World premieres by Marie Chouinard, Marco Goecke, Hofesh Shechter & Cayetano Soto
Swan Lake! As soon as you mention the title of this ultimate classical ballet, the images and associations will come by themselves: a lake in the moonlight, the Dance of the Little Swans, Prince Siegfried torn between Odette and Odile, the evil sorcerer Rothbart. There have been countless traditional renditions, modern interpretations and spoofs, on stage as well as on the big screen. So is there nothing more to tell about Swan Lake? Certainly not – at least if you come up with a new format for the story... Eric Gauthier has asked four star choreographers to create their version of Swan Lake for the Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart. These works aren't meant to add up to a full-length piece but to Swan Lakes in the plural: a bill including four individual Swan Lake adaptations of about 20 minutes each, that are stylistically as varied as the choreographers themselves. Above all, a prime opportunity for both audiences and artists to draw on a well-known subject – and discover something completely new.
Marie Chouinard: LE CHANT DU CYGNE: LE LAC
Choreographer and Set, Costume, Lighting and Video Designer: Marie Chouinard
Composer: Louis Dufort
Rehearsal Director: Lucie Vigneault
Assistant to the Lighting Director: Chantal Labonté
Production Manager: Jérémie Boucher
The work includes: "Un violador en tu camino" by and with the courtesy of Colectivo LASTESIS
No other female choreographer is so firmly rooted in the avant-garde as Marie Chouinard. Following twelve trailblazing years as a solo performer and choreographer, she founded Compagnie Marie Chouinard in 1990. In more than 50 works to date, she has celebrated dance as a sacred, spiritual art, always searching for what she calls ”the mystery“ – the invisible, primordial energy of live in our bodies. Masterpieces such as Les 24 Préludes de Chopin, the controversial Après-midi d’un Faune with its all-women cast or bODY_rEMIX / les_vARIATIONS_gOLDBERG, Act 1 feature in the repertoire of the world's most important dance companies. Soon it will be the turn of Gauthier Dance. The new creation will mark another step in an inspiring cooperation. At the first COLOURS festival 2015, Compagnie Marie Chouinard premiered Soft virtuosity, still humid, on the edge to great acclaim. Chouinard was charmed by the warmth of the festival team and the Stuttgart audience, and has stayed in touch with fellow Canadian Eric Gauthier ever since. Theaterhaus Stuttgart now looks forward to the first direct collaboration with Marie Chouinard! LE CHANT DU CYGNE: LE LAC promises an immersive, sensual experience where dance, electronic music and video projections merge. The centre from which the dancers will fill this amazing contemporary creation with life is a simple, refined architectural element.
Hofesh Shechter: SWAN CAKE
Choreography & Composition: Hofesh Shechter
Lighting Design: Mario Daszenies & Hofesh Shechter
Costume Design: Gudrun Schretzmeier & Hofesh Shechter
Assistant: Kim Kohlmann
Shechter is recognised as one of the most exciting artists making stage work today, his dark, visceral, vibrant muniverse positively bursting with innovation and political relevance. The choreographer is renowned for composing atmospheric musical scores to compliment the unique physicality of his movement. His dual artistic talent was shaped by his years as a dancer with the legendary Batsheva Dance Company and his studies of music in Paris. The partnership between Gauthier Dance and Hofesh Shechter was born in 2017, when Shechter's iconic Uprising was part of the opening production MEGA ISRAEL of the 2nd COLOURS International Dance Festival. What’s more, his own company was also represented, with the sensational German premiere of Grand Finale. Since then, Shechter and Gauthier Dance have kept in touch. Swan Cake is their first collaboration. It is going to focus on the dark undercurrent of the ballet classic. Instead of the beautiful, the pure and the clean, Shechter shows us driven people who have no home, no place, no choice – but desires, fantasies and dreams. Andin doing so, he makes us understand that beneath the surface, a very unique kind of beauty is just waiting to come to light.
Cayetano Soto: UNTITLED FOR 7 DANCERS
Choreography: Cayetano Soto
Music: Peter Gregson
Set & Costume Design: Cayetano Soto, Dario Suša
Lighting Design: Cayetano Soto
Dramaturgy: Dario Suša, Esther Dreesen-Schaback
Assistant to the Choreographer: Mikiko Arai
Cayetano Soto is a Gauthier Dance regular. It is hard to say by whom he is loved more – by the dancers or the audiences at Theaterhaus. His flamboyant choreographies CONRAZONCORAZON and especially Malasangre are two of the greatest hits in the company's repertoire: extremely dynamic, set to hot Latin rhythms, the dancers dressed up in fantastic costumes designed by Soto himself. His trademarks are the unusual ideas and the eccentric, but highly sensitive view of the world. For the Spanish choreographer feels drawn towards the seekers – people and artists who do not fit into our concepts, such as the Cuban soul legend La Lupe who inspired Malasangre. „His“ Swan Lake, too, promises to be exciting. For Soto aims at nothing less than the core of the myth: the moment of transformation from human to animal, from woman to swan. The magical soundscape to go with his piece was created by the young composer and cellist Peter Gregson.
Marco Goecke: Shara Nur
Choreography: Marco Goecke
Music: Björk, Jesse Callaert
Lighting Design: Udo Haberland
Set & Costume Design: Michaela Springer
As Artist-in-Residence, Marco Goecke has been associated with the company since January 2019. The familiarity has grown over the years and has found expression in increasingly personal creations for Gauthier Dance. Two full-length ballets are seen as the highlights of the collaboration so far: NIJINSKI and Lieben Sie Gershwin?. With a story perfectly suited to Goecke's dark worlds and his frenzied, quivering aesthetics, Swan Lake has all it takes to once more fire the imagination of the famous choreographer. With Goecke, though, no chance of the romantic topos of the female swans. He sets about his piece with a self-confident statement: an all-male cast.
Gauthier Dance//Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Artistic Director: Eric Gauthier
Ballet Masters: Cesar Locsin, Luis Eduardo Sayago
Dancers: Bruna Andrade, Joaquin Angelucci, Louiza Avraam, Nora Brown, Andrew Cummings, Anneleen Dedroog, Barbara Melo Freire, Luca Pannacci, Garazi Perez Oloriz, Jonathan Reimann, Mark Sampson, Gaetano Signorelli, Izabela Szylinska, Sidney Elizabeth Turtschi, Shawn Wu, Shori Yamamoto
Production Management: Alexandra Brenk, Inga Kunz
Artistic Coordination Set & Costumes: Gudrun Schretzmeier
Company Coach: Egon Madsen
Artistic Management: Maria Strom
Press: Nicola Steller
Tour: ecotopia dance productions
