Photo by Roman Novitzky. Enemy in the Figure, William Forsythe.
One of the largest ballet companies in the world, the Ballett am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg, arrives from Germany to Arriaga’s Theatre. The company, co-directed since the summer of 2024 by Raphaël Coumes-Marquet, ballet director, and Bridget Breiner, chief choreographer, presents a triple program in Bilbao titled Drei Meister – Drei Werke (Three Masters – Three Works), which, as the name suggests, features three pieces by renowned international choreographers.
DREI MEISTER – DREI WERKE / TRES MAESTROS – TRES OBRAS / THREE MASTERS – THREE WORKS
GEORGE BALANCHINE / HANS VAN MANEN / WILLIAM FORSYTHE
February 28, 2025, 19:30 h
March 1, 2025, 19:00 h
Teatro Arriaga, Bilbao
RUBIES
Choreography: George Balanchine
Music: Igor Stravinsky, Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra (1929)
1. Presto, 2. Andante rapsodico, 3. Allegro capriccioso ma tempo giusto
Set Design: Pepe Leal
Costumes: Karinska
Rehearsal and Staging: Nanette Glushak
For 15 dancers
Rubies, by George Balanchine, embodies the essence of this blood-red precious stone. The dancers energetically move across the stage to the rhythm of Stravinsky‘s Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra. Balanchine skilfully combines complex jumps and pointe work with jazz movements, reminiscent of those seen on Broadway stages. The kaleidoscopic scarlet images celebrate the energetic force of dance.
VISIONS FUGITIVES
Choreography: Hans van Manen
Music: Sergei Prokofiev
Visions Fugitives Op. 22 (1917), originally pieces for solo piano, arranged for string ensemble by Rudolf Barshai (1963)
Costumes and Set Design: Keso Dekker
Lighting: Joop Caboort
Rehearsal and Staging: Nancy Euverink
For 6 dancers
Visions Fugitives, created by Hans van Manen in 1990, is based on the eponymous music by Sergei Prokofiev. Full of harmony and dynamism, surprising and captivating, the movements and music merge into the ephemeral and attractive art of dance. A choreography that moves and inspires, makes no gender distinctions, and lets us forget the world around us for a moment.
ENEMY IN THE FIGURE
Choreography: William Forsythe
Music: Thom Willems
Costumes, Set Design, and Lighting: William Forsythe
Stage and Lighting Supervision: Tanja Rühl
Rehearsal and Staging: Thomas McManus, Ana Catalina Román
For 11 dancers
The evening culminates with the work of William Forsythe, Enemy in the Figure, which oscillates between frenetic and calm, dark and mysterious, to the pulsating rhythm of the music. Light, an integral part of the choreography as much as the dance movements themselves, makes the space explode or shrink, causes the dancers to emerge from the darkness, and develops an irresistible attraction. At the centre of this exploration of light and darkness is the individual. This work, with its urgency and radical aesthetics, has not lost any of its modernity.
Tour Management: Mondigromax – Cultivos de Cultura