Ballett Theater Basel 21/22

Director: Richard Wherlock The Ballett Theater Basel

The Ballett Theater Basel is a dynamic, polyvalent and multi- cultural ensemble in the International class, one of the leading contemporary dance groups in Europe. The members of the Company have thoroughly mastered the vocabulary of both classical ballet and contemporary dance, combining the highest standards of dance with virtuoso dynamism and inspired expressiveness. The ensemble has an outstanding command of both narrative and abstract ballet. There are plenty of contemporary Choreographers working with the Company – Jiri Kylian, Nacho Duato, Ohad Naharin, Alexander Ekman, Johan Inger, Ed Wubbe, Stijn Celis, Hofesh Shechter, Sharon Eyal – to name only a few of them, and of course the outstanding choreographic OEvre of the Director of the Ballett Theater Basel, Richard Wherlock. theater-basel.ch vimeo.com/richardwherlockballet

We Have Friends

The numerous members of the Basler Ballett Gilde share the passion for dance and support the Ballett Theater Basel: people whose heart beats faster whenever they encounter anything that has to do with dance! Have a look: baslerballettgilde.org

3 4 5 Our Productions 21/22

Cow Empty Thrones La Fille mal Gardée TERRitORy 20. August 2021 (new creation) (new creation) (new creation) Choreography by Alexander Ekman 16. September 2021 6. November 2021 26.02.2022 Music: Mikael Karlsson Choreography by Richard Wherlock Choreography by Choreography by Jeroen Verbruggen Muhammed Kaltuk 90 minutes, 25 dancers Music: Max Zachrisson Music: Louis Ferdinand Hérold, Music: Tobias Herzog 80 minutes, 12 dancers arrangement by John Lanchberry 30 minutes, 10 dancers Bliss → available for touring 90 minutes, 30 dancers 24. August 2021 → available for touring Choreography by Johan Inger Gloria Snow White Titan Music: Keith Jarrett 6./7./8. October 2021 16. December 2021 in Winterthur (new creation) 30 minutes, 14 dancers Choreography by Richard Wherlock Choreography by Richard Wherlock 26.02.2022 → available for touring and eight members of the Company: Music: Dmitri Schostakowitsch J. García Pérez, D. Maiques Marin, Choreography by Edouard Hue S. Pechtl, F. F. Pedersen, 105 minutes, 30 dancers A. Ramiandrisoa, J. Rodríguez Music: Jonathan Soucasse 5 Duos Cobos, R. Scott, A. Tortosa Vidal 30 minutes, 10 dancers 24. August 2021 Music: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Snow White / Choreographies by Bryan Arias, Antonio Vivaldi Schneewittchen → available for touring Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Alexander Ekman, Ed Wubbe, 90 minutes, 30 dancers (for young audience with workshop) Richard Wherlock → available for touring 22.11.2021 Salt Womb Music: F. Chopin, H. Purcell, 20.03.2022 E. Morente, E. Piaf, J. Haydn Choreography by Richard Wherlock Choreogrpahy by Sharon Eyal 30 minutes, 10 dancers Music: Dmitri Schostakowitsch and Gai Behar → available for touring 30 minutes, 11 dancers Music: Ori Lichtik 30 minutes workshop 30 minutes, 11 dancers → available for touring → available for touring

Our Productions 21/22 6 Our Productions 21/22 7 Our Touring Dates 21/22

Forest Fires Theater Winterthur Kurtheater Baden (new creation) 6./7./8. October 2021 6. April 2022 Premiere: 20.03.2022 Gloria Bliss by Richard Wherlock, J. García by Johan Inger Choreography by Marcos Morau Pérez, D. Maiques Marin, S. Pechtl, F. Pedersen, A. Ramiandrisoa, Salt Womb Music: Nick Cage J. Rodríguez Cobos, R. Scott, by Sharon Eyal A. Tortosa Vidal 40 minutes, 15 dancers → available for touring La Filature Théâtre Le Granit Mulhouse (F) Belfort (F) Heidi 29. January 2022 19. May 2022 (new creation) Ballets européens au XXIe siècle Heidi by Richard Wherlock 6. May 2022 Bliss Choreography by Richard Wherlock by Johan Inger Music: Tino Marthaler, Alain Pauli Theater Casino Zug 105 minutes, 30 dancers 23. March 2022 → available for touring Bliss by Johan Inger Salt Womb by Sharon Eyal

Our Productions 21/22 8 Our Touring Dates 21/22 9 10 11 12 13 Richard Wherlock – The Gentle Innovator of Ballet in Basel

Richard Wherlock has rewritten the history of Ballet- Company in Basel. Over 20 years of unrelenting hard work, the ambitious and highly productive head of ballet has assembled a company of the greatest technical skill, which is up there with the best in the world in both neoclassical dance and contemporary dance techniques and is frequently compared with famous international companies. For years, Wherlock has pursued the concept of a blend of small-scale, contemporary pieces, which are abstract in the broadest sense and play with associative images, and modern, full-length narrative ballets which tell stories, paint characters or interpret literary works in dance. Richard Wherlock could be described as a gentle innovator: building on the legacy of the Classic and modern vocabulary, he choreographs contemporary dance that is brimming with energy and brings it to the stage in traditional story-telling form, as full-length narrative ballets. His choreographies are a mix of effervescent, athletic tension and playful virtuosity. Today, the company comprises around 30 male and female dancers and is hugely popular with audiences in Basel. Particularly successful are his adaptations of the great classics, such as A Swan Lake, Traviata-Ein Ballett, Carmen, Giselle, Eugen Onegin, his enchanting fairy tale ballet Snow White or his outstanding Tewje and other full-length narrative ballets, which Wherlock has reinterpreted in his own, incomparable way.

14 15 Biography produced by the Swiss broadcasting company DRS, RM Associates and 3SAT. His most recent film success ‹One bullet left› – also produced by Swiss broadcasting company DRS – was awarded the Golden Rose of Montreux in 2003. In 1999 he was nominated for the international dance award ‹Benois de la Danse›. In 2003 he created the choreography Born in Bristol (GB). After studying at London’s prestigious for the musical ‹West Side Story›, which was performed on the Ballet Rambert School, he joined their company as a dancer. Seebühne in Bregenz. Wherlock was Ballet Director at Hagen Theatre in Germany He was co-founder of SiWiC, a Swiss international advanced from 1991 to 1996, then spending three seasons as director training course in choreography from 1997 to 2011, of the Lucerne Ballet before moving to Komische Oper and Richard Wherlock‘s choreographies are regularly danced Berlin as artistic director and choreographer of BerlinBallett. by participants in the prestigious Prix de Lausanne. In 2021 He has been director and head choreographer of Ballett he was President of the Jury of the Prix de Lausanne. Basel since the 2001/2002 season, and artistic director of He is also vice-president of the theater Granit in Belfort. the renowned festival ‹basel tanzt› from 2004 to 2009. Wherlock’s particular interest lies in supporting talented He worked as choreographer with, among others, the following up-and-coming dancers and choreographers. He serves on companies: New English Contemporary Ballet, Tanzforum Köln, the juries of numerous international dance and choreographic Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Finnish Dance Theatre Helsinki, competitions. The city of Basel has dedicated a plaque to Ballett Staatstheater Braunschweig, Romanian National Ballet, Wherlock on the Spalenberg ‹walk of fame›, where he appears The Icelandic Ballet, Ballet National de Nancy et de Lorraine, alongside other Basel personalities such as Roger Federer, Ballet National de Marseille, Ballet de l’Opéra de Nice, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. aalto ballett theater essen, Europa Danse (UNESCO), Ballett der Deutschen Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf, Singapore Dance Theatre, Ballett der Vereinigten Bühnen Graz, «Our art is … holding on and letting go, precision and dis- Introdans in Arnheim / Holland, Ballett des Badischen Staats- organization. Dizzyingly fast, achingly slow, and everything in theaters Karlsruhe, Phoenix Dance Theatre Leeds and between. Back, up, forth and down. Immeasurable. … Ballet Contemporaneo del Teatro San Martín / Argentina. I just love it.» Richard Wherlock Wherlock also created a full-length ballet for Les Étoiles de l’Opéra National de Paris. At the International Music Festival in Lucerne he developed choreographies for operas by Monteverdi and Debussy. His film and TV work includes the choreography for Claude Lelouch’s cinema production «Hasards ou Coïncidences», presented in 1998 at the Venice Biennale and at the Montréal and Chicago festivals. In 2000, Wherlock received the Prix Italia for the award-winning dance film ‹Passengers›,

Richard Wherlock 16 Biography 17 Repertoire of Richard Wherlock

2002 2006 2013 2021 Le sacre du printemps / Verdi Code Snow White Empty Thrones Sidewinding 2008 2014 2022 2003 A Swan Lake Juditha Triumphans Heidi Rebus 2009 2015 2003 Casanova … was bleibt Tewje Prelude à l’après-midi d’un faune 2010 2016

2004 Carmen Robin Hood

Der Tod und das 2011 2018 Mädchen Le spectre de la Rose / Tod in Venedig 2004 La Valse 2018 Nussknacker 2012 Don’t Tell the Kids 2006 Stoned 2019 James oder la Sylphide 2013 The Comedy of Error(Z) 2006 Eugen Onegin 2020 Danses Galantes Gloria

Repertoire 18 Repertoire 19 20 21 Guestchoreo­graphers of the Ballett Theater Basel

Bryan Arias Jorma Elo Blanca Li

Rami Beer Alexander Ekman Hans van Manen

Mauro Bigonzetti Sharon Eyal Marcos Morau

Christopher Bruce William Forsythe Ohad Naharin

Claude Brumachon Johan Inger Thomas Noone

Joelle Bouvier Itzik Galili Angelin Preljocaj

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Edouard Hue Jiří Pokorný

Stijn Celis Cathy Marston Hofesh Shechter

Patrick Delcroix Muhammed Kaltuk

Nacho Duato Jirí Kylián

Guestchoreo­graphers 22 Guestchoreo­graphers 23 24 25 Ensemble Lydia Caruso Mikaela Kelly Italy USA / Estonia Training: Rosella Hightower, Cannes Training: The Juilliard School, New York Previous companies: Compania de Danza La Mov, Ballet du Grand Previous company: Nederlands Théatre de Genève, Rudra Béjart Dans Theater 2 Giacomo Altovino Eva Blunno Lausanne Italy Italy Aleix Labara Cerver Dayne Florence Training: Hamburg Ballet School Training: Codarts Dance Academy, Spain (Germany), Dietro le quinte (Italy) Rotterdam Australia Training: Real Conservatorio Previous companies: NRW Junior- Previous companies: Training: Mcdonald College of Profesional de Danza Mariemma, ballett Dortmund, Ballett Dortmund Scapino Ballett Rotterdam Performing Art, Ballettschule Madrid Theater Basel Previous company: Rubén Bañol Herrera Elias Boersma Previous companies: Ballet du Rhin IT Dansa, Barcelona Mulhouse, Juniorballett Dortmund, Colombia Netherlands Ballett Nürnberg Training: Incolballet (Colombia), Training: Royal Ballet Conservatory, Debora Maiques Marin Real Consérvatorio Profesional de The Hague Danza de Madrid Lisa Horten-Skilbrei Spain Previous companies: Previous companies: Compañía Scapino Ballet Rotterdam Norway Training: Elise Lummis-School colombiana de ballet, Europadanse, Training: Oslo National Academy Previous companies: Compañía Nacional de Danza 2, of The Arts (KHiO), Hubbard Street Compañía Nacional de Danza Ballet de la Generalitat Valenciana, Mirko Campigotto Dance Chicago, Scholarships España 2, Ballet Carmen Roche, Elephant in the Black Box at Batsheva Dance Company and Centro Coreografico de Valencia Italy Nederlands Dans Theater Diego Benito Gutierrez Training: Achillea in Rivarolo C.se., Thomas Martino Kaos Balletto di Firenze, Kelly Keesing Spain Codarts Rotterdam Italy Australia / Ireland Training: Real Conservatorio Pro- Previous companies: Kaos Balletto Training: La Chance Ballet fesional de Danza de Madrid di Firenze, Introdans, Saaländisches Training: Palucca Hochschule Academy, Rome Staastheater Saarbrucken für Tanz, Dresden Previous companies: Ballett du Previous companies: Grand Theatre de Geneve, Nafas Previous company: Ballet National Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, Dance Company, Introdans de Marseille, Konzert Theater Bern Munich

Ensemble 26 Ensemble 27 Gaia Mentoglio Stefanie Pechtl Tana Rosás Suñé Giuliana Sollami Italy Austria Spain Italy Training: Art Garage Napoli, Training: Ballettschule der Wiener Training: Training: Codarts, Rotterdam Palucca Hochschule fur Tanz Staatsoper, Dance Academy Instituto del Teatro Barcelona, Dresden Monte Carlo Koninklijk Conservatorium, Previous company: Apprentice at Den Haag Tanz Luzerner Theater Previous companies: Wiener Staats- Kazuki Mitsuhashi ballett, Györi Ballett Hungary, Previous company: Landestheater Linz, Staatstheater IT Dansa Barcelona Andrea Tortosa Vidal Japan Nurnberg Spain Scholarship holder Marina Sanchez Garrigós Frank Fannar Pedersen Training: Training: Spain Estudio de danza Maria de Avilar; Ballettschule Theater Basel Iceland Nederlands Danse Theater II Training: Institut del Teatre Training: Iceland Ballett School (Barcelona), Central School of Previous company: Reykjavik, Ballettschule der Ballet (London) Ballett Basel, Aterballetto Matias Moura Finni­schen Nationaloper (Helsinki) Portugal Previous companies: Previous companies: New English Contemporary Ballet, Max Zachrisson Training: Codarts, Rotterdam Iceland Dance Company, IT Dansa Nurnberg Ballett Barce­lona, Ballett des Staats­ Sweden Previous company: Apprentice at theaters Wiesbaden Scapino Ballet, Rotterdam Celia Sandoya Training: Royal Swedish Ballet School Anthony Ramiandrisoa Spain Previous company: Francisco Patricio France Training: Ballett Dortmund, Schleswig- John Cranko Ballettschule, Holsteinisches Landestheater, Portugal Training: Conservatoire de Lyon Stuttgart Nurnberg Ballett Training: Ballettschule Theater Previous company: Previous companies: Basel, Dance Academy Marseille Junior Ballet Lyon IT Dansa, Barcelona Previous companies: Ballet National Marseille Junior Company Javier Rodriguez Cobos Rachelle Scott Spain USA / France Training: Real Conservatorio Training: Nacional de Danza de Madrid Juilliard School New York Previous companies: Europa Danse, Previous companies: Ballet des jeunes d’Europe, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet Compañía National de Danza 2, New York, Ballett Nurnberg Ballet de l’Opéra National du Rhin, Introdans

Ensemble 28 Ensemble 29 Giacomo Altovino Rubén Bañol Herrera Elias Boersma Mirko Campigotto

Diego Benito Gutierrez Eva Blunno 30 Lydia Caruso Dayne Florence 31 Lisa Horten-Skilbrei Kelly Keesing Debora Maiques Marin Thomas Martino

Mikaela Kelly Aleix Labara Cerver 32 Gaia Mentoglio Kazuki Mitsuhashi 33 Matias Moura Francisco Patricio Anthony Ramiandrisoa Javier Rodriguez Cobos

Stefanie Pechtl Frank Fannar Pedersen 34 Tana Rosás Suñé Marina Sanchez Garrigós 35 Celia Sandoya Andrea Tortosa Vidal Max Zachrisson

Giuliana Sollami Rachelle Scott 36 37 Team

Cristiana Sciabordi Florent Mollet Italy France Ballet Mistress, rehearsal director Administration, Project and Production Management Manuel Renard Francesca Genovese France Switzerland / Italy Ballet Master, rehearsal director Educational outreach Tommaso Pennacchio Bettina Fischer Italy Cristiana Sciabordi Tommaso Pennacchio Switzerland / Germany Physiotherapist Dramaturg Anne-Catherine Thomas France Deputy Ballet Director, Head of Administration, project and production management.

Team 38 Manuel Renard Anne-Catherine Thomas 39 Florent Mollet Bettina Fischer

Francesca Genovese 40 41 Ballett Theater Basel On Tour

ISRAEL ITALY Opera Tel Aviv Teatro Comunale, Modena

KOREA SPAIN National Theatre of Korea Teatro Arriaga, Bilbao Gwacheon Citizens’ Hall Teatro Albeniz, Madrid Suwon Ballett Festival Baluarte Palacio de Congresos, Pamplona CHINA Teatro Principal Antzokia, Tian Qiao Theater Beijing Vitoria Grand Theater Tianjin Teatro Breton de Los Kaiming Theater Suzhou Herreros, Logroño Majestic Theater Shanghai HUNGARY GERMANY Erkel Theater, Budapest Graf Zeppelin Haus Thalia Theater, Budapest Friedrichshafen Spring Festival Stadthalle Gütersloh Theater im Pfalzbau SWITZERLAND Ludwigshafen Bâtiment des forces Stadthalle Recklinghausen motrices, Genf Lugano Arte et Cultura LAC FRANCE Theater Winterthur Gare du Midi, Biarritz Kurtheater Baden Maison de la danse, Lyon Theater Casino Zug La Coupole, Saint-Louis Stadttheater Bern Théâtre Le Granit, Belfort Kronenmattsaal Binningen

42 43 44 45 Contact

Anne-Catherine Thomas Ballett Theater Basel Theater Basel, Postfach, 4010 Basel [email protected] www.theater-basel.ch

Tour manager: Stephane Hivert [email protected]

Ballett Theater Basel and Richard Wherlock on VIMEO: vimeo.com/richardwherlockballet Impressum Herausgeber Inside the Ballet Theater Basel: Theater Basel Postfach interviewenlair.com/category/inside-ballet-theater-basel CH-4010 Basel Spielzeit 21/22 Intendant: Benedikt von Peter Textnachweise: Texte von Bettina Fischer Photos: Von Lucia Hunziker auf den Seiten 2, 9, 10, 11, 22, 23, 39, 40, 42, 43 Von Ingo Hoehn auf auf den Seiten 18, 19 Von Christian Knörr auf den Seiten 12, 28 – 38 Graphik: Claudiabasel Druck: Gremper AG Gedruckt in der Schweiz. Diese Drucksache ist nachhaltig und klimaneutral produziert nach den Richtlinien von FSC und Climate-Partner.

46 © 2021 Theater Basel THEATER-BASEL.CH