Tag Archive: Bruna Andrade

Much Hot Air

6. May 2025

“FireWorks”
Gauthier Dance
Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Stuttgart, Germany
April 30, 2025

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

1. Ensemble, “Hold me Now” by D.Dumais, Gauthier Dance 2025 © J.Bak Gauthier Dance’s latest program, FireWorks, is an homage to the Theaterhaus Stuttgart, its home since the company’s foundation in 2007. This year, the Theaterhaus celebrates its fortieth anniversary. In honor of the occasion, the company’s director, Eric Gauthier, selected forty short pieces of music performed at the Theaterhaus over the past decades and asked ten choreographers (among them long-term collaborators) to choose one for a new piece for FireWorks.
A born entertainer, Gauthier introduced the program on opening night, welcomed some choreographers, and, in doing so, put the audience in a celebratory mood.

The company’s sixteen dancers sat on chairs lined along the wings with a red carpet between them. As they acted like an onstage audience, a trumpet solo signaled something big to come. It belonged to Ciocârliǎ și suite by Fanfare Ciocǎrlia to which the troupe’s artist in residence, Barak Marshall, created The Gathering, an assembly of athletic and showy solos and partner dances during which the dancers roared and cheered each other. (more…)

Wrongdoings

17. May 2022

“The Seven Sins”
Gauthier Dance
Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Stuttgart, Germany
May 08, 2022

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2022 by Ilona Landgraf

1. Ensemble, “Corrupt” by S.L.Cherkaoui, Gauthier Dance 2022 © J.BakThose who aren’t well-versed in the dos and don’ts of Christianity might find a visit to the Theaterhaus Stuttgart to be worthwhile. Their recent premiere – “The Seven Sins” – translates each of the capital vices into a short piece of dance by a different choreographer.

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s “Corrupt” deals with the first capital sin: greed. Accompanied by an extensive pre-recorded lecture on the nature of greed, nine dancers squirm and writhe, sabotage and manipulate. We hear about the Buddhist way of freeing ourselves from greed; about greed’s connection to hate and ignorance; about the upsides and downsides of wanting something; and about the impact of money. At times, their arms stretch outwards, as if attempting to escape the self-made prison. Cash is their sacred cow; bundles of crumpled notes bulge from the pockets of their dark suits, decorating their arms like bracelets and being exchanged by the handful. (more…)

Meager Substance

11. June 2021

“Dance Gala Baden-Wuerttemberg”
Theater and Orchestra Heidelberg
Heidelberg, Germany
June 06, 2021 (online)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2021 by Ilona Landgraf

1. I.Pérez, artistic director of the Dance Biennial Heidelberg and the Dance Theater Heidelberg © S.Reichardt“Everybody Can Dance” was the motto of this year’s Dance Biennial Heidelberg, the fourth since the event’s inception. Pandemic-related restrictions pared down the three-day festival’s schedule to a few online events, crowned by a dance gala on Sunday, June 6th. Nine of Baden-Wuerttemberg’s dance companies were represented there, together contributing thirteen short pieces – nine digital and four danced live.

The Unterwegstheater Heidelberg, a small touring company whose work spans multiple genres opened the program with the video “Die nackte Wahrheit” (“The Naked Truth”). (more…)