Others / Europe

Half-Baked

“Faust”
Maribor Slovene National Theatre
Forum Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg, Germany
March 16, 2024

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

1. T.Martino (Mephisto) and D.Buffone (Faust), “Faust” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.MartaGoethe’s Faust: The Tragedy’s First Part wasn’t on Edward Clug’s agenda when choreographing a new piece for the Zurich Ballet in 2018. He wanted to tackle Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, but upon finding out that Zurich’s audience wasn’t familiar with the so-called “Soviet Faust,” he turned to his German representative. After its Zurich premiere, Clug’s Faust entered the repertory of other ballet companies, among them Clug’s home company in Maribor, Slovenia. Last weekend, this company performed the piece on their tour to Ludwigsburg.

Fate decided that Clug would indeed later adapt Master and Margarita for the ballet stage, but it was the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow where it premiered in 2021. Faust is a journeyman’s piece whereas Master and Margarita by comparison counts as a masterpiece. Faust assembles plenty of dance theater with group sequences, some of which are trenchant, while others are less convincing. At times, its acrid wit is close to horror. Although the ingredients are fine overall, they didn’t merge as a whole.

3. T.Martino (Mephisto) and D.Buffone (Faust), “Faust” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.Marta2. D.Buffone (Faust) and T.Martino (Mephisto), “Faust” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.Marta Clug’s Dr. Faust (Davide Buffone) shuffled dejectedly under a sky that displayed a celestial inferno to illustrate his mental state. The wheelchair he pushed along was heavily packed with books. He was Magister—yea, Doctor—hight. And here – poor fool! – with all his lore he stood no wiser than before. That’s why the dark angels hidden in Faust’s mind flexed their muscles without restraint, deepening his gloom. He was about to commit suicide (although hanging oneself with a tie is hardly a serious attempt) but was saved by a white angel (Tijuana Križman Hudernik). Dropping half-dead in his wheelchair, Faust continued to pen books that a horde of boorish students pried out of his hands, simulating thirst for knowledge. Hidden from the public eye, he pursued his medical activity – or machination – as the corpse he examined and tried to reanimate had a striking resemblance to Jesus. This Jesus figure (Luka Pitamic) was successfully 4. D.Buffone (Faust) and ensemble, “Faust” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.Martaresurrected not by Faust but by Thomas Martino’s mordant Mephisto and shoved on stage in a huge fume-filled plexiglass incubator. He looked like a living icon in a shrine filled with befogging incense. The versatile plexiglass box (set design by Marko Japeli) later served as a trap for Faust (the smoke must have been choking at this point) and as a cold and damp lock-up for the confused Gretchen (Monja Obrul).

The crucial line was crossed the moment Faust fancied himself a Jesus-like martyr and – as if suffering from tunnel vision – stepped into the incubator. The mirage of Jesus vanished instantly, and Faust was lost to the devil. A cute poodle (made from a black modeling balloon) offered consolation, but it quickly burst under Mephisto’s tough grip. Satan had a myriad of tricks at hand to put the screws on his prey and suck his blood to sign their pact. Especially effective was the incubator (which, on this occasion, was used as a compressor box) and the witches’ kitchen of Sybille (Evgenija Koškina) where Faust slid in and out of hell’s oven like a loaf of bread, returning bandaged first, then as Venus, and finally as his rejuvenated self. The screeching caused by Mephisto’s underlings, whose long knives pounded on a metallic slaughtering block, their blades scratching patterns into the surface, made my blood run cold but didn’t bother Faust. Being full of sap and lust again his sensuality ran free in a pas de deux with Mephisto.

6. M.Obrul (Gretchen) and D.Buffone (Faust), “Faust” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.Marta 5. D.Buffone (Faust) and M.Obrul (Gretchen), “Faust” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.MartaFaust’s desire found its object when he met Gretchen. The hard-working girl picked up the empty beer bottles left by a sottish party mob (either students in Auerbach’s Cellar or Easter-celebrating youth), whose shorts and suspenders reminded me of Oktoberfest bingers (costumes by Leo Kulaš). While scrubbing tables, she ran into Faust. He soon acted out his fantasies of what to do with a young woman in Gretchen’s bed chamber. His female surrogate was the bed frame which he fondled with abandon. Faust’s first bait – a pearl necklace presented by an anonymous hand on the left – was examined by Gretchen at length and then swiftly handed to the clergy’s invisible hand on the right.
7. I.Dinita (Valentin) and ensemble, “Faust” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.Marta8. M.Obrul (Gretchen) and I.Dinita (Valentin), “Faust” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.MartaThanks to Gretchen’s neighbor, Marthe (Olesja Hartmann Marin), the second pearl necklace took Faust to his goal. Marthe arranged a double rendezvous in which not only “two souls alas! were dwelling in my breast,” but these souls also shared the same togs. The secret meeting was shrouded by silence. Only a bird chirped from afar (music by Milko Lazar). Gretchen and Faust almost managed to sneak away for a private tête-à-tête and would have succeeded if Mephisto hadn’t been on the ball. He made the laws of the game, and hence, the couple’s romantic intermezzo in the corn field was meant to be short – and fateful.

10. Ensemble (Pigs), “Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.Marta 9. Ensemble (Snails), “Faust” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.Marta Nine months later, Gretchen took her newborn for a walk in the pram. Her pregnancy passed in a flash, as Mephisto distracted his victims with a war movie and popcorn. On and off screen merged when Gretchen’s brother Valentin (Ionut Dinita), who had just slaughtered his opponents in a heroic samurai manner, challenged Faust to a duel to avenge Gretchen’s seduction. Confronted with the mighty Valentin, Faust was a pansy. His virility fading, he struggled to keep the long sword up but somehow managed to smite Valentin. Valentin died just before his vengeful blade slit Gretchen’s throat. She tried to kill herself, but submerging her head in a bucket of water wasn’t effective. Poured into the pram, the water at least drowned her baby. Despite all, a huge organ under a turbulent sky heralded Gretchen’s salvation, though she was escorted to the dungeon for a time.

11. Ensemble (Satyr), “Faust” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.Marta 12. Ensemble (Moths), “Faust” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.MartaThe ballet should have ended there. Everything that followed to stay true to Goethe was an appendix. The Walpurgis Night was a lengthy costume show during which Faust was predictably manhandled. Some kisses of death, electroshock-like convulsions, and failed rescue attempts later, Mephisto was the only resort left for Faust.
13. M.Obrul (Gretchen) and D.Buffone (Faust), “Faust” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024 © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/T.Marta

Links: Website of the Maribor Slovene National Theatre
Website of the Forum Ludwigsburg
Photos: (The photos of the Walpurgis Night show a different cast.)
1. Thomas Martino (Mephisto) and Davide Buffone (Faust), Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
2. Davide Buffone (Faust) and Thomas Martino (Mephisto), Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
3. Thomas Martino (Mephisto) and Davide Buffone (Faust), “Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
4. Davide Buffone (Faust) and ensemble, “Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
5. Davide Buffone (Faust) and Monja Obrul (Gretchen), “Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
6. Monja Obrul (Gretchen) and Davide Buffone (Faust), “Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
7. Ionut Dinita (Valentin) and ensemble, “Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
8. Monja Obrul (Gretchen) and Ionut Dinita (Valentin), “Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
9. Ensemble (Snails), “Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
10. Ensemble (Pigs), “Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
11. Ensemble (Satyr), “Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
12. Ensemble (Moths), “Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
13. Monja Obrul (Gretchen) and Davide Buffone (Faust), “Faust” by Edward Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2024
all photos © Maribor Slovene National Theatre/Tiberiu Marta
Editing: Kayla Kauffman

 

An Empty Packaging

“Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève” (“Noetic”/“VÏA”)
Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève
Forum Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg, Germany
January 12, 2024

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

1. Ensemble, “Noetic” by S.L.Cherkaoui, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève 2024 © G.BatardonNothing in last weekend’s tour of the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève reflected the name of the company. It did not present ballet, and the two pieces that they performed did not represent in any way the significance that the theater claims. The first – Noetic (2014) – was choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, former artistic director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders, who has held the same position at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Switzerland, since 2022. VÏA is a 2023 creation, which the Morocco-born Fouad Boussouf choreographed for the company.

Noetic (from the Greek noēsis, meaning inner wisdom, direct knowing, intuition, or implicit understanding) opened promisingly as Shogo Yoshii silently stepped behind his Japanese Taiko drums and hammered out a forceful staccato. It called the dancers – ten men and ten women, one of whom was clad like the men – into the light-gray box that the stage had been turned into. As they assembled in groups of three, standing motionless back to back, they reminded me of the triple formations of German federal police when securing the train station against traveling football fans. Noetic’s dancers weren’t uniformed though. (more…)

An Own Goal

Wiebke Hüster / Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2023 by Ilona Landgraf

Some days ago, an article by Wiebke Hüster, leading dance critic of Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, caught my attention (FAZ, October 07, 2023). Hüster wrote on the upcoming premiere of “Last Work” at the Hessian State Ballet. “Last Work” is by the Israeli Ohad Naharin – and he was the one Hüster objected. (more…)

Prix Benois Laureates 2023

Prix Benois de la Danse
Bolshoi Theatre (Historic Stage)
Moscow, Russia
June 21, 2023

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2023 by Ilona Landgraf

Yesterday evening, this year’s laureates of the Prix Benois were announced on the Historic Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre.

1. J.Ryu, C.Kerche, and Q.Yunting, Prix Benois de la Danse, Bolshoi Theatre 2023 © Bolshoi Theatre / B.Annadurdyev2. M.Kang, Prix Benois de la Danse, Bolshoi Theatre 2023 © Bolshoi Theatre / B.AnnadurdyevQiu Yunting (National Ballet of China) and Misun Kang (Universal Ballet, South Korea) share the prize for the best female dancer. Yunting was nominated for her performance of Tatiana in John Cranko’s “Onegin”, Kang for her interpretation of the Widow in Bingxian Liu’s “Mirinaegil”. Hugo Marchand (Paris Opera Ballet) was awarded the prize for the best male dancer. He didn’t attend the ceremony. Vyacheslav Samodurov won the prize for the best choreography for “Dancemania” – a creation for the Bolshoi Ballet.

Mikhail Lavrovsky, People’s Artist of the USSR, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. (more…)

Dancer Nominees for the Prix Benois 2023

Prix Benois de la Danse
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
June 17, 2023

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2023 by Ilona Landgraf

Eleven dancers from five nations are nominated for this year’s Prix Benois. Of the six women and five men, one dances in South-Korea, four in Russia, and two each in China, France, and Kazakhstan. This Tuesday the laureates will be announced in an award ceremony at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.

Here’s a short overview on the nominees:
1. M.Elchibayeva, Kazakh National Opera and Ballet Theatre after Abay © Kazakh National Opera and Ballet Theatre after Abay 2. M.Elchibayeva, Kazakh National Opera and Ballet Theatre after Abay © Kazakh National Opera and Ballet Theatre after AbayMalika Elchibayeva, leading soloist of the Kazakh National Opera and Ballet Theatre after Abay in Almaty, Kazakhstan, is nominated for her performance as Queen Shamkhat in “Frescoes” by Zaurbek Raibayev. Gulzhan Tutkibayeva, artistic director of the company, describes Elchibayeva as having “an outstanding appearance, beautiful texture, a professional school, and acting skills. For 5 years in the theater, Elchibayeva has performed almost all the leading parts of the ballet repertoire. In the role of the Queen Shamkhat she is organic, expressive, and managed to fully convey the idea of the ballet master Raibaev.” (more…)

Choreographer Nominees for the Prix Benois 2023

Prix Benois de la Danse
Li Jun / Maša Kolar / Wayne McGregor / Vyacheslav Samodurov
Bolshoi Theatre
Moscow, Russia
June 15, 2023

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2023 by Ilona Landgraf

On June 20th, the Bolshoi Theatre hosts the annual Prix Benois ceremony, followed by a gala on June 21st. Prizes will be awarded for the best choreographer, and the best female and male dancers. Mikhail Lavrovsky will be honored for his lifetime achievement.

Four choreographers are competing this year:
1. “Where to Pour All My Love?” by L.Jun, National Ballet of China © National Ballet of China 2. “Where to Pour All My Love?” by L.Jun, National Ballet of China © National Ballet of ChinaLi Jun, dancer-choreographer of the National Ballet of China, is nominated for “Where to Pour All My Love?”, a twenty-minute piece set to music by Zhao Jiping. It premiered at the company’s 12th ballet workshop in April 2022. Jun’s source of inspiration was the Chinese multi-episode TV drama “Da Zhai Men” (Grand Mansion Gate) which traces the history of a Beijing-based family from the late Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911) to World War II. “Where to Pour All My Love?” focuses on Bai Yuting – one member of this family – whose love for Peking Opera gets out of control. (more…)

A Fake Cosmos

“Hakanaï”
Adrien M & Claire B
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden, Germany
February 04, 2023

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2023 by Ilona Landgraf

 1. A.Kajihara, “Hakanaï” by C.Bardainne and A.Mondot, Adrien M & Claire B 2023 © Manolo Press / M.BodeThe survival of theaters and opera houses depends upon the survival of the audience. In an effort to lure the younger generation into their houses, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden launched the Takeover Festival last year. Its three days of programming include concerts, dance, and workshops, as well as fun after-parties and a relaxed private lounge. Last weekend, the festival launched into its second round. I watched “Hakanaï” (Japanese for impermanent, fragile, evanescent, transitory, fleeting), a dance performance by the French-based troupe Adrien M & Claire B (short for Adrien Mondot and Claire Bardainne) that fuses movement with digital arts. The artistic team behind “Hakanaï” includes – among others – a computer designer, two sound designers, a light designer, two set designers, digital interpreters, sound interpreters – and one dancer: Akiko Kajihara. (more…)

Encompassing

“Romeo and Juliet”
Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc Rijeka
Forum Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg, Germany
December 03, 2022

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2022 by Ilona Landgraf

1. M.Matarranz de las Heras (Juliet), M.Pastorini (Romeo), A.Salle (Tybalt), and V.Chou (Mercutio), "Romeo and Juliet" by J.Bubeníček, Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc Rijeka 2022 © F.Tutek-Hajnal This season, the Forum Ludwigsburg has attracted an audience by offering an alluring variety of dance. Two weeks ago, it welcomed the Maribor Slovene National Theatre. This weekend, the Croatian National Theatre presented Jiří Bubeníček’s “Romeo and Juliet”, which premiered this April at the company’s home base in Rijeka.

While the quarrelsome Capulets and Montagues vociferously bumped heads in Verona’s marketplace, I thought back to a performance in which Bubeníček himself danced Romeo. Back in 2014, the Belgian Stijn Celis choreographed “Romeo and Juliet” for the Semperoper Ballet, tailoring the leading role to Bubeníček. The ballet was meant to be a feature for the company’s most prominent male dancer, but turned out to be disappointingly banal. Michele Pastorini’s performance as the title’s hero of Ludwigsburg felt like a depiction of how Bubeníček might have wished to dance the role himself. (more…)

Refreshing

“Peer Gynt”
Maribor Slovene National Theatre
Forum Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg, Germany
November 11, 2022

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2022 by Ilona Landgraf

1. M.Isailovic (Peer Gynt) and ensemble, “Peer Gynt” by E.Clug, Maribor Slovene National Theatre 2022 © SNG MariborEdward Clug, the artistic director of the Slovene National Theatre’s ballet company, is currently creating a new “Nutcracker” for the Stuttgart Ballet – but, in the meantime, his own Maribor company has joined him in nearby Ludwigsburg. This weekend, they toured the Ludwigsburg Forum with Clug’s 2015 take on Henrik Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt”.

Ibsen’s happy-go-lucky peasant’s son Peer is quite the ambiguous figure. It’s easy to dismiss him as a narcissistic slacker and gascon. He never misses a chance to womanize or to seek trouble as he gads about Norway’s mountains. The splendid future that he imagines in his fantasy fails to become a reality. The wealth that he gains abroad does not make him lucky at home. His dream of becoming a crowned king (or emperor?) materializes, but only as an inmate in a Cairo madhouse. Old and feeble, he returns home in an effort to save his own soul. Only in the very last moment does he realize that he would have been much better off staying with his early love, Solveig. But why are we sympathetic to Peer rather than disliking him? (more…)

Unwieldy

“Cri de cœur”
Paris Opera Ballet
Palais Garnier
Paris, France
October 01, 2022 (matinee)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2022 by Ilona Landgraf

1. M.Barbeau, “Cri de cœur” by A.L.Øyen, Paris Opera Ballet 2022 © A.PoupeneyAlan Lucien Øyen: not a particularly familiar name to dance audiences outside of his home country of Norway – but his new creation “Cri de cœur” (“Cry of the Heart”) for the Paris Opera Ballet will soon change that.
Øyen grew up in Bergen, where he was introduced to the theater at the young age of seven. He received his dance training at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and subsequently joined contemporary ensembles in Norway and Cologne. In 2004, Øyen turned to choreography; two years later, he founded Winter Guests, an interdisciplinary touring company. I missed his 2018 “Bon Voyage, Bob” at the Tanztheather Wuppertal and was curious to finally learn about his work in Paris.

To start, dance is not the most important ingredient of “Cri de cœur”. Acting, singing, and film are all featured – and, in particular, there is a great deal of spoken text in French written by Øyen and Andrew Wale. That’s a major difference from the dance theater of Pina Bausch, in whose footsteps Øyen is said to follow. (more…)

Life Support

“common ground[s]” / “Le Sacre du printemps”
École des Sables / Pina Bausch Foundation / Sadler’s Wells
Forum Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg, Germany
June 17, 2022

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2022 by Ilona Landgraf

1. G.Acogny and M.Airaudo, “common ground[s]” by M.Airaudo and G.Acogny, 2022, photo M.Vanden Abeele © Pina Bausch FoundationSince Pina Bausch’s death thirteen years ago, the Pina Bausch Foundation – chaired by Bausch’s son Salomon – has worked hard to keep her oeuvre alive. Some attempts were successful (I’m thinking of the Bavarian State Ballet’s “Für die Kinder von gestern, heute und morgen”, for example), while others failed. In a recent project, the Foundation joined forces with the École des Sables, a dance training center in Senegal, and Sadler’s Wells. The result was a double bill comprised of the new pas de deux “common ground[s]” and Bausch’s 1975 work “Le Sacre du printemps” that premiered in Senegal before setting off for a tour through Europe. I saw the first of three total performances at the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival. (more…)

Marijn Rademaker Turns to Choreography

Verklärte Nacht” (“Transfigured Night”)
Ballet Dortmund

Theater Dortmund
Dortmund, Germany
April 17, 2021 (online)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2021 by Ilona Landgraf

1. A.Uzunova and L.Kalbusch, “Verklärte Nacht” (“Transfigured Night”) by M.Rademaker, Ballet Dortmund 2021 © L.JanuszewskiFour years ago, Marijn Rademaker told me about his excitement to return to the stage after a long break resulting from injury. At that time, he was involved in umpteen other projects, yet had not given any indication that he wanted to try his hand at choreography or direction – but, as with any seed, talent can sprout in hiding.

This Saturday, Rademaker presented the first result of his new ambition: “Verklärte Nacht” (“Transfigured Night”), a contemporary ballet-film set to Arnold Schoenberg’s eponymous thirty-minute composition, created in collaboration with the Academy for Theatre and Digitality, Dortmund, and the filmmaker Mathieu Gremillet. It was danced by the Ballet Dortmund. (more…)

The Power of Imagination?

“La Fresque”
Ballet Preljocaj
Forum Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg, Germany
January 11, 2019

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2019 by Ilona Landgraf

1. Ensemble, “La Fresque” by A.Preljocaj, Ballet Preljocaj 2019 © J.-C.CarbonneBallet Preljocaj, Angelin Preljocaj’s Aix-en-Provence-based company, toured Germany in early January with “Le Fresque”. The piece, which features choreography by Preljocaj from 2016, depicts and interprets “The Mural”, a narrative from the collection “Strange Tales From a Chinese Studio” by Chinese author Pu Songling (1640 – 1715). Two male wayfarers, Chu and Meng, are forced by inclement weather to stop at a dilapidated temple. There, a temple fresco showing a group of young women attracts Chu’s attention. He falls in love with one of the women and, while watching her, suddenly finds himself inside the painting. The painting comes surreally to life, and a romance blossoms between Chu and the woman, climaxing in a consummation of the marriage. (more…)

Fighting Back

“Darkness”
Polish National Ballet
Teatr Wielki – Opera Narodowa
Warsaw, Poland
October 07, 2017

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2017 by Ilona Landgraf

1. E.Nowak, M.Esposito, G.Melfi, L.Alberti, D.Ozeri and V.Kezik, “Darkness” by I.Weiss, Polish National Ballet 2017 © Polish National Ballet / E.KrasuckaDance critic Graham Watts called Izadora Weiss “a tempest on the Baltic shore.” Weiss has been creating a stir in the Polish dance scene from her home base of Gdansk ever since Jiří Kylián spotted her choreographic talent in 1989 during his tenure as artistic director of the Nederlands Dans Theater. She became his protégé, and would later use Kylián’s company as a model on which to base the Baltic Dance Theatr (BDT), a troupe she founded in 2010 in Gdansk that she continues to direct today. Formerly affiliated with the Baltic Opera, the BDT became an independent company in 2006 and was renamed Biały Teatr Tańca (White Dance Theatr) – BTT for short. Weiss still leads the company, serving as its main choreographer. Pieces by Kylián complement BTT’s repertoire. (more…)

A Prize Accomplishment

“Doctor Zhivago”
SNG Opera in Balet Ljubljana
Ljubljana, Slovenia
April 23, 2016

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2016 by Ilona Landgraf

1. S.Pestotnik Stres, “Doctor Zhivago” by J.Bubeníček, SNG Opera in Balet Ljubljana © D.Štravs Tisu 2016A couple of months ago Jiří and Otto Bubeníček ended their active dancing careers with their home companies, Semperoper Ballet and Hamburg Ballet. Since then they have crisscrossed the globe creating ballet after ballet after ballet. In view of the sheer amount of their commissions, lingering doubts about quality seem likely. Moreover as their last creation, “Doctor Zhivago”, promised not to be a cakewalk. It is based on Boris Pasternak’s prizewinning novel of the same title, a rather weighty work dealing with an intricate story. David Lean’s 1965 film version is very popular. (more…)