Stuttgart Ballet

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Staatstheater Stuttgart , opera house in the palace garden

The Stuttgart Ballet has been one of the world's leading ballet ensembles since the early 1960s . This reputation established in 1961 the ballet director John Cranko with well-known choreographies and his ensemble. After Cranko's death in 1973, Glen Tetley initially took over the management from 1974 to 1976. Marcia Haydée (1976–1996), Reid Anderson (1996–2018) and, since 2018, Tamas Detrich, followed as directors of the Stuttgart company .

history

The ballet tradition in Stuttgart goes back to 1609 at the Württembergischer Hof. Choreographers and directors such as Jean Georges Noverre (1759–1766), Filippo Taglioni (1824–1828), August Brühl (1891) and Oskar Schlemmer (1916–1922) created works for the company in Stuttgart and built up a small troupe.

1957

Nicholas Beriozoff , former dancer of the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo, was appointed ballet director in 1957. He enlarged the company and created a solid basis with productions from the classical repertoire by re-staging full-length classics such as Sleeping Beauty , Swan Lake and the Nutcracker .

1961

In January 1961, Walter Erich Schäfer , the general director of the Württemberg State Theaters, appointed John Cranko as the ballet director of the Württemberg State Theater Ballet. The golden age of ballet began in Stuttgart with John Cranko. In the beginning, Cranko created small choreographies and gathered a group of dancers around him, above all the young Brazilian dancer Marcia Haydée , who became his muse and for whom he created his most important pieces, as well as Egon Madsen , Richard Cragun , Birgit Keil , Susanne Hanke and Ray Barra .

December 1962

With the world premiere of Cranko's Romeo and Juliet in Stuttgart, John Cranko and his company took the Stuttgart audience by storm. Acclaimed by critics and the public, this production heralded the great era of the Stuttgart ballet. This was followed by small choreographic works such as Jeu de Cartes , Opus 1 and initials RBME as well as the narrative ballets The Taming of the Shrew , Onegin and Carmen . He also invited George Balanchine , Kenneth MacMillan and Peter Wright to choreograph and perform ballets for his company. With increasing fame, the Stuttgart Ballet began touring around the world.

1969

During the company's first guest appearance in New York with John Cranko's Onegin , critics, especially Clive Barnes , renowned critic of the New York Times, began to speak of the “Stuttgart ballet miracle”. The until then little known ballet company of the Württemberg State Theaters became "the Stuttgart Ballet". Further tours, such as to Israel, France and the Soviet Union, ensured the global fame of the troupe and its choreographer and director. Cranko also encouraged his dancers to choreograph themselves and campaigned for the Stuttgart Noverre Society, which still supports young choreographers today. The list of choreographers who created their first ballets in Stuttgart and who were almost all members of the company includes Jiří Kylián , John Neumeier , William Forsythe , Uwe Scholz , Renato Zanella and Christian Spuck. Another step towards promoting the next generation of ballet by Cranko was the founding of the John Cranko School in 1971 .

1973

Twelve years after his arrival in Stuttgart, John Cranko died unexpectedly on June 26, 1973 on a return flight from a US tour. The company met and decided to maintain and continue the life's work of their mentor.

1974

The American choreographer Glen Tetley , whom John Cranko had invited shortly before his death as resident choreographer at the Stuttgart Ballet, took over the company as ballet director. Stylistically committed to modern dance, Tetley had a major and important influence on the history of the Stuttgart ballet during his relatively short tenure: he succeeded with works such as Voluntaries (1973), Sacre du Printemps (1974) or Daphnis and Chloe (1975) die To open dancers to a completely new language of movement and to convey to them an aesthetic derived from contemporary dance.

1976

After Tetley's resignation in 1976, Marcia Haydée took over the artistic direction of the Stuttgart Ballet. Under Haydée the Stuttgart Ballet's repertoire grew considerably. Choreographers such as Maurice Béjart and Hans van Manen as well as John Neumeier, Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe and Uwe Scholz created new works for the troupe. In addition, Marcia Haydée raised a new generation of dancers and raised the technical level of the troupe. After 35 years of stage career and 20 years as director, Marcia Haydée left the Stuttgart Ballet in 1996.

1996

Reid Anderson , who was engaged by John Cranko in 1969 and danced as principal soloist at the Stuttgart Ballet until 1987, took over the artistic direction of the company in 1996. From 1986 to 1996 Anderson pursued a career as a ballet director in Canada. When Anderson returned to Stuttgart, he rejuvenated the company with 21 young dancers who gave the Stuttgart ballet new energy. Since then, under Anderson's directorship, over 80 world premieres have arisen, including 8 new narrative ballets. The company regularly makes international guest appearances.

2018

Tamas Detrich, who was a chamber dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet until 2002, was initially ballet master of the company from 2002 and deputy director from 2009. In 2018 Detrich took over the management.

Prizes and awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Koeglerjournal 2005/06, A LOOK BACK II., On the tenth anniversary of Nicholas Beriozoff's death, accessed on January 9, 2014.
  2. ↑ Horst Koegler: The first decade. In: 50 Years of Stuttgart Ballet. Program book. Edited by the Stuttgart Ballet; 2010/11 season.
  3. ^ Clive Barnes: The Year the Dance went wild; When dance went wild. In: New York Times. July 6, 1969.
  4. ↑ John Percival: John Cranko. Biography. Belser Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-7630-9036-3 , p. 263.
  5. ↑ DBFT German Dance Prize "Future" (accessed December 23, 2015)