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Before I launched TJD, I'd had the release schedule already planned out until May - my inner nerd loves making spreadsheets and lists way too much. It was clear from the beginning that there was no chance to squeeze the events of any single month into a single letter. So, I already knew back in December how many Goings-On newsletters I would be making per month until summer. Every week before sitting down to write, I would outline the structure of the letter, double-check everything in the city if something new had popped up or if I simply missed something great, and finally try to get a sense for the flavour of the programme as a whole. Thanks to this professional habit I kept forgetting that if my readers didn’t use all the recommendations for this month, they definitely wouldn’t start doing that for the next. These newsletters never had to be read like a programme or even something thematically coherent.
Despite that, I repeated the ritual this time around as well. Since Friday, I’ve been checking through all the sources and venues I know over and over again, because I simply couldn’t believe that eight (!) ballets, two exhibitions and a single opera was all I could recommend in the entire country of Germany. I still can’t believe this wasn’t some mistake on my part, but I was already past my deadline, so I needed to wrap this up immediately. As we used to say, ‘the better is an enemy of the good’. However, these eleven events are undoubtedly great, and I don’t dare to wish for more.
The third instalment of April’s Goings-On covers many of our usual suspects (that’s what I say to myself whenever I fear that I’m just repeating the same names every week), but also brings a few new artists to your attention. It highlights eleven events in six German cities - Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Dormurdt, Darmstadt and Potsdam. Some of them I’ve already seen, others are selling out quickly, attending some shows would require a literal miracle, and some will have other showings later this year.
Apr 28 & 30 / Ballet / Angels' Atlas / Overture by Crystal Pite and Marcos Morau / Staatsoper Unter den Linden
The website says this is a World Premiere. However, that's just a marketing move. I saw both of these ballets in Zurich last February, so you can imagine why I had to pay a visit to see Pite’s Angel’s Atlas. If you have never seen Crystal Pite, you will be amazed, taken away and deeply touched. I found myself in a different place, however, by the sixth performance I probably started to notice Pite repeating herself. Maybe I should stop for a while, otherwise I risk to miss out on the fun.
Based on commissioned music by Owen Belton and choral pieces by Peter I. Tchaikovsky and Morten Lauridsen, Angels’ Atlas is a profound work. It is arranged by Crystal Pite for a large ensemble with her usual mastery of classical and modern dance, yet she does not shy away from the challenge of making complex human issues visually and emotionally tangible.
P.S. If Macros Morau’s Overture comes as the first act, just take a deep breath and think about food. It always helps me get through some bad art.
Apr 1, 6 & 9 / Ballet / William Forsythe / Deutsche Oper
Nothing makes me happier than comments from subscribers who used my recommendations. I’ve kept mentioning Forsythe since February, that's probably the reason I got so much feedback on this performance in particular. Don’t you think it’s crazy that when people say ‘I’ve cried!’, you feel like you did a good job… Why do we need to make people cry to feel confident we’re doing our best? Damn, I just went somewhere completely different. None of this bears any relation to Forsythe, unless you now understand what to expect from the experience. This evening consists of three one act performances Approximate Sonata, 2016, One Flat Thing, reproduced, and Blake Works I. I have my bets on Blake Works I. That should be remarkable.
Apr 27 - March 26 / Opera / The Marriage of Figaro by Kirill Serebrennikov / Komische Oper Berlin
This one is an actual premiere. Moreover, it’s the second Mozart score staged by Serebrennikov under commission from Komische Oper. It says Don Giovanni is set to be next for 2025 - maybe they have to complete the Russian Troika? I don't know for sure, I’m just making stuff up at this point.
This is really not how Figaro and Susanna imagined the night before their wedding: not only is their new bedchamber right next to the rooms of their employer Count Almaviva, Susanna fears that he might even sneak in a claim to his droit du seigneur. But these are not the only intrigues in the House of Almaviva: old Bartolo seeks revenge against Figaro for thwarting his former plans to marry the Countess himself, and last but not least, the neglected Countess Rosina is concocting her own plans to bring her supposedly love-struck husband back in line.
Retrospective of Valie Export is still on at C|O Berlin until May 22nd.
Apr 12 & 14 / Ballet / Duato / Skeels / Eyal / Bayerisches Staatsballet
Some of you might have already breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that there would be no Sharon Eyal this time. Ha! Here she is. However, this one is an absolute hit - Autodance. If you have to see just one piece by Sharon Eyal, this should be the one. Speaking of other participants, Nacho Duato’s White Darkness looks good to me, and although Andrew Skeels’s Chasm (Arbeitstitel) is less impressive, it is an altogether beautiful combination.
Apr 15 & 16 / Ballet / TRIPTYCH by Peeping Tom / Bayerisches Staatsballett
Peeping Tom’s hit is still touring around the world. It’s very difficult to place this duet’s work in any specific box. They call it a ‘physical theater performance in three acts’, and I won’t dare to argue with them. Nevertheless, in my universe this is a dance rather than anything else.
Triptych is composed of three parts originally created for the Nederlands Dans Theater: The Missing Door, The Lost Room and The Hidden Floor. The performance shows the thoughts of a man whose life passes by like a film. Accordingly, the stage set is composed of three film sets in which the characters are confronted with different realities.
I would have readily called this a “must-see performance that you will never forget”, however you might want to get a general sense of what Peeping Tom are before rushing to their next show.
Apr 19 / Ballet / Le Parc by Angelin Prelijocaj / Bayerisches Staatsballet
Le Parc was created in 1994 for the Paris Opera Ballet and its choreography plays with elements from both classical and contemporary ballet, which demands extreme precision from the dancers. Although musical accompaniment is generally important for any ballet performance, here it’s absolutely crucial - Le Parc is set to various orchestral works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as well as the noise and soundscapes commissioned from Goran Vejvoda.
The main couple grows closer and closer over the three acts of the ballet and finally comes together in the last pas de deux, which has become known as the "flying kiss".
PERMANENT / CY TWOMBLY / MUSEUM BRANDHORST
Cy Twombly has played a major role in my life. I was sure that my knowledge of everything related to him was vast enough. However, I somehow missed that Museum Brandhorst not only holds a major collection of his works, but it is also on permanent display. An entire floor is dedicated to him, including the Roses Gallery and the Lepanto cycle, which has a whole room to itself.
The exhibition on the upper floor spans a comprehensive arc from Cy Twombly’s early works to his last pieces. Charged, abstract forms, painterly gestures, and approaches to writing are recurring motifs in Twombly’s oeuvre. The scrawling lines applied to mostly white, often dirty-looking backgrounds are reminiscent of New York graffiti as well as inscriptions and carvings on Roman ruins. These and other allusions to his adopted country Italy and the Mediterranean culture can be found as topoi in his works.
I would treat this as a spiritual destination that needs to be carefully planned for, so not a second of pleasure is spoiled.
Apr 12-29 / Ballet / Romeo & Juliet by David Dawson / Semperoper Dresden
I can probably skip the R&J synopsis, right? I’m sure you are well aware of the storyline. If you’ve been here a while, you might have figured out that a traditional approach to the classics doesn’t touch me much. But it seems like David Dawson presented something else in his fourth full-length ballet.
In Dawson’s vision, this is a world of jarring contrasts oscillating between order and chaos, between tenderness and strength–where the power of dance illuminates the tragedy and beauty of the story.
DORMURT
Apr 13 & 20 / Ballet / Metamorphosis / Affairs of the Heart by David Dawson / Theater Dormurdt
Lately I’ve been getting more interested in Dawson’s choreography. He is quite different and I appreciate that. It seems that not liking something can be just as fascinating as actual admiration. Metamorphosis is based on the Philip Glass’ solo piano composition of the same name. It was rehearsed entirely via Zoom with all 23 dancers, and premiered in April 2021 at the Dutch National Ballet.
“Metamorphosis is a vehicle of hope, it’s about continuing, about not giving up, about the proverbial path we take from winter to spring, about believing that there is light at the end of the tunnel.” (David Dawson)
In his other creation, Affairs of the Heart (UA 2022), Dawson has a trio and duo of soloists, as well as four couples demonstrate how noble and sublime the vision of love can be. What else would anyone ask from a ballet?
Apr 14 / Ballet / V/ertigo by Damien Jalet and Imre van Opstal / Darmstadt
V/ertigo is a double evening. Damien Jalet’s Skid exposes the dancers to the law of gravity and, in motion, to the spirit of poetry of resistance, while Imre & Marne van Opstal, the two new shooting stars of the dance scene, present I'm afraid to forget your smile, which explores the moment of letting go as a transitional state in the surrender to a loss.
Between the desire to rise and the fear of falling
Apr 27 - Aug 18 / Exhibition / Modigliani: Modern Gazes / Museum Barberini
This year we have two exhibitions touring across Europe and one of them is Modigliani: Modern Gazes (the second is Soutine’s retrospective, if you’re wondering). Potsdam is only half an hour away from Berlin, and Museum Barberini is 15 minutes away from the station. Berliners, don’t miss it. This is a perfect, zero-risk show.
While preparing this newsletter, I turned 35. I tried to write down some resolutions, but the text turned out as following:
Ha! I’m 35! Holy Moly!
I was waiting for the moment when I would stop appearing ‘too young’ for far too long. One important man from my past used to say: youth is an extremely temporary imperfection. I knew he was right, but I didn't know just how right he turned out to be. Between 34 and 35 l have discovered true happiness and ultimate fear, the joy of having a safe place and the benefits of vulnerability, spent over a hundred hours learning Hebrew, and a few hours less boxing, got rid of imposter syndrome and gained a new one, returned to rushing schedule, but haven’t figured out the logistics of it, landed on my feet, and finally linked femininity with ambition instead of juxtaposing them.
Next 5 years are gonna be busy - or not... I have no clue. The short term plan is to fix my knees, return to working out and running every day, catch the beach season, not give up on Hebrew, get a dog and make TAAD a successful case.
But before I do all of that I need a nap...
I also wish to finally witness peace, justice and the ultimate fall of anti-semitism with my own eyes.
Many hugs from my safest place - home.
Yours,
Miri