A young girl, homeless and lost yet confident and full of pride entrusts her life every evening to the man who throws knives at her. In light of the danger, emotions and thoughts are growing more and more abundant.
Since being published in 1997, author Wolf Wondratschek envisioned his poetry cycle The Girl and the Knife Thrower to be an integral part of a ballet production. Ivan Liška made this vision come to life by commissioning choreographer Simone Sandroni, who works in both the freelance dance scene and for renowned ballet ensembles - much like his contemporaries Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui or Russell Maliphant. The stage design by Lenka Flory is a run-down playground which is filled with bored teenagers who linger around to pass their time and constantly break into fights. Whenever there is nothing else left to do, dance bursts out of them and starts to alter the group dynamics: the heavy, disheartened feeling of loneliness and redundancy quickly transforms into action, attack and velocity in motion. Simone Sandroni created the choreography set to a musical arrangement by 48nord. His highly physical movement vocabulary is influenced by martial arts. It requires a high level of energy and focus from the dancers who must constantly remain alert, ready to move at the blink of an eye. In this environment, the story of the young girl who only feels truly alive when faced with the danger of knife throwing, unfolds. Emma Barrowman and Wlademir Faccioni will be dancing the leading roles.
British choreographer Russell Maliphant worked with some of Britain's most groundbreaking contemporary ensembles as a dancer - DV8 Physical Theatre, Michael Clark Company, Laurie Booth and others. In 2003, he started collaborating with world famous ballerina, Sylvie Guillem and created several works on her. As a result of this flourishing collaboration came the trio Broken Fall, which is being staged by two members of the Ballet Boyz on Ekaterina Petina, Marlon Dino and Erik Murzagaliyev. Maliphant' work is a blend of tradition and avant-garde which never fails to be innovative. Inspired by the Ballet Russes, he created the solo AfterLight to music by Erik Satie on dancer Daniel Proietto who will perform the piece at the Prinzregententheater.
The evening will open with a work by Kenneth MacMillan: Las Hermanas. In 1963, he translated Lorca’s Bernada Albas Haus into 25 minutes of condensed dance. Frank Martin's concert for cembalo and small orchestra seems to be a perfect fit for MacMillan’s interpretation of the storyline. The British choreographer expands on the expressivity and movement potential of classical ballet and reconfigures the story which ends in complete disaster, to a choreographic masterpiece of the 20th century.
The role of the mother will be played by Beatrice Cordua, a longtime soloist with John Neumeier's Hamburg Ballet, known for her expressive aptitude. She is also a company teacher with Johann Kresnik in Berlin and has been a freelance dancer and choreographer since 2004. The part of the older sister will be danced by Lucia Lacarra; her fiancé will be portrayed by Cyril Pierre. Roberta Fernandes, Monika Hejduková, Mia Rudic and Ilana Werner complete the sisterly quintet.
Sandroni / Maliphant / MacMillan
The Girl and the Knife Thrower / AfterLight / Broken Fall / Las Hermanas
Premiere
Mon 30/01/12, 7:30 p.m.
Performances also on
Tue 31/01/12, 7:30 p.m.
Wed 01/02/12, 7:30 p.m.
Th 02/02/12, 7:30 p.m.
For press tickets, photographic materials and further information, please do not hesitate to contact the press department of the Bavarian State Ballet.
