Dark Matter II (Marco Goecke)

In the organizer's words:

Dance guest performance by Staatsballett Hannover / Stuttgarter Ballett / Ballett Saarbrücken & Tanz Köln.

After the great success in Cologne 2018, "Dark Matter" goes into the second round. We will show two solos, two pas de deux and one group piece.

"Tué", danced by a dancer from the Staatsballett Hannover, opens the evening. Marco Goecke created it in 2009 to honor Princess Caroline of Monaco for her years of dedication to dance. He was inspired by the music of the chansonnière Barbara. Sasha Riva and Simone Repele, longtime dancers of the Ballet de l'Opéra de Genève, will dance the 2022 pas de deux "Eyes Open / Shut Your Eyes," created especially for them. The solo "Äffi" from 2005 is a Goecke classic. To the often calm, almost melancholy music of Jonny Cash, Matteo Miccini, soloist of the Stuttgart Ballet, makes all the limbs of his body flutter and vibrate. Two soloists from the Hanover State Ballet, Rosario Guerra and Louis Steinmetz, perform the pas de deux "Midnight Raga," which has previously only been seen at the presentation of the German Dance Prize to Marco Goecke in Essen in the fall of 2022. Goecke originally created the ballet for two dancers at the Nederlands Dans Theater, where it will be awarded the "Swan" theater prize. "Don't think twice, It's All Right" - accompanied by this song, a dancer opens "Whiteout" with a vibrant, shimmering solo to the sounds of guitar and harmonica and the unmistakable voice of Bob Dylan. Ballett Saarbrücken presents this group piece, a relatively early work by Marco Goecke, created in the summer of 2008 for Les Ballets de Monte Carlo.

Marco Goecke, born in Wuppertal, received his ballet training at the Heinz Bosl Foundation in Munich and at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. His first engagements took him to the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Theater Hagen, where he choreographed for the first time in 2000. With his completely unique movement language, he is quickly in demand worldwide and wins several major awards. From 2005 to 2018 he is house choreographer at the Stuttgart Ballet and since 2013 also at the Nederlands Dans Theater. Since January 2019, he has been artist in residence at Gauthier Dance, Stuttgart, and was ballet director at Staatstheater Hannover from 2019-2023. In 2022 Goecke will be awarded the German Dance Prize in Essen.