Verwandlungen

Do we pay enough attention to the beauty of the moment? What in life can we hold on to, what do we have to let go of? How can we enter into an exchange with each other about our mortality? For Verwandlungen, ballet director Goyo Montero has invited two choreographic duos to Hanover, whose unique movement languages focus on moments of existential upheaval and change. The two duos also share their artistic home, as their names are closely associated with the Nederlands Dans Theater Den Haag (NDT), one of the world's most important companies for contemporary dance. Sol León and Paul Lightfoot have shaped the international dance world for decades as dancers, choreographers and artistic directors of the NDT. And the siblings Imre and Marne van Opstal, known today for their sculptural choreographies, also made a career as dancers in the ensemble. In Verwandlungen, two generations of the NDT can be experienced in one evening and their diverse aesthetic and spiritual affinities can be explored at the same time. With I'm afraid to forget your smile, Imre and Marne van Opstal created a touching exploration of transience to choral works of archaic power in 2022. Sol León and Paul Lightfoot's piece Schmetterling, created in 2010, tells a fragile story of parting between a mother and her son to music by Max Richter and love songs by indie rock band The Magnetic Fields.