Swan Lake! As soon as you mention the title of this ultimate classical ballet, the images and associations will come by themselves: a lake in the moonlight, the Dance of the Little Swans, Prince Siegfried torn between Odette and Odile, the evil sorcerer Rothbart. There have been countless traditional renditions, modern interpretations and spoofs, on stage as well as on the big screen. So is there nothing more to tell about Swan Lake? Certainly not – at least if you come up with a new format for the story...
Eric Gauthier has asked four star choreographers to create their version of Swan Lake for the Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart. These works aren't meant to add up to a full-length piece but to Swan Lakes in the plural: a bill including four individual Swan Lake adaptations of about 20 minutes each, that are stylistically as varied as the choreographers themselves. Above all, a prime opportunity for both audiences and artists to draw on a well-known subject – and discover something completely new.

No other female choreographer is so firmly rooted in the avant-garde as Marie Chouinard. Following twelve trailblazing years as a solo performer and choreographer, she founded Compagnie Marie Chouinard in 1990. In more than 50 works to date, she has celebrated dance as a sacred, spiritual art, always searching for what she calls „the mystery“ – the invisible, primordial energy of live in our bodies. Masterpieces such as Les 24 Préludes de Chopin, the controversial Après-midi d’un Faune with its all-women cast or bODY_rEMIX / les_vARIATIONS_gOLDBERG, Act 1 feature in the repertoire of the world's most important dance companies. Soon it will be the turn of Gauthier Dance. The new creation will mark another step in an inspiring cooperation. At the first COLOURS festival 2015, Compagnie Marie Chouinard premiered Soft virtuosity, still humid, on the edge to great acclaim. Chouinard was charmed by the warmth of the festival team and the Stuttgart audience, and has stayed in touch with fellow Canadian Eric Gauthier ever since. Theaterhaus Stuttgart now looks forward to the first direct collaboration with Marie Chouinard!



The COLOURS festival also paved the way for the cooperation with Hofesh Shechter. His iconic Uprising, a bold balancing act between aggression and vulnerability for an all-male cast of seven, was part of Gauthier Dance’s successful triple bill MEGA ISRAEL, which opened the festival's second edition in 2017. Shechter is considered today's most exciting contemporary choreographer. In the space of a few years, the former Batsheva dancer, trained percussionist and composer has made a staggering career. His dark, visceral, vibrant universe is positively bursting with innovation and political relevance. Grand Finale, the latest full-length work in his canon, was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production, and was chosen as Production of the Year by tanz magazine. In 2018 Hofesh Shechter was awarded an honorary OBE for Services to Dance. The company's first dance film, Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns, was broadcast by the BBC in September to great acclaim.

The „third man“ Cayetano Soto is a Gauthier Dance regular. It is hard to say by whom he is loved more – by the dancers or the audiences at Theaterhaus. His flamboyant choreographies CONRAZONCORAZON and especially Malasangre are two of the greatest hits in the company's repertoire: extremely dynamic, set to hot Latin rhythms, the dancers dressed up in fantastic costumes designed by Soto himself. His trademarks are the unusual ideas and the eccentric, but highly sensitive view of the world. For the Spanish choreographer feels drawn towards the seekers – people and artists who do not fit into our concepts. His acclaimed works were inspired by personalities such as the Cuban soul legend La Lupe (Malasangre), Marilyn Monroe and Truman Capote (M/C) or the ultimate rebel, Carmen. „His“ Swan Lake, too, promises to be exciting – and is already in the making. For Soto has commissioned original music from the fearless young composer Peter Gregson (Recomposed by Peter Gregson: Bach – Cello Suites). It's a pretty safe guess to say that these swans will do anything but stay in line...

The quartet of choreographers is completed by Marco Goecke. He has the closest ties with the company and will be Artist-in-Residence of Gauthier Dance from January 2019. The familiarity has grown over the years and has found expression in increasingly personal creations for Gauthier Dance. The greatest success to date: NIJINSKI, premiered in summer 2016, was Goecke's tribute to the legendary dancer Waslaw Nijinski, showing his deeply troubled life in the limelight. The piece was a huge success and is considered a milestone, not only for Goecke himself but for Rosario Guerra in the title role and the whole company. With a story perfectly suited to Goecke's dark worlds and his frenzied, quivering aesthetics, Swan Lake has all it takes to once more fire the imagination of the famous choregrapher. The chances are good that his contribution to the new programme will again achieve the seemingly impossible: to discover beauty in the midst of deep despair.


a production of Theaterhaus Stuttgart

to the top