Du bist so schön

One evening, three choreographers: Radically meditative, expressively playful or as a futuristic dance installation – Liliana Barros, Aszure Barton and Sharon Eval have found their unique language of movement.

Liliana Barros is a multiple award-winning Portuguese choreographer and captivates the audience with her spirited, bizarre and technically sophisticated movement vocabulary. In her creations, which have a strong visual focus, Liliana Barros achieves an elegant combination of the body’s plasticity and technical elements of dance in a deconstructed form. Now, she has developed a world premiere for the Hanover State Ballet entitled ARCHIUM (Latin for “archive”). With this term as her point of departure, the choreographer looks at the human body as our species’ collective memory and a place where the entire human history manifests itself. In this choreography, the electronic sounds of a commissioned composition by the Vienna-based composer Martin Mitterstieler combine with an abstract, dystopian space on stage that directs our gaze from ancient times to an era following the human-dominated age.

Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton is one of the most sought-after of her time. By simultaneously respecting and dismantling classical and contemporary forms, she presents a dynamic, intricate, and layered movement vocabulary that expresses the vulnerability, power, and complexity of the human body. Her coveted choreography Busk, created in 2009 as a full-length work with her own company Aszure Barton & Artists, forms the centerpiece of the three-part ballet evening in an abridged version. The English verb "to busk" means to perform on the street or in other public areas in the form of music, song, juggling or magic to collect money from passersby; it also refers to the word's Spanish root, "buscar", which means "to seek." Based on this form of performance, the choreography traces the relationship between performers and audience, presenting the full range of movement of the dancers' bodies.

The prominent choreographer Sharon Eyal is known for her minimalist aesthetics, her repetitive and complex movement patterns and the rapid and unpredictable changes of direction in her pieces. In her choreographies, the dancers often move in a synchronised manner, creating a powerful dynamic between the group and the space. Sharon Eyal is considered to be a pioneer of contemporary dance and has received numerous awards. Her works can be found in the repertoires of major companies around the world. For the three-part ballet evening Du bist so schön (You are so beautiful), the Israeli choreographer decided to revise her piece Love, which was created more than 20 years ago. Accompanied by electro-acoustic sounds complemented by a composition for piano and singing by the American singer Lisa Germano, the choreography invites the audience to discover both the brutality and the fragility of human relationships.