The highlight of the evening is the premiere of German choreographer Marco Goecke‘s Blushing, the winner of the 2003 Prix Dom Pérignon, which was originally created for the Stuttgart Ballet. The Finnish National Ballet has also previously performed Goecke’s compelling choreography, Lonesome George.
In addition to Blushing, the evening features excerpts of the ballet La Bayadère, and select contemporary dance pieces.
Pas d’action from La Bayadère
La Bayadère is one of the cornerstones of classical ballet. Set in India, the ballet tells the story of the love between the warrior Solor and the temple dancer, which cannot be fulfilled.
The artistic director of the Finnish National Ballet, Javier Torres, has created a scene from the ballet for the Youth Company based on the original choreography by Marius Petipa. The scene features a pas d’action dance, in which Solor is engaged to Princess Gamzatti, who has been chosen as his bride.
Fragments of Time
“One of the things I love to do is to go back to my earliest memories of when I was a child. Every time these memories reappear, I try to understand why they come to my mind and especially why at that particular moment.
Our memories are often connected to the present. Is there always a reason for a memory to come back or is it sometimes a pure coincidence? Whether from the past or the present, these “moments” need each other in order to keep creating the future.
Fragments of Time is about memories and moments that haven’t yet become memories. How they coexist, and how the past and future can be integrated into a single moment. I also tried to highlight the preciousness of youth. That limitless energy, enthusiasm, and determination.
In this creation, we move from neoclassical style to a more contemporary aesthetic, from classical music to darker, futuristic sounds. I think it really represents the journey and the phases I’ve been lucky enough to go through as a dancer and as a person.“
Blushing
“Blushing”, explains Marco Goecke, “means ‘to go red’. My starting point was to investigate what is happening inside a person when he is going red. In my work I start from individual phenomena such as a word, a movement.” This is how the choreographer explains the piece that constitutes the beginning of his international career.
In 2003 Goecke created the piece for the Stuttgart Ballet. Before it was performed there, however, he won first prize for “Blushing” in the international choreography competition Prix Dom Pérignon in Hamburg. The jury – one of its members being the Russian ballet legend Natalia Makarova – decided on this unconventional piece after lengthy discussions.
Today Goecke’s language of movement is so established that the German dance critic Horst Koegler has spoken of a “Système Goeckien”. In 2003, however, it was very surprising that a jury, which up until then had not shown any particular preference for the avant-garde, voted for, of all things, “Blushing”.
The sound collage in “Blushing” switches between punk rock, street music and silence. Within this silence, however, the dancers can be heard breathing, tapping, stamping and sliding. In contrast to later choreographies, in “Blushing” there is no stage set. Goecke still values the clarity and simplicity of this creation. Precisely because this is a piece where there are no props or stage set at all, everything is concentrated on the artistic presence of the dancers.
Lonesome George by Finnish National Opera and Ballet, Marco Goecke
Walk the Demon by Marco Goecke
Unspoken thoughts, The circumstances by Julian Nicosia