage opens on April 1

HALF LIFE photo: Jubal Battisti

Berlin, 31 March 2021 --- Despite currently closed theatres, audiences will now be able to experience the Staatsballett Berlin via a variety of streams starting 1 April 2021.

Starting this Easter weekend, the Staatsballett Berlin presents repertory highlights from classical to contemporary on its digital stage. Streaming once or twice a week, all productions – SWAN LAKE by Patrice Bart, CARAVAGGIO by Mauro Bigonzetti, STRONG and HALF LIFE by Sharon Eyal and DISTANT MATTER by Anouk van Dijk – are free of charge and will be available for 24 hours via the Staatsballett's website. Should Berlin's opera houses open their doors again before the end of the season, the digital stage will certainly not close its curtain.

SWAN LAKE has been part of the the Staatsballett Berlin's repertory since 1997 and is its longest-running production. The 1998 recording offers viewers the opportunity to experience former ballet stars Steffi Scherzer and Oliver Matz accompanied by the Staatskapelle Berlin conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

Audiences were thrilled when Mauro Bigonzetti created CARAVAGGIO for the Staatsballett Berlin ensemble in 2008. In a mysterious world of light and shadow, Vladimir Malakhov embodies the Italian early-Baroque painter, sharing the stage with Polina Semionova, Beatrice Knop and Shoko Nakamura amongst others.

In recent years, Sharon Eyal has conquered stages worldwide with her unmistakable artistic style. With HALF LIFE, she certainly thrilled Berlin audiences and critics in 2018, presenting a “techno ballet“ which centres around the individual in relation to complex group dynamics. She followed up on her success with STRONG, a creation for the company, in 2019.

In 2019, Anouk van Dijk developed a creation together with the Staatsballett Berlin dancers in 2019. DISTANT MATTER gave them the exciting opportunity to engage with her very own movement technique, referred to as the Countertechnique. Bringing movements back into balance with the help of counter movements is a concept which opens up unusual perspectives and features impressively in her works.

 

DIGITAL SCHEDULE April - June 2021
Via www.staatsballett-berlin.de

Repertory
CARAVAGGIO
Dance piece by Mauro Bigonzetti

Music by Bruno Moretti after Claudio Monteverdi

Stage and lighting: Carlo Cerri
Costumes: Kristopher Millar

Conducted by Paul Connelly

Vladimir Malakhov, Polina Semionova, Beatrice Knop, Mikhail Kaniskin, Elisa Carrillo Cabrera, Dmitry Semionov, Shoko Nakamura, Michael Banzhaf, Leonard Jakovina

Soloists and corps de ballet of the Staatsballett Berlin
Staatskapelle Berlin

Recorded in December 2008

Stream available at 6 pm for 24 hours
1 April 2021
7 | 25 May 2021
11 June 2021

+++

Repertory
STRONG
Dance piece by Sharon Eyal
Music by Ori Lichtik

Co-choreography: Gai Behar
Stage design: Sharon Eyal, Gai Behar
Costumes: Rebecca Hytting
Light design: Alon Cohen
Assistant to the choreographer: Rebecca Hytting

Filipa Cavaco, Weronika Frodyma, Sarah Hees-Hochster, Cameron Hunter, Mari Kawanishi, Vivian Assal Koohnavard, Sacha Males, Ross Martinson, Johnny McMillan, Danielle Muir, Dana Pajarillaga, Eoin Robinson, Eloise Sacilotto, Jenni Schäferhoff, Federico Spallitta, Harumi Terayama, Clotilde Tran

Recorded on December 8, 2019

Stream available at 6 pm for 24 hours
9 April 2021
11 | 28 May 2021
15 June 2021

+++

Repertory
SWAN LAKE
Ballet in two acts and six pictures
Music by Peter I. Tchaikovsky

Choreography and staging: Patrice Bart after Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa
Stage design and costumes: Luisa Spinatelli

Conducted by Daniel Barenboim

Odette/Odile: Steffi Scherzer
Siegfried: Oliver Matz
Queen: Bettina Thiel
Rotbart: Torsten Händler
Benno: Jens Weber

Ballet of the Berlin State Opera
Staatskapelle Berlin

Recorded on 16 January 1998

Stream available at 6 pm for 24 hours
16 April 2021
14 May 2021
1 | 18 June 2021

+++

Repertory
DISTANT MATTER
Dance piece by Anouk van Dijk
Music by Jethro Woodward

Stage and light design: Paul Jackson, Anouk van Dijk, Claus de Hartog
Costumes: Jessica Helbach
Assistants to the choreographer: Tara Jade Samaya, Niharika Senapati

Jenna Fakhoury, Sarah Hees-Hochster, Ross Martinson, Johnny McMillan, Daniel Norgren-Jensen, Tara Samaya, Lucio Vidal

Recorded on 1 June 2019

Stream available at 6 pm for 24 hours
23 April 2021
18 May 2021
4 | 22 June 2021

+++

Repertory
HALF LIFE
Dance piece by Sharon Eyal
Music by Ori Lichtik

Co-choreography: Gai Behar
Costumes and make-up: Rebecca Hytting
Light design: Alon Cohen
Assistant to the choreographer: Rebecca Hytting

Filipa Cavaco, Mari Kawanishi, Olaf Kollmannsperger, Konstantin Lorenz, Sacha Males, Ross Martinson, Johnny McMillan, Danielle Muir, Daniel Norgren-Jensen, Eoin Robinson, Tabata Rumeur, Federico Spallitta

Recorded on June 1, 2019

Stream available at 6 pm for 24 hours
30 April 2021
21 May 2021
8 | 25 June 2021

 

[Angela]

 

Bavarian State Ballet announces a new creation by Andrey Kaydanovskiy: "Der Schneesturm" (The Blizzard) will premiere on 17. April as live-stream online via https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsopertv.html, as will a documentation in German Language about the 30 year jubilee of the company on 25. April. As you may expect, the announced performances by the Mariinsky Ballet for the Ballettfestwoche were cancelled. Should theatres remain closed in Bavaria, they announce one week of free streams from 17.April on.

 

The "Blizzard" livestream is free for the premiere, after that available as payed VoD.

https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsopertv.html?#c18508

[Angela]

 

The whole ballet week at Bavarian State Ballet will be streamed now, everything for free, but just one night:

 

The Blizzard (premiere)

a triple bill Eyal/Maliphant/Scarlett

a triple bill McGregor

Jewels (with Bouder, Somova, Shklyarov)

the Junior Company

Swan Lake (with Ksenia Ryzhkova, Jinhao Zhang, Emilio Pavan, Laurretta Summerscales,  Dmitrii Vyskubenko)

Le Corsaire (by Liška/Doug Fullington, with Daria Sukhorukova, Mai Kono, Tigran Mikayelyan, Maxim Chashchegorov, Matej Urban)

Black Cake by Hans van Manen (a very funny, very sarcastic ballet)

A documentary about the 30 year history of the company  

 

check out the dates here:

 

https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsballett/digital-ballet-festival-week-2021.html

 

[Angela]

Friedemann Vogel wrote the message for this year's International Dance Day

https://www.international-dance-day.org/pdfs/IDD2021_EN_Message_Friedemann_Vogel.pdf

https://www.international-dance-day.org/messageauthor.html

[Jeannette]

From Stuttgart - 

This year’s Noverre: Young Choreographers program will livestream on Sunday, 18 April at 6pm CET. We’ll see new ballets created by seven choreographers. Free for the initial stream; thereafter as VOD for cost. Details here:

https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/home/noverre-young-choreographers/

 

[FionaM]

6 hours ago, Angela said:

 

The whole ballet week at Bavarian State Ballet will be streamed now, everything for free, but just one night:

 

The Blizzard (premiere)

a triple bill Eyal/Maliphant/Scarlett

a triple bill McGregor

Jewels (with Bouder, Somova, Shklyarov)

the Junior Company

Swan Lake (with Ksenia Ryzhkova, Jinhao Zhang, Emilio Pavan, Laurretta Summerscales,  Dmitrii Vyskubenko)

Le Corsaire (by Liška/Doug Fullington, with Daria Sukhorukova, Mai Kono, Tigran Mikayelyan, Maxim Chashchegorov, Matej Urban)

Black Cake by Hans van Manen (a very funny, very sarcastic ballet)

A documentary about the 30 year history of the company  

 

check out the dates here:

 

https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsballett/digital-ballet-festival-week-2021.html

 

thank you ... I think only Swan Lake is a repeat of previous livestreams?  It has designs by John MacFarlane.

[Angela]

1 hour ago, Jeannette said:

thereafter as VOD for cost.

 

 

Stuttgart streams are always free, even as VoD - thanks to several sponsors

[Angela]

1 hour ago, FionaE said:

I think only Swan Lake is a repeat of previous livestreams?

 

I think the McGregor evening, the Eyal bill and Jewels are repeats, too. Not sure.

Black Cake was on German TV once.

[alison]

I did think it would be highly unlikely that they could rehearse that many ballets for one performance only ...

[FionaM]

2 hours ago, Angela said:

 

I think the McGregor evening, the Eyal bill and Jewels are repeats, too. Not sure.

Black Cake was on German TV once.

 
thank you!  Good that they have recordings to make use of.  I missed the Jewels stream in the first lockdown so that’ll be good to catch up on.

[Jeannette]

4 hours ago, Angela said:

 

I think the McGregor evening, the Eyal bill and Jewels are repeats, too. Not sure.

Black Cake was on German TV once.

They all are, some from several years back, such as the historical Corsaire and Jewels with guest stars. Only Blizzard is new...and it’s on my calendar.!  It’ll be a great German double-header weekend of 17/18 April - Munich on Saturday & Stuttgart on Sunday. Woohoo! (Also, the World Team Trophy from Japan for figure skating fans...15th through 18th...but it doesn’t conflict with the ballets.)

[Jeannette]

On 11/04/2021 at 04:47, Angela said:

 

The whole ballet week at Bavarian State Ballet will be streamed now, everything for free, but just one night:

 

The Blizzard (premiere)

a triple bill Eyal/Maliphant/Scarlett

a triple bill McGregor

Jewels (with Bouder, Somova, Shklyarov)

the Junior Company

Swan Lake (with Ksenia Ryzhkova, Jinhao Zhang, Emilio Pavan, Laurretta Summerscales,  Dmitrii Vyskubenko)

Le Corsaire (by Liška/Doug Fullington, with Daria Sukhorukova, Mai Kono, Tigran Mikayelyan, Maxim Chashchegorov, Matej Urban)

Black Cake by Hans van Manen (a very funny, very sarcastic ballet)

A documentary about the 30 year history of the company  

 

check out the dates here:

 

https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsballett/digital-ballet-festival-week-2021.html

 

 

Today’s re-stream of the “Paradigma” triple bill - which ends with Liam Scarlett’s WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN, should be particularly moving. I watched the initial livestream in January & will watch again today. (All three works beautifully filmed.)  It’s at 1:30pm, New York time; 7:30pm Munich; an hour earlier in London, 6:30pm, I think. Details:

https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsballett/productioninfo/paradigma.html

[FionaM]

On 18/04/2021 at 10:44, Jeannette said:

 

Today’s re-stream of the “Paradigma” triple bill - which ends with Liam Scarlett’s WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN, should be particularly moving. I watched the initial livestream in January & will watch again today. (All three works beautifully filmed.)  It’s at 1:30pm, New York time; 7:30pm Munich; an hour earlier in London, 6:30pm, I think. Details:

https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsballett/productioninfo/paradigma.html

I really enjoyed this triple bill again ... having also watched the premiere livestream in January.  Obviously the tragic situation gave ‘With a Chance of Rain’ an extra layer of emotion.  Ksenia Ryzhkova and Emilio Pavan created an exquisite tender mood in the final pdd of this piece.  
 

I also loved the incessant beat and movements of the middle piece by Sharon Eyal.  I found it mesmerising.
 

I was less enamoured with Broken Fall by Russell Maliphant.  I suspect it needed dancers of the calibre of the original cast - Sylvia Guillem and the BalletBoyz - to pull it off.   
 

I am increasingly impressed by ex-ENB dancer Jinhao Zhang who was in both the Maliphant and Scarlett pieces.    

Edited April 21, 2021 by FionaE
Clarification

[Jeannette]

12 hours ago, FionaE said:

...
I am increasingly impressed by ex-ENB dancer Jinhao Zhang who was in both the Maliphant and Scarlett pieces.    

 

Indeed! Wasn’t it Zhang who danced the initial (“rough” - my term) pdd with Lauretta Summerscales? Very different than at ABT!

[Sim]

I didn't like Broken Fall even with the original cast.  I took my hubby (who doesn't come to the ballet very often) to see it at the ROH with the original cast.  I think we were on special tickets so were just a few rows from the stage in the stalls.  At the end he said (probably much too loudly) 'but this is gymnastics, not ballet or dance!'   I must say I kind of agree with him.  The older I get, the more the 'music' grates on me as well.  

 

I really liked the other two pieces in this bill, but found I couldn't get too far into the Scarlett one as I just started feeling weighed down by incredible sadness, so I switched it off.  I will leave some time to pass, then try again.