| presented by The Hamburg Ballet - John Neumeier
An evening of dance - celebrating with choreographic highlights from some of his most important, popular and classic works the movement and moving world of John Neumeier
Excerpts from: Bernstein Dances, Shall we dance, Le Pavillon d’Armide, Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony, Sylvia, Nijinsky, the Christmas Oratorio and the Saint Matthew Passion, La dame aux camélias, Orpheus and Opus 100
program commissioned by Spoleto53 Festival dei 2Mondi
music Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin, Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Tscherepnin, Alfred Schnittke, Gustav Mahler, Léo Delibes, Dmitri Shostakovich, Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakow, Johann Sebastian Bach, Igor Stravinskij, Simon & Garfunkel
choreography John Neumeier
costumes Giorgio Armani, Yannis Kokkos, John Neumeier light design John Neumeier
dancers
principals Carolina Agüero, Silvia Azzoni, Hélène Bouchet, Joëlle Boulogne, Anna Polikarpova, Thiago Bordin, Otto Bubeníček, Carsten Jung, Alexandre Riabko, Lloyd Riggins, Ivan Urban
soloists Kusha Alexi, Catherine Dumont, Leslie Heylmann, Anna Laudere, Lucia Solari, Patricia Tichy, Mariana Zanotto, Peter Dingle, Dario Franconi, Edvin Revazov, Yohan Stegli
corps de ballet Mayo Arii, Amélie Berthet, Odette Borchert, Florencia Chinellato, Stephanie Minler, Taisia Muratore, Yuka Oishi, Yun-Su Park, Lidia Pettinicchio, Lisa Todd, Miljana Vračarić, Anna-Lena Wieg, Anton Alexandrov, Braulio Álvarez, Silvano Ballone, Alexander Busch, Orkan Dann, Vladimir Hayryan, Yaroslav Ivanenko, Lennart Radtke, Ben Shitrit, Joel Small, Thomas Stuhrmann, Alexandr Trusch, Konstantin Tselikov, Kiran West
apprentices Maude Andrey, Maria Baranova, Hannah Coates, Priscilla McDonald, Dao Yuan Chen, Alban Pinet, Florian Pohl, Aleix Martinez
production Hamburgische Staatsoper/ The Hamburg Ballet – John Neumeier
chief choreographer / artistic director John Neumeier
managing director Ulrike Schmidt
tour manager Katharina Benthaak
principal ballet master Kevin Haigen
ballet masters Eduardo Bertini, Laura Cazzaniga, Leslie McBeth, Niurka Moredo, Lloyd Riggins, Radik Zaripov production coordinator Eduardo Bertini
technical coordinator Vladimir Kocic
musical coordinator Richard Hoynes pianists Ondej Rudčenko, Iryna Menshykova
sound Frédéric Couson, Jochen Schefe
make-up Susanne Inselmann, Adnan Metin
wardrobe Barbara Huber, Susann Hawel, Diana Räkers, Miriam Heinrick, Karina Rüprich technical manager Bernd Klein
lighting Ralf Merkel, Andreas Rudloff, Tobias van Harten, Alexander Janew, Claus-Jürgen Koefod, Karl-Heinz Wohlgemuth
props Jürgen Tessmann
assistant to the technical manager Werner Maul
stage Jörn Fischer, Mathias Braun | My world is dance.
The World of John Neumeier… My world is dance. As long as I can remember, I always wanted to dance – even before I actually knew what it was. As a child, my own living room could become a big stage when I put on the record and heard the music of Leonard Bernstein´s "Candide Overture" – I just danced… My first impressions of dance came from the Technicolor American Musical films my mother took me to see. The innocent joy of this music, the thrill and energy of Gene Kelly´s dancing is still a part of me. At first my parents let me take tap dancing lessons – later acrobatics – but then,
at last standing at the barre in my first ballet class, discovering those first classical positions and trying my first ballet exercises - I smiled – feeling somehow I had come home… Creation is the most exciting aspect of dance. Almost from the beginning, I wanted not only to dance, but to create dances – to tell wonderful, wordless stories in movement. Dance can give life to myths - like that of Orpheus, who out of love for Eurydice attempts the impossible – to bring his beloved Eurydice back from the underworld – to deceive death itself. The condition of the gods is that he not look upon her until his journey is ended… As Orpheus carries Eurydice, in a pas de deux, from the underworld an ancient myth moves into the present… I have created many myths – in dance. For example "Sylvia". The story of the favourite nymph of the huntress goddess Diana. She was the most expert huntress - but too proud or perhaps too shy for the love of the gentle shepherd Aminta. I believe that dance is an art – an art which reflects the complete human being in all his aspects. For me, it is not merely entertainment, a sport, or simply a demonstration of physical strength or virtuosity - but dance can reflect man´s soul, his spiritual dimensions and aspirations, his relation to God – his doubts and insecurity but also the joy and ecstasy of his Faith. The history of dance has always been alive for me – I´ve always been curious to know about those who shaped my world before me, the dancers, the choreographer whose legendary steps have taken me to where I stand today. Of all the fascinating courageous, unique personalities of our dance past…one stands out above all for me - Vaslav Nijinsky. Since I was a child the dancer, choreographer, the man Nijinsky has fired my imagination, moved and inspired me. My ballet "Nijinsky" begins with Nijinsky´s last performance at the Suvretta House Hotel in St. Moritz on January 19th 1919. During that last dance, images appear to Nijinsky from his colourful but turbulent and tragic life in which the horror of World War I, his brother Stanislav´s insanity, and his own revolutionary choreography merge. For me, dance was always the ideal medium to express endless variations on the theme of love – such as that of Armand and Marguerite – the "Lady of the Camellias". Along the way in my World of Dance, I have met and worked with many wonderful people, many great artists. Some became close and dear friends. A few of them I have since lost. But, their memory and inspiration remain a part of my work. My affection for the great choreographer and friend Maurice Béjart live always in the ballet I created for his 70th birthday: "Opus 100 – for Maurice". My world is dance – and I have always felt very privileged to be a part of it – this world of hard work, sometimes of struggle and disappointment – a world of fascination, dedication, and unconditional commitment. – Serving dance is truly a labour of love. And every day, I am again reminded of the title Gustav Mahler gave to the last movement of his Third Symphony: "What Love Tells Me".
John Neumeier The Hamburg Ballet - John Neumeier John Neumeier has been Director and Chief Choreographer of THE HAMBURG BALLET since 1973. He received his first dance training in his hometown Milwaukee/Wisconsin, where he also created his first choreographic works, and went on to study ballet both in Copenhagen and at the Royal Ballet School in London. In 1963 he joined the Stuttgart Ballet, where he progressed to solo dancer. Before being appointed Director in Hamburg, he had been Director of Ballet in Frankfurt since 1969. Under Neumeier´s direction THE HAMBURG BALLET became one of the leading ballet companies of the German dance scene and soon received international recognition. As a choreographer, John Neumeier has continually focused on the preservation of ballet tradition, while giving his works a modern dramatic framework. His most recent creations: Le Pavillon d’Armide and Orpheus, premiered with THE HAMBURG BALLET in 2009. He has worked as a guest choreographer with many companies, including The Royal Ballet in London, the State Operas of Vienna, Munich and Dresden as well as The Ballet of the Paris Opera and The Tokyo Ballet. He received various awards, most recently the “Herbert von Karajan Musikpreis” in 2007 and the “Deutscher Jubiläums Tanzpreis” in 2008. He was made an honorary citizen of the city of Hamburg in 2007. |
