State Ballet Berlin
| State Ballet Berlin | |
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 Logo from 2018/2019 |
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| Founder: | 1st Berlin Ballet: Friedrich II, 1742 |
| Founded: | 2004 |
| Hometown: | Berlin |
| Members: | approx. 92 dancers |
| Technology: | classic ballet |
| Intendant: | Vladimir Malakhov 2004–2014, Nacho Duato 2014–2018, Johannes Öhman since August 2018, Sasha Waltz from 2019 |
| Venues: | German Opera Berlin |
The State Ballet Berlin was founded in its current form on January 1st, 2004 from the ensembles of the State Opera Unter den Linden , the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Komische Oper Berlin . In March 2011, the Berlin State Ballet moved its headquarters from the Unter den Linden State Opera to the Deutsche Oper Berlin . There the former painter's hall and the lamination workshop were adapted to the needs of the work of a classical ballet company.
It is one of four artistic companies under the umbrella of the Berlin Opera Foundation , which was brought into being by the State of Berlin. It is intended to create contemporary structures for the three institutionalized Berlin music theaters and the state ballet .
ensemble
General manager and executive director is Georg Vierthaler , artistic director is Johannes Öhman , his deputy director and operations director is Christiane Theobald . The classically trained company consists of around 92 dancers from 31 nations and is currently one of the largest ballet companies in Germany. The Staatsballett Berlin presents its performances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin , at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and at the Komische Oper Berlin .
history
Ballet of the Berlin State Opera
Frederick the Great founded the first ballet company in Berlin in 1742 at his Royal Court Opera . He hired international artists, hired the choreographer Étienne Lauchery and ordered choreographies from him, which were an integral part of the opera performances. Ballet was popular and gradually broke away from opera. The first full-length ballet performance took place in 1794. In addition to the metropolises of Europe, Berlin soon became the ballet center in German-speaking countries. Key works in ballet history were performed in the Biedermeier period .
By the end of the First World War , the ballet ensemble had 140 dancers who offered purely classical top dance. In this pre-war Berlin era, stage dance institutionalized itself in Berlin and cultivated classical-academic ballet. It opened up to international styles and personalities. Famous soloists such as Marie and Paul Taglioni , Fanny Elßler , Isadora Duncan and Anna Pawlowna Pawlowa performed at the Berlin State Opera .
At the time of the fall of the Wall, the Berlin State Opera Ballet employed 74 dancers; in 1994 there were 85 dancers, 51 of which were transferred to the Berlin State Ballet.
Ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Not as steeped in tradition as the State Opera Ballet, a renowned ballet ensemble has also developed at the Deutsche Oper since the 1920s. The audience and dancers in Berlin had characters like Harald Kreutzberg and Tatjana Gsovsky , who shaped the ensemble after the Second World War. Tatjana Gsovsky was initially engaged at the Berlin State Opera. After she founded her own company, the Berlin Ballet , she left the Lindenoper in 1951. From 1953 she worked as a choreographer in the eastern part of Berlin, then as a ballet master at the Deutsche Oper in the western part of Berlin. From 1966 she limited herself to the direction of her ballet school. Gsovsky brought many classic productions but also premieres of compositions by Boris Blacher , Hans Werner Henze and Luigi Nono .
Tatjana Gsovsky followed Kenneth MacMillan (1966–1969) as artistic director for three years , whose works were also formative. For a very long time, from 1962 to 1990, Gert Reinholm , Gsovsky's student and dancer, was director of the ballet at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 1972 he was formally appointed ballet director.
The ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin emerged from the post-war ballet of the old Charlottenburg Opera, which was later renamed the Theater des Westens . With the founding of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the modern building on Bismarckstrasse, an opening gradually took place for new trends and personalities. It was the figurehead of West Berlin and was ideally supported by the Allies. The ballet company was structured democratically and was the first ballet in Germany with international dancers. The ballet ensemble was equipped with world-class top performers in all positions and, compared to the other ballet companies in the eastern part of the city, was able to offer a variety of styles and directions that were dependent on the repertoire. Particularly at the time of the general director Götz Friedrich had with great choreography as Overture, interludes and deposits carry a significant contribution to the staging of the special task - such as in Faust's condemnation , Mesphisto , Macbeth , masked ball , Magic Flute , The Flying Dutchman and many productions by the chief director. In addition, it made a number of representative international tours as the only top ballet in West Berlin. It was the "most international", "best trained", "most modern" ballet company in Berlin and was able to compete with all ballet ensembles of major international houses. Traditionally there were ballets by Bournonville , Petipa and Balanchine as well as choreographies by Hans van Manen , Kurt Jooss and Maurice Béjart . Notable dancers included Eva Evdokimova , Peter Schaufuss and Gerhard Bohner , who became one of the central figures in the anti-establishment activities in the Academy of Arts (Berlin) . Numerous world premieres came on the stage of the Deutsche Oper, such as Tutuguri and Die Nacht aus Blei . As the successor to Gert Reinholm , Peter Schaufuss was appointed ballet director in 1990, followed by Ray Barra in 1994 , Richard Cragun in 1996 , and from 1999–2004 Sylviane Bayard directed the ballet until the Staatsballett Berlin was formed.
Ballet at the Komische Oper
The ballet of the Komische Oper since the establishment of the house in 1947 until the 2004 season as the most important ballet ensemble for modern and classical dance in East Berlin. The Komische Oper ballet was founded in 1966 by Tom Schilling as the Komische Oper dance theater and directed for almost 30 years. He shaped a new, modern dance style. Numerous world premieres and first performances with the clear stylistic signature of the chief choreographer gave the ensemble its unmistakable, artistic profile. The dance theater of the Komische Oper was one of the internationally renowned companies beyond its borders. The ensemble has made guest appearances worldwide with productions such as La Mer , Romeo and Juliet , Undine , Black Birds , A New Midsummer Night's Dream and the Socially Critical Revue .
Outstanding dancers were z. B. Hannelore Bey , Jutta Germany , Arila Siegert , Roland Gawlik , Dieter Hülse, Thomas Kindt. Particularly noteworthy is the support of the dance theater by 40 amateur dancers from the group of young dancers under the direction of the dancer, choreographer and resistance fighter Jean Weidt .
In 1999 the dance theater was renamed BerlinBallett - Komische Oper . After Richard Wherlock , who directed the ballet from 1999 to 2001, the Spanish Blanca Li was chief choreographer and artistic director of the company from 2001 and 2002. Afterwards Adolphe Binder was artistic director of the ballet and, with productions such as Casa and Screensaver, ensured that there were first and world premieres in the field of contemporary dance theater. When the Staatsballett Berlin was founded, the Komische Oper's ballet company was completely dissolved.
Conversion of the Berlin State Ballet
In 1996 the Berlin Senate, headed by the Berlin Senator for Culture Peter Radunski (CDU), later executive Berlin Senator for Culture Thomas Flierl (PDS), planned, as part of the austerity measures, to merge the three Berlin ballet companies for 100 million marks in the budget over the next three years to save. In total, more than 300 employees were laid off, half of them ballet dancers. The general manager Götz Friedrich and the ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the ballet of the Komische Oper Berlin had vehemently opposed this concept .
Vladimir Malakhov era
On January 1st, 2004 the Staatsballett Berlin was founded with 91 dancers. The ballet ensembles were merged with a reduction from 145 to 71 staff positions: 51 of the 85 ensemble members of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden remained, 20 of the 60 of the Deutsche Oper Berlin , and all 66 positions of the Komische Oper Berlin were lost . Vladimir Malakhov from Ukraine was the artistic director of the Berlin State Ballet from 2004 to 2014 .
Nacho Duato era
From 2014 the Spanish dancer and choreographer Nacho Duato was director of the Berlin State Ballet. The renowned choreographer and ballet director brought the breadth of his worldwide work to the work of the company. As the director of the choreography, Nacho Duato attached great importance to constant work and getting to know each other with the dancers in the hall.
He brought Gentian Doda to Berlin as first ballet master. He started his career as a choreographer in 2007. His works have been performed and awarded in various parts of the world. His work is shaped by the ancient Albanian culture, which traditionally feels more attracted to asymmetry and complexity than to the ideal of perfection and purity that is typical of Central European culture. At the center of his works are people who - left to their own devices - are exposed to the superiority of forces and fate. Well acquainted with the ensemble, the first ballet master of the State Ballet will work on this creation with the dancers.
In February 2015, Nacho Duato's “Sleeping Beauty” from his time in St. Petersburg was performed. At the end of his first season at the Berlin State Ballet, Nacho Duato presented his creation entitled “Static Time”. This is in the three-part ballet evening “Duato | Kylián ”premiered on May 14, 2015. In March 2015 Nacho Duato also performed his choreography “Diversity. Forms of Silence and Emptiness ”, a varied homage to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach on the stage of the Komische Oper Berlin. In October 2015, the three-part ballet evening “Duato | Kylián | Naharin ”premiere. The fast-paced evening shows Nacho Duato's “Castrati” as an introduction, based on the fate of the castrati in the 18th century to music by Antonio Vivaldi and Karl Jenkins. With Ohad Naharin's "Secus", the company dares to take a completely new step, because it is the first time she dances in Naharin's movement concept "Gaga". Jiři Kylián's “Petite Mort” rounds off the evening with a great poetic feeling, in harmony with the famous Mozart piano concertos, which provide the musical framework. In February 2016 Nacho Duato presented “Herrumbre”, a politically oriented piece that takes up the 2004 bombings in Madrid and the worldwide publication of terrifying images from the Guantanamo prison camp. By addressing issues such as terror, violence and oppression, Duato wants to keep their ubiquity in mind and at the same time call for the preservation of human dignity. In October 2016, Nacho Duato's " The Nutcracker " premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Nacho Duato has moved the story of the popular Christmas classic to the Belle Epoque . This journey through time has not only stylistic, but also dance-related reasons: The elegant fashion of the early 20th century gives the ensemble more freedom of movement than the stiff costumes of the previous century. A congenial trick that creates a magical Christmas wonderland to the dreamy music of Peter I. Tchaikovsky. In April 2017, Nacho Duato took up our “Earth” with his socio-political program, which was already expressed in “Herrumbre”. Together with his team around the set designer Sven Jonke and the composer Pedro Alcalde , he has developed impressive scenes on the state of our planet earth.
Sasha Waltz and Johannes Öhman
In the 2018/2019 season, Johannes Öhman was the artistic director of the Berlin State Ballet; Since the 2019/2020 season he and Sasha Waltz have been co-directing the company. Her long-term vision for the artistic design of the program is geared towards the creation of new works for the company and the presentation of the rich dance heritage from its beginnings to the present day.
Education program
The association Tanz ist KLASSE, founded in 2007, enables interaction between the Staatsballett Berlin and its audience. The non-profit association implements the education program of the Berlin State Ballet together with dance teachers from the company. Numerous workshops and multimedia offers for the program of the Berlin State Ballet will be implemented to meet the individual needs of the participants. The focus is on the integration of dance and ballet into everyday school life. Especially children who do not have direct access to these art forms are addressed - the name dance is CLASS! is the program. A lasting effect is achieved through long-term sponsorships and projects.
circle of friends
When the Berlin State Ballet was founded in 2004, the Association of Friends and Supporters of the Berlin State Ballet was brought into being. His commitment opens up new perspectives for the company. In addition to providing financial support for specific projects, the association functions as a network and arranges alliances with business.
Children's Ballet Company Berlin
The Berlin Children's Ballet Company, formerly the “Ballet School at the State Ballet”, has been working in cooperation with the Berlin State Ballet since 2016 and offers a special program for children between 6 and 18 years of age. In David Simic's ballet school , children have the opportunity to attend classical ballet training with live piano music and to appear on the major stages of Berlin and Brandenburg with productions that change every year. A special feature of this ballet school is that the children, in addition to regular ballet lessons, belong to a group that prepares their own productions in additional rehearsal sessions in order to present them on different stages. All choreographies developed for this purpose come from professional choreographer David Simic and other guest choreographers. Thanks to the close cooperation with the Berlin State Ballet, the ballet school organizes training visits with professional dancers several times during the season. The ballet school presented the well-known piece “Coppelia” on the main stage of the Deutsche Oper Berlin in December 2016 and “Welcome to the town” in December 2017, both choreographies by David Simic. In 2018, Simic awarded with his own choreography of "The Nutcracker" on the stage of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.oper-in-berlin.de/
- ↑ Radunski: No facility is sacrificed to save money from berliner-zeitung.de of October 6, 1996
- ↑ Berlin is dismantling operas, ballet and theater from berliner-zeitung.de of October 13, 2000
- ^ Rejection for Berlin Ballet from berliner-kurier.de on June 9, 2000
- ↑ Contemporary ballet not unwinding from die-linke-berlin.de of September 10, 2003
- ↑ Politics should not interfere from berliner-zeitung.de from February 19, 2009
- ↑ Build something big out of small parts from www.berliner-zeitung.de