Hamburg Ballet
The Hamburg Ballet is a German ballet company that celebrated its 40th anniversary in the 2012/13 season under ballet director and chief choreographer John Neumeier . The performances of the Hamburg Ballet mainly take place in the Hamburg State Opera , while the training and education center is the " Ballet Center Hamburg - John Neumeier" in Hamburg-Hamm . In addition, the company is characterized by a lively guest performance at home and abroad.
history
On August 16, 1973 John Neumeier took over the post of ballet director and chief choreographer of the ballet department of the Hamburg State Opera, which had been offered to him by the artistic director August Everding . At that time, the entire life of the company was concentrated on the State Opera, as the rehearsal rooms were also located there.
The ballet company made its first appearance under the new management on September 9, 1973 with a ballet workshop on the subject of "Classical technology in modern choreography", later the ballet workshops would develop into the trademark of the Hamburg Ballet. The first ballet evening in the Hamburg State Opera followed on September 30, 1973 with “Divertimento No. 15”, “Allegro Brillante”, “Désir” and “Jeu de cartes”.
In January 1974 the Hamburg Ballet danced its first premiere: " Romeo and Juliet " in the choreography of John Neumeier, who embodied the lovers together with Marianne Kruuse. In the year of the 40th anniversary, the ballet was resumed on April 11, 2013 to the music of Sergei Prokofiev . In May 1974, "Meyerbeer - Schumann" was the first world premiere of a ballet by John Neumeier in Hamburg. It tells the story of the composers Giacomo Meyerbeer and Robert Schumann - the main roles were then danced by Max Midinet (Meyerbeer) and François Klaus (Schumann).
In June 1974 the company of the Hamburg Ballet was invited to a guest performance for the first time and danced as part of the “XXIII. Festival Internacional de Musica y Danza ”in Granada ( Spain ). Since then, tours have been an integral part of the Hamburg Ballet. Over the past 40 years, the company has traveled to a total of 29 countries and four continents: for example in France , Russia , China and Brazil .
The first “Hamburg Ballet Days” took place from June 14 to 22, 1975, and like the “Nijinsky Gala” (for the first time on June 22, 1975) developed into a tradition of the Hamburg Ballet.
On January 1, 1978, John Neumeier founded the Hamburg Ballet School , which was initially also housed in the State Opera, before moving four years later to the Bierpalast am Dammtor and on September 23, 1989 to the newly opened Ballet Center Hamburg in Hamm . There is also the possibility that students live in the affiliated boarding school. In this way, the ensemble, the students of the ballet school and the "National Youth Ballet" founded in 2011 train under one roof. The company now consists of 80% ballet school graduates.
repertoire
Over the course of 40 years, the Hamburg Ballet has developed a wide-ranging repertoire, which mainly consists of choreographies by John Neumeier. Over time, 120 choreographies by the ballet director were danced. His main interest is to create new, contemporary forms in connection with the classical ballet tradition.
stage
That is why the new versions of full-length narrative ballets are a focus of John Neumeier's work. These include works such as " The Nutcracker " (1971), "Illusions - like Swan Lake " (1976), " Sleeping Beauty " (1992), " Giselle " (2000) and the ballet " Sylvia " (1997) created for the Paris Opera .
The Hamburg Ballet's repertoire includes a large number of choreographies on orchestral music, most notably “Third Symphony by Gustav Mahler ” (1975). Together with other ballets to Mahler's music, Neumeier's choreographies form a cycle. In addition, John Neumeier wrote Johann Sebastian Bach's “ Matthew Passion ” (1980) and “ Christmas Oratorio ” (Part I-III 2007, Part I-VI 2013), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's “Requiem” (1991) and Georg Friedrich Handel's “ Messiah ” ( 1999) designed as a dance. In addition, various composers were commissioned to write compositions for John Neumeier's ballets. Among them is Alfred Schnittke , who contributed the music to " Peer Gynt " (1989), and Lera Auerbach . She composed the music for “Preludes CV” (2003) and “ The Little Mermaid ” (2005).
The company also dances ballets based on works from world literature. For example the literary ballets " Die Kamelliendame " (1978), " Endstation Sehnsucht " (1983) and the adaptations of Henrik Ibsen's " Peer Gynt ", Homer's " Odyssey " (1995) or Anton Chekhov's " The Seagull " (2002) created for Marcia Haydée . Recently, John Neumeier processed Ferenc Molnár's “ Liliom ” (2011). The choreographer pays great attention to the works of William Shakespeare . In dealing with the literary model, the following were created: " Hamlet " (1985), " Romeo and Juliet " (1971), " A Midsummer Night's Dream " (1977), "VIVALDI or What you want " (1996) and " As You Like It " (1985). At the beginning of the 2013/14 season, John Neumeier's ballet “ Othello ” (1985) based on William Shakespeare's drama will be resumed and presented for the first time on the stage of the Hamburg State Opera.
Another important aspect in John Neumeier's artistic work is dealing with the musical genre . He directed Leonard Bernstein's “ West Side Story ” (1978) and “ On the Town ” (1991). He also developed a rhapsodic form that was shown, for example, in the ballet revue "Shall we dance?" (1986) and in "Bernstein Dances" (1998).
But the Hamburg Ballet does not only dance creations by John Neumeier. In addition to ballets by Mats Ek , Maurice Béjart and George Balanchine , the repertoire also included reconstructions of historical choreographies, for example Vaslav Nijinsky's “ Le Sacre du Printemps ” based on Millicent Hodson. In the 2010/11 season the works “Dances at a Gathering” and “The Concert” by Jerome Robbins were added, which form a ballet evening as “Chopin Dances”. In 2012 the ballet " Renku " celebrated its premiere, which was choreographed by company members Yuka Oishi and Orkan Dann from a Japanese poem. In the same year a new production of John Cranko's " Onegin " was presented by the Hamburg Ballet.
Film adaptations
A film version of John Neumeier's " The Lady of the Camellias " premiered on September 26, 1987, with Marcia Haydée (Marguerite) and Ivan Liška (Armand Duval) dancing the leading roles . In addition, NDR and ZDF filmed four of John Neumeier's ballets: “Third Symphony by Gustav Mahler”, “Wendung” - string quintet in C major by Franz Schubert , “Kinderszenen” and “ Othello ”. In addition, "Illusions - like Swan Lake ", " Death in Venice " and the " St. Matthew Passion " are recorded with dancers from the Hamburg Ballet.
particularities
Ballet workshops
The ballet workshops, which have been shown several times per season in the Hamburg State Opera since 1973, traditionally take place on a Sunday morning. John Neumeier speaks about a topic he has chosen, which he clarifies through a rehearsal with the company. In this way he explains his creative processes to the audience, but also takes up other topics, for example: "The Petipa era" (1978), "Resumption of a ballet - copy or creation" (1987) or "Danced violence" (1988). Newer titles like " Orpheus and ...", " The little mermaid reappears" or "Debut". A four-part ballet workshop made the work of the main soloists of the 80s such as Marianne Kruuse , Ivan Liška and Kevin Haigen public for a wider audience by recording it on the NDR . Four more workshops were produced for television in 1982. In the 2012/13 season, John Neumeier and the company will offer the audience an insight into the development of his ballets for the 200th time.
Hamburg Ballet Days
Since 1975 the Hamburg Ballet Days have taken place in the Hamburg State Opera every year at the end of the season. They usually begin with the premiere of a new ballet and end with the “ Nijinsky Gala”. This dedication to Vaslav Nijinsky can be explained by John Neumeier's long-standing fascination and examination of the exceptional dancer of the Ballets Russes . Traditionally, another renowned ballet company also gives a guest performance at the Hamburg State Opera during the ballet days. For example the Tokyo Ballet in 2010 , the Bavarian State Ballet in 2013 and Les Ballets de Monte Carlo . The Nederlands Dans Theater from The Hague is visiting the Hanseatic city in the 2013/14 season .
Ballet Center Hamburg - John Neumeier
The ballet students are taught in the Hamburg Ballet Center , which used to be the “Oberrealschule for Girls on Caspar-Voght-Straße” (OCV) and is one of the last buildings designed by the Hamburg architect and master city architect Fritz Schumacher . Both the ensemble members and the students train and rehearse in the nine ballet halls. In addition, the boarding school with space for 35 young people is housed in this building.
The international young people between the ages of 10 and 18 are trained for stage dance, with a focus on classical-academic dance. In addition, there are lessons in modern dance technique, dance composition and folklore, whereby physical aptitude, rhythmic talent, dancing disposition, improvisational talent and a ballet technique appropriate to the age are acceptance criteria. The entrance exams take place every spring. The minimum age for the preschool is 7 to 9 years, for the training classes 10 to 16 years and for the theater classes 16 to 18 years, whereby boys up to 19 years can audition. The school is financially and ideally supported by the associations "Friends of the Ballet Center Hamburg" and "Ballettfreunde Hamburg".
The ballet center is also the seat of the first German “Federal Youth Ballet”, which was founded by John Neumeier in 2011 but does not belong to the Hamburg Ballet.
The John Neumeier Foundation
The John Neumeier Foundation was established on February 23, 2006. It is the third focus of John Neumeier's artistic work alongside the Hamburg State Opera and the Ballet Center. The foundation under the curator Hans-Michael Schäfer serves science, research and documentation. The aim of the foundation is to preserve the extensive dance and ballet collection of John Neumeier for posterity and to make it accessible to the public. In this way, the life's work of John Neumeier and above all his work with the Hamburg Ballet should be presented.
Ensemble 2013/2014
The entire ensemble currently consists of 58 dancers from 22 nations, plus one guest dancer.
First soloists
Carolina Agüero , Silvia Azzoni , Hélène Bouchet , Leslie Heylmann , Anna Laudere , Anna Polikarpova , Thiago Bordin , Otto Bubeníček , Carsten Jung , Edvin Revazov , Alexandre Riabko , Lloyd Riggins , Ivan Urban
Guest dancers
Alina Cojocaru , Amilcar Moret Gonzales
Soloists
Florencia Chinellato, Yuka Oishi, Patricia Friza, Silvano Ballone, Dario Franconi, Alexandr Trusch, Konstantin Tselikov, Kiran West
Group dancers
Mayo Arii, Kristína Borbélyová, Hannah Coates, Yaiza Coll, Futaba Ishizaki, Xue Lin, Aurore Lissitzky, Ekaterina Mamrenko, Natalie Ogonek, Yun-Su Park, Zhaoqian Peng, Lucia Rios, Priscilla Tselikova, Sophie Vergères, Miljana Vracaric, Emanuel Braulio Alvarez, Jacopo Bellussi, Zachary Clark, Orkan Dann, Christopher Evans, Graeme Fuhrman, Marc Jubete, Marcelino Libao, Aleix Martínez, Florian Pohl, Lennart Radtke, Dale Rhodes, Sasha Riva, Thomas Stuhrmann, Lizhong Wang, Eliot Worrell
Aspirants
Hannah Beach, Winnie Dias, Emilie Mazon, Hayley Page, Aljoscha Lenz
Former first soloists (selection)
Hanni Vanhaiden (1966–67), Trumann Finney (1973–76), Max Midinet (1973–87), Beatrice Cordua (1973–86), Marianne Kruuse (1973–85), Ivan Lişka (1977–97), Kevin Haigen (1977–83), Colleen Scott (1978–91), Gigi Hyatt (1986–97), Jiří Bubeníček (1997–2006), Joëlle Boulogne (1999–2011)
Former guest dancers (selection)
Natalia Makarova , Manuel Légris, Roberto Bolle , Sylvie Guillem , Mikhail Baryschnikow, Darcey Bussell , Isabelle Ciaravola, Alina Cojocaru , Guillaume Coté, Patrick Dupond, Alessandra Ferri, Marie-Agnès Gillot, Marcia Haydée, Cynthia Harvey, Polina Semionova ...