Christian Spuck, director of the Berlin State Ballet, had to swallow hard several times before the new program “Overture” finally took place on the stage of the State Opera: It was supposed to be a double evening, composed of the new creation by Marcos Morau that gave it the title, and Crystal Pites 2020 for the Canadian National Ballet designed “Angels’ Atlas”. After the premiere, Spuck tells how Morau, artist in residence at the Staatsballett, came up with the idea of choreographing parts of Gustav Mahler’s 5th Symphony – a pretty presumptuous undertaking in itself. He then had set designer Max Glaenzel build him a forest of columns: portal-high marble cylinders, with a revolving stage segment in the middle – a major challenge for the technology. And last but not least, the choreographer arrived three weeks before the premiere with the news that he had to go somewhere else for ten days. Which boss likes to hear that?
“Overture” at the Berlin State Ballet: bodies stuck to the cannon barrel – culture
