Forsythe / Hauert, Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company

In the organizer's words:

Undertainment
A new creation by William Forsythe

This work closes a circle. William Forsythe is rightly regarded as one of the most important choreographers of the late 20th century. His innovative approach to the tradition of ballet has opened up directions for dance that otherwise seemed difficult to imagine. From 1984 to 2004, Forsythe directed the Ballett Frankfurt and from 2005 to 2015 The Forsythe Company. This was later renamed the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company. Forsythe is now returning to the site of his many years of work and developing a new work for the company for the first time.

Starting from an improvisational construction kit, he creates a structural order which, instead of standing for something else, offers an aesthetic pleasure in itself. Like in a kaleidoscope, patterns emerge that are always unpredictable and surprising within a clear framework. The dancers explore the movement system that they themselves form to its limits. The audience is invited to follow this exploration and experience the work as a living, breathing system.

Playing with Sergei, Martha and the Others
New creation by Thomas Hauert

Sergei Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto is considered a particular challenge for pianists. Beyond the technical virtuosity, which is certainly part of its appeal, the music is characterized by an extraordinary emotional complexity. In his work for the DFDC, Thomas Hauert brings the concerto to the stage in the 1982 recording with Martha Argerich. The ensemble immerses itself in the music and enters into a playful dialog with it. The dancers interpret the music from their subjective perception with their bodies and interact with the rhythm, the dynamics and the emotional contrasts. At the same time, they react to each other in a complex network.

From his work with his own company ZOO, Hauert has developed principles and rules for improvisation over 25 years, which rely less on control and more on the collective intelligence of everyone involved. This way of working is in an interesting tension with Rachmaninoff. While Rachmaninoff, as an exemplary creative figure who to a certain extent floats above things, imposes strict rules on the musicians, including the soloist, in an authoritarian manner, Hauert's practice distances itself from such an exaggerated concept of genius in favor of a radically collaborative creative process. The dance does not understand the music as a command, but uses it as a stimulus, as a playground, indeed as a counterpart to a constantly new, surprising dialog.