Gauthier Dance presents exciting ‘Infinity’

Germany's Gauthier Dance in Future 6In its eighth season as the dance company of Theaterhaus Stuttgart in Germany, Eric Gauthier’s Gauthier Dance will present its first mixed bill this spring, appropriately featuring eight pieces, four of which are world premières.

 

The program’s title, Infinity, also eludes to the eight – inspired by the horizontal eight, the symbol of infinity. Just like Gauthier’s new festival COLOURS is meant to represent the manifold shades of contemporary dance, Infinity stands for the countless variations of dance, itself taking the audience to the depths of the dance universe. Similar to previous program Future 6, the lineup once again boasts some famous names from all generations of choreographers. As a result, the works vary strongly, in terms of style as well as in terms of their casts.

 

Johan Inger from Sweden ranks among today’s top choreographers, with acclaimed works for the Nederlands Dans Theater and the Cullberg Ballet. At the beginning of his career, you could still sense the influence of Jiří Kylián in his quiet, intense choreographies. By now, he has definitely found his own voice. His haunting new pas de deux Now and now, created for Gauthier Dance First Artists Anna Süheyla Harms and Florian Lochner, relentlessly explores the various stages of love.

 

In her mid-thirties, choreographer Nanine Linning from the Netherlands has achieved as much as some do only toward the end of their careers. The Dance Director of Heidelberg and choreographic shooting star of the German dance scene and beyond, Linning is to contribute a powerful world première to Infinity, with strong images and mythological references. Set to the metaphysical music of Arvo Pärt’s 4th Symphony, she draws her inspiration from Hesiod’s Theogony and the arguably darkest picture of Goya’s legendary Black Paintings series: Saturn Devouring his Son.

 

With his raw, physical approach, Cayetano Soto never fails to grip his audiences and to draw them into his very own universe. Following his celebrated La Lupe tribute Malasangre for the program Future 6, the Spanish choreographer is currently creating his second tailor-made piece for the company: CONRAZONCORAZON.

 

Alejandro Cerrudo’s laid-back Lickety-Split from the mixed bill Lucky Seven took the Gauthier Dance audience by storm. Now the Resident Choreographer of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is back, with a piece which is easily just as hip. PACOPEPEPLUTO consists of three solos set to songs by the “King of Cool” Dean Martin, and is a perfect fit for the company’s fabulous male dancers. Cerrudo gets right to the heart of the choreographic matter: sexy, ironic and with a seemingly nude cast.

 

The 2014 edition of the International Competition for Choreographers organized by the Ballet Society Hannover saw the première of the new Gauthier Dance Production Prize. Together with the audience award, it went to Po-Cheng Tsai from Taiwan, who is now going to show his winning piece in Stuttgart. Floating Flowers is sheer Asian poetry – exquisite, sensitive, with flowing movements and as full of surprises as the journey of life itself.

 

Ball Passing creator Charles Moulton will spend a lot of time in Stuttgart this year. Prior to devising a special COLOURS version of his iconic piece for amateurs, he is rehearsing with Gauthier Dance. In collaboration with the choreographer Janice Garrett, he is going to adapt a piece from his latest program The Luminous Edge especially for the company. Infinite Sixes will bear all the trademarks of Moulton’s distinctive touch: light-footed, seemingly relaxed, American style – and a major coordination challenge for the 15 dancers.

 

Choreographer Alexander Ekman often causes a stir. When he flooded the stage of the Norwegian National Ballet for his Swan Lake production, he had finally conquered the international dance scene. Working with the major players all over the world, the Swede has come pretty close to his self-declared goal: to provoke, grip – and amaze his audience. The charming pas de deux Two Become Three is a prime example. The surprise is guaranteed at the conclusion of this humorous, true-to-life story of a young couple.

 

Hans van Manen is the great innovator of truly contemporary ballet. Following The Old Man and Me, which featured a superb Eric Gauthier as the torn lover, Black Cake is the second van Manen classic to make its way to Theaterhaus Stuttgart: a formal high-society party that is getting hilariously out of control in proportion to the guests’ mounting consumption of champagne.

 

For more information on Gauthier Dance or Infinity, visit www.theaterhaus.de/theaterhaus. Infinity will open Thursday, April 30 and run through Saturday, May 9. 

 

Photo: Gauthier Dance in the program Future 6. Photo by Regina Brocke.