The fall of Troy is Cinemascope, widescreen antiquity, the twilight of heroes, everything “larger than life” in Homer’s epics, the archetype of war and its consequences. Andonis Foniadakis was born on Crete, the Greek choreographer now looks at the Greek islands in his new piece “Troy”, which will be premiered on 28 June at Gärtnerplatztheater Premiere, on the city after the destruction. The survivors of this man-made catastrophe, the surviving relatives of the dead heroes, they are the women. Andromache, Hecuba, Cassandra, Helena. They have become trophies of the victors, abduction, rape, enslavement, that is what awaits them, the omnipresent fate of female bodies in war. The restless Foniadakis, who already presented a swan song for the human beast with his dance piece “Urlicht” at the Staatstheater Kassel in 2023, narrates the events, inspired by Euripides’ drama “The Trojan Women”. The music is interesting: The Gärtnerplatz-Compagnie dances to the electroacoustic sound of Julien Tarride, to Arvo Pärt’s ascetic sounds and to compositions by Bryce Dessner, who operates between classical and rock.
It was a busy, exciting season for the dancers of the Bavarian State BalletBefore the international troupe goes on holiday and scatters to the four winds, the company will once again show – as part of the Munich Opera Festival – highlights of the season, works in very different dance languages, the choreography triple “Duato/Skeels/Eyal” (July 10) or John Cranko’s classic “Onegin” (July 19). A special experience for the State Ballet members was rehearsing Angelin Preljocaj’s “Le Parc” (July 3) with ballet director Laurent Hilaire, as it was he who danced one of the main roles at the Opéra de Paris in 1994.
Angelin Preljocajborn in 1957, will now also put the finishing touches to this season. In the series “Sphären/02” he has invited two young choreographers to create new works for the State Ballet: Edouard Hue, 33, will show his work “Skinny Hearts”, Émilie Lalande, 41, will present “Le Spectre de la Rose”. They will enter into a dialogue with Angelin Preljocaj’s “Un Trait d’Union” from 1989. The premiere is on July 18th in the Cuvilliéstheater. Anyone who would like to know more about their work for the Sphären project can find out directly from Hue and Lalande during a discussion in the series “Ballett extra” on Friday, July 5th, 7 p.m., Salon Luitpold. The talk is about nothing less than the dance of the future.
Which you can probably find elsewhere. Not in the big houses and state companies, but in the rehearsal studios and performance venues of the independent scene. In Heavy riders for example. On Friday, 21 June (8.30 p.m.), the world premiere of Johanna Richter Dance Theatre “See the music – and dance!”What is announced here is a “living experiment” that asks the question: “Is it possible to see music through movement and dance, to tell stories that music can trigger in our imagination, and finally, through the immediate experience of physical performance, to move together with ever increasing beats?”
The dancers’ assistants in this project are the pianist Zoran Imširovic and the sound artist Conrad Hornung, who will fuse pieces by Arvo Pärt, John Cage and Steve Reich with modern beats live. Audiences with impaired hearing are expressly invited to this music-dance theater. Further performances are on June 22nd at 8:30 p.m. and on June 23rd, when the performance begins at 8 p.m. Afterwards, with the key word “getting moving together,” there will be a broadcast of the European Championship soccer match between Germany and Switzerland in the foyer.