AUF DEN SPUREN EINES ZERBRECHENDEN TÄNZERS
Goecke gelingt ein grandioses Kunststück der intensiven Andeutung. Er transportiert Anekdotisches, aber auch Abstraktes.
Manuel Brug, Die Welt 12.7.2016

LESS IS MORE: THE ART OF DANCE IN PERFECTION
The edges of the stage draped in black, the floor gleaming white, otherwise: emptiness. Later on, this black and white cosmos will be illuminated by a flash of light, sometimes it will rain red petals, sometimes a single chair will be placed on it. For most of the time though it will remain a wasteland, which is filled with nothing else than dance – pure, perfected, compelling and enchanting.
The 44 year old choreographer is a master of the interplay between a wealth of movements and emptiness, between pace and deceleration; in between he plants sparse – and therefore even more eloquent – pantomimic gestures: a hand on the cheek tells of motherly love, Diaghilev’s fingers playing on Nijinsky’s chest tell of possessiveness. And again and again beguiling images that one just cannot see enough of. Like when Nijinsky, after having been seized by the “creature of darkness” (Anna Süheyla Harms), faces his doctor (Alessio Marchini) who duplicates his every movement like a mirror, a reference to his role as Narcissus. At the end, Goecke has the schizophrenic painting circles on the floor, and indeed Nijinsky produced such drawings during his illness. His last gesture is as pure and clear as the whole piece: a bow. That of a great dancer before his audience and life. And that of a great choreographer before his art.
Ulla Hanselmann, Stuttgarter Zeitung 20.6.2016

A BOW TO ART
How lucky that the resident choreographer of the Stuttgart Ballet has realised his third full-length piece especially for Gauthier Dance. No backdrop magic, no roundelay of requisites, no costume feast – reduction instead of the opulence of a state theatre: for 80 minutes this ‘Nijinsky’ relies on dance only, following the traces of a legend in three parts with three different scenes respectively. The audience at the premiere responded with loud cheers.
Andrea Kachelriess, Stuttgarter Nachrichten 20.6.2016

TO LIVE WITHOUT BREATHING
But with ‘Nijinsky’ Marco Goecke pays more attention to the harmonious flow of movement than usual, includes academic ballet poses again and again. Thanks to eloquent hands and arms, his dance idiom proves itself more than ever a clever narrative tool and in this achieves something tremendous: a fusion with Nijinsky’s then revolutionary style as a dancer and choreographer. And all this with today’s subjective and distant view – full of veneration. Frenetic applause.
Eva-Elisabeth Fischer, Süddeutsche Zeitung 20.6.2016

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN GENIUS AND INSANITY: MARCO GOECKE’S ‘NIJINSKY’ AS A HOMAGE TO DANCE
Goecke only needs short digressions to hint at Nijinsky’s own late choreographies: a clown collar refers to his ‘Petrushka’, a tired female dancer resting in a chair to his ‘Spectre de la rose’, palpable sexuality to his ‘The Afternoon of a Faun’. In Goecke’s choreography the young dancer again and again breaks away from tradition: showing rudiments of an expressiveness that anticipates the future modernity of his dance even during the scenes of Nijinsky’s training. Because the subject of Goecke’s ballet is not (only) Nijinski, the adored dance star of the early 20th century, but the dawn of modern ballet. In the end, Goecke – creator of a distinct, modern choreographical language – dedicates this ballet to his art in general.
What his Nijinsky brings to the stage is the birth of a new aesthetic phenomenon, which is furiously embodied in every detail by Rosario Guerra. Goecke demands top performances from him – in terms of dance, physically and mentally – and Guerra realises them with somnambulistic certainty. Which goes for all the Gauthier Dance Company dancers.
But Goecke fascinates above all with his effortless and dreamlike transitions from biographical narration to symbolic consolidation.
Goecke’s Nijinsky choreography fathoms the different aspects of dance specifically and artistic creativity in general. In his fifteen years as a choreographer he has created numerous treasures for dance theatre: with Nijinsky he has created a masterpiece – great in every way.
Kulturblog Rainer Zerbst 20.6.2016

SOMETHING DARK IS DANCING TOO
Despite the high speed, this choreographer’s frenzy of gestures requires clear, razor-sharp edges. The 16-member Gauthier Dance Company proves itself up to the task. In its ninth season the company was recently celebrated like a pop star. And flowers were thrown onto the stage for Marco Goecke.
Sylvia Staude, Frankfurter Rundschau 20.6.2016

THE FASCINATION OF A DANCER’S LIFE
Everything that makes Marco Goecke’s language of dance so fascinating is present in this performance. The 16 member strong dance company dances the complex sequences of steps and movements brilliantly and the choreographer succeeds in developing with minimal means a fascinating portrait of the ingenious Russian dancer who was beset with tragedy.
Dietholf Zerweck, Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung 20.6.2016

CLOSE TO INSANITY
The sonic basis for Goecke is provided by Chopin’s two piano concerts with their fluent melodies and energetic dance passages, as well as the “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” by Debussy, and a Russian female choir. Despite the movements being somehow different compared to the character of the music, Goecke’s dance language is formed musically through and through.
The dancers of the Gauthier Dance Company, especially Rosario Guerra as Nijinsky and David Rodriguez as Diaghilev, dive deep into Goecke’s trembling and twitching body language. In a clearly defined stage area, a few characterising allusions are enough for stage- and costume designer Michaela Springer. Lengthy applause, an armful of long-stemmed white roses for Goecke and an intensive exchange of thoughts in the foyer end this extraordinary evening.
Katharina von Glasenapp, Schwäbische Zeitung 20.6.2016

BATTLE BETWEEN ART AND LIFE
Nijinsky was an exceptional talent – demanding a lot from Rosario Guerra in the title role. Marco Goecke presents him with the opportunity to shine – and even more opportunities to mentally tear himself apart.
Isabelle von Neumann-Cosel, Tanznetz 20.6.2016

FROM FAME TO MADNESS
Nijinsky, an eccentric brother in spirit, is the subject of Marco Goecke’s third narrative ballet, which catapults Gauthier Dance to the forefront of modern ballet.
Angela Reinhardt, Esslinger Zeitung 20.6.2016

GOD’S ENTERTAINER AND CONTEMPLATOR
Getting straight to the point: one has never seen the 16 member strong Gauthier Dance Company so present, so perfect. A triumph, which hardly shows the huge effort behind such an enterprise in a quite modestly equipped theatre. The accordingly loud cheers afterwards were well-deserved.
Wilhelm Triebold, Südwestpresse 20.6.2016

AN EXCITING DEPICTION OF A TRAGIC CAREER
The 90 minute long piece is tailor-made for Gauthier Dance Company. The audiences at the premiere at Theaterhaus Stuttgart as well as the second performance on Saturday celebrated this ‘Nijinsky’, which sparkles above all because of its technical perfection.
Leonore Welzin, Mannheimer Morgen 20.6.2016

ART AND DELUSION
Rapturous applause from the premiere audience for an indeed characteristic and highly emotional artist biography.
Bettina Weber, Die Deutsche Bühne

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