Tag Archive: Ian Whalen

Creating an Image

October 22, 2016

Ballet Companies in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland
Semperoper Ballet, Bavarian State Ballet, State Ballet Berlin, Stuttgart Ballet, Ballett am Rhein,
Dutch National Ballet, Zurich Ballet
October 2016

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2016 by Ilona Landgraf

What kind of image distinguishes Stuttgart Ballet from Dutch National Ballet? Or the Bavarian State Ballet from the State Ballet Berlin? What is it the dancers – and their audience – identify with as their company? How do companies present themselves to the public? Such were my thoughts when seeing the Semperoper Ballet’s new image campaign, #WHYWEDANCE. I asked several major companies to send me images of their choice representing their respective company’s image.

Semperoper Ballet chose four of the sixty-one dancer portraits of #WHYWEDANCE. The new ensemble brochure presents each in full-page size. In addition they are spread via social media and on billboards and advertising pillars in Dresden. Aaron S.Watkin, in his eleventh year as artistic director, put the spotlight on his company this season whose face has changed since his beginning in 2006. Next to the dancers, Ian Whalen, the troupe’s photographer and multimedia expert, also shot Watkin and staff members. Names, places of birth, ranks within the company and the year when joining the ensemble come along with each portrait. In addition, every dancer sums up their motivation for the profession, the why and wherefore of choosing a career with dance in a single word. (more…)

Giving Oneself to the Love

January 27, 2016 0 Comments

“Tristan + Isolde”
Semperoper Ballet
Semperoper
Dresden, Germany
January 17, 2016

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2016 by Ilona Landgraf

 How many performances exist in which the energy already rises with the first tunes of the prelude? Which make one feel that something substantial is about to happen? David Dawson’s “Tristan + Isolde” danced by the Semperoper Ballet Dresden is such a ballet. About one year after its premiere the company revived the piece for three performances in January. Two more are scheduled for June. The car trip to Dresden is long and no fun on wintery highways, yet watching the piece again compensated for the effort. Having ripened during the last year it now is unfolding its whole power. (more…)

“As an artist it is my duty to speak up.”

December 7, 2015 0 Comments

Fabien Voranger
Dresden, Germany
November 30, 2015

Interviewed by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2015 by Ilona Landgraf

Fabien Voranger, principal dancer of Semperoper Ballet Dresden, is French. Confronted with the terror attacks in Paris a few weeks ago he feels compelled to comment on the events.

“First, there is the right to free speech, which was massively threatened by the attack on Charlie Hebdo in January this year. As an artist I am grounded in freedom of expression. Second, the biggest massacre of the recent terror attacks in Paris happened in Bataclam, a music club. The theater, the stage is my home. This time the target was a music club, but what places might be attacked in the future?”

“What has happened is horrible and it is my duty to take action. I don’t want to focus on politics or discuss whether one religion is more right or wrong than another. Instead I feel the need, the responsibility, to fight for keystones of our culture: freedom of expression and pluralism. Culture evolves through influence from outside. Without that input it wouldn’t develop. We all know that. Therefor we should be courageous and take a clear stance. We believe in what can be achieved by art. We have an opinion. Ballet dancers are not naive. Hence we should encourage, foster and defend diversity. It is our fertile soil.” (more…)

A Sweeping Goodbye

November 17, 2015 2 Comments

“Manon”
Semperoper Ballet
Semperoper
Dresden, Germany
November 11, 2015

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2015 by Ilona Landgraf

One could make things easier when it comes to the end of a dance career. A favorite piece which the audience likes should make for a decent leave-taking. Jiří Bubeníček is of another caliber. After nine years with Semperoper Ballet Dresden he tackled a debut for his farewell, Des Grieux in Kenneth MacMillan’s “Manon”. Moreover, he asked a ballerina, with whom he had never danced before, to be his Manon: Royal Ballet’s principal Melissa Hamilton, who will stay with the Semperoper company for the whole season.

“Go for it!” is one of Bubeníček’s principles. Exactly this is what he did. In fact, what the whole company did. Aaron S.Watkin, the company’s artistic director, aimed to use “Manon” to explore yet another style with his already versatile company. It was enthusiastically received. No wonder. All ingredients merged splendidly presenting “Manon” as a gripping narrative. (more…)

A Star Enters Another Orbit

November 3, 2015 1 Comment

Jiří Bubeníček
Dresden, Germany
October, 2015

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2015 by Ilona Landgraf

In about one week Semperoper Ballet Dresden will lose one of its mainstays, a formative figure of the company, the idol of the Saxon audience, Principal Jiří Bubeníček, who will bid farewell to the Semperoper stage on November 11th as Des Grieux in Kenneth MacMillan’s “Manon”. In 2009, already a longtime internationally recognized choreographer, he mentioned in an interview on the occasion of a new creation for New York City Ballet that he would have to decide soon whether to focus on dancing or on choreographing. Since then he has managed the balancing act between giving top-notch performances and creating even more ballets.

Jiří’s twin brother Otto had already bid goodby to Hamburg Ballet’s stage at the end of last season. Both are a perfectly attuned team. Jiří choreographs, Otto is in charge of set and costumes; sometimes he also composes the music. Now, shortly after turning forty-one, the time has also come for Jiří to finally stop dancing full-time. His schedule book is packed with commissions for the next two years. So there won’t be time to put up his feet after the final bow. But that would not suit Bubeníček’s nature anyway. A man of action he loves to be busy. Running several projects at the same time isn’t unusual for him. (more…)

“I am always in love.”

October 18, 2015 0 Comments

Fabien Voranger
Dresden, Germany
October, 2015

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2015 by Ilona Landgraf

Love guided and catalyzed Fabien Voranger’s career in several decisive situations. Just aged ten, being infatuated with a young girl fueled his interest in ballet and led to his audition for the Ballet School of the Paris Opera; and, as it happens, he was accepted. Later, while he was in a scholarship study program at the Royal Ballet School in London his girlfriend was his major support during a reorientation forced by injury. Love almost made him follow a ballerina to Australia. His desire to express his art led to many moves but ultimately to success.
Now, at the age of thirty-four, his love is rooted in Dresden, where Voranger, meanwhile principal of Semperoper Ballet, lives with his wife, opera singer Antigone Papoulkas, and two sons. In early October we met there in a French bistro to talk about his career, his life and his vision of the art of ballet.

Voranger started to take ballet lessons around the age of six together with two of his his three sisters in his home village close to Aix-en-Provence in Southern France. (more…)

Taking a Fresh Look

August 25, 2015

Ian Whalen
Dresden, Germany
August 2015

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2015 by Ilona Landgraf

A picture paints a thousand words, within milliseconds attracting attention, evoking emotions, and subconscious opinions, – or, if poorly chosen, leaving no trace or, worse, an unintended impression. Its impact is enormous, especially in a highly visual art such as dance. An art in itself, dance photography, as well as videos, transports a production’s atmosphere and the story behind it to a wider public, hopefully attracting people.

Yet advertising goals are only one aspect. Beyond advertising, dance photos must document a work. That they show the dancers at their best should be self-evident. Yet it isn’t. The quality of photos available for press purposes differs considerably. It can happen that a production has the most gorgeous costumes and set, but that the photos are bland and of run-of-the-mill quality. Or that only few photos provided show solely the leading couple, at worst in boring standard poses. Supporting roles and the corps sometimes seem invisible to the one behind the camera. But there are also many companies which place high value on pictures, aware that they greatly influence their public image. (more…)

“I fight for quality. That’s why many people call me difficult.”

July 11, 2015

David Dawson
Berlin, Germany
June 2015

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2015 by Ilona Landgraf

David Dawson seems not at all complicated, when I met with him at his home base in Berlin during his summer break, rather straightforward, open and kind. In conversation, one soon notices that he is driven by a clear vision of the art he aims to create and that he channels all energy towards this goal.

London-born Dawson is a sought after choreographer, mainly working in Europe, but also abroad. He regularly creates for Semperoper Ballet Dresden and Dutch National Ballet. His choreographic language is grounded on the classical style which he explores to and beyond its limits. Both narrative and abstract ballets are his metier. We talked about his beginnings as a dancer, his career on stage and, most of all, about his choreographic work. (more…)

Much Ado About Nothing

May 30, 2015

“Impressing the Czar”
Semperoper Ballet
Semperoper
Dresden, Germany
May 25, 2015

William Forsythe’s “Impressing the Czar” is the Semperoper Ballet’s second premiere this season. It testifies to the company’s strong ties with the choreographer, reinforcing the relationship. After the closure of Forsythe’s own company, Ballet Frankfurt, in 2004, where “Impressing the Czar” had received its premiere in January 1988, only the Royal Ballet of Flanders and now the Semperoper Ballet are allowed to perform it. In the program notes Forsythe emphasized his intense, confidence-building collaboration with the Dresden company. At the moment it is the only one dancing his earlier works in a true and faithful manner.

Hence the prospects were bright that the evening would be exceptional and, as the title implies, really impressive. (more…)

A Team of Strong Individuals

May 4, 2015

Semperoper Ballet
Dresden, Germany
April/May 2015

In 2006 the winds of change were blowing through the Semperoper Ballet Dresden. After twelve years under Vladimir Derevianko’s directorship the Canadian Aaron S. Watkin took over the reigns. He thoroughly revitalized the company and adopted a new course for the repertory. The classics, already the company’s linchpin, were kept, but modern pieces were now strongly fostered. As a result, after almost a decade of constant work, the company receives much international attention. Ballets by William Forsythe, David Dawson, Stijn Celis and Aaron S. Watkin are its signature features. Recently I spoke with five leading dancers about their backgrounds and how they experienced the company’s development. (more…)

Stunning Emotions

February 23, 2015

“Tristan + Isolde”
Semperoper Ballet
Semperoper
Dresden, Germany
February 17, 2015

Reportedly a few of the audience had expected to see the opera, while others, having had a slightly closer look at Semperoper Dresden’s program, were anticipating hearing Richard Wagner’s famous music. Both parties must have been surprised. “Tristan + Isolde” is a ballet by David Dawson to new music by Szymon Brzóska.
Dawson wisely abstained from using Wagner’s well-known opera music. Instead Brzóska, a Pole, composed a tailor-made score for the Dresden company. Both had already collaborated on Dawson’s ballet “Overture” for Dutch National Ballet in 2013. Generally speaking, his music, Brzóska told in an interview, would range between contemporary avant garde and extended tonality that inclined towards minimalism. The new composition reminds one of film music. It’s emotional music, conveying love’s bliss but also dramatic, fragile and threatening moments. Though expressive, Dawson never left it to the music to bring forth the action but always backed it with choreographic substance. Paul Connelly and the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden highly focused playing captivated one from the first tone on. Laurels to them! (more…)

In Honor of Richard Strauss

July 21, 2014

“Legends – Homage to Richard Strauss”
Semperoper Ballet
Semperoper
Dresden, Germany
July 11, 2014

Richard Strauss (1864 – 1949), the German composer and conductor, would have celebrated his 150th birthday this year. He was closely connected to Dresden, where nine of his fifteen operas had their world premieres. Thus it isn’t surprising that the Semperoper Dresden is celebrating this jubilee extensively with an array of operas, concerts, song recitals and the ballet evening “Legends – Homage to Richard Strauss”. The ballet program, based on Strauss music, includes two world premieres. For the first time, Alexei Ratmansky has created new choreography in Germany – the ensemble piece “Tanzsuite”, first on the program. The other premiere, “The Legend of Joseph”, is by Stijn Celis, a choreographer already familiar with the Semperoper’s dancers.

Richard Strauss and Alexei Ratmansky seem to share a trait: both are passionate about the past, about evoking history and reconfiguring it as contemporary art. One of Strauss’ historical sources of inspiration was the French rococo period. Its lightness and esprit found expression in Strauss’ creation “Ballroom and Theater Dances in the Style of Louis XV”, better known as the “Tanzsuite”, which premiered 1923 in Vienna. Strauss’ composition drew on a selection of François Couperin’s ‘Pièces de Clavecin’, pieces for the piano from the years 1713 – 1730, which Strauss adapted, rearranged and scored for small orchestra. The style of 20th century’s late romantic music was subtly woven into the rococo miniatures, which evoked a French court of the 18th century. In charge of the choreography for Vienna was Heinrich Kröller (1880 – 1930), a German ballet master and choreographer who worked first for Munich’s ‘Royal Court and National Theater’ and later for the Vienna State Opera. Playing with court dances and including mythological figures, Kröller enchanted his Viennese post-court audience with royal grandeur. (more…)