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09/01/2008 Reviews and Photos Reviews and more photos from in schnee online. 08/18/2008 Lucerne Festival There will be three world premieres in one month at the Lucerne Festival and more: in schnee It started on August 15 and 16 with the dance music piece in schnee, the six cello suites by J. S. Bach. Everybody knows them, but rarely have they been heard together in one evening, lest so in combination with dance. This is to be changed. in schnee is a sensitive experience for ears and eyes and very emotional; this I can promise. But how could it be different with this music. The evening is based on Thomas Mann's book Der Zauberberg. We borrowed the protagonist, Mr. Castorp, who - on a trip away from the mountain hotel - gets into a snowstorm, where he experiences visions or hallucinations. This occurrence allows him to get in touch with his self and guides him back into the world, the war and finally his death. The five dancers and four musicians have accomplished something remarkable and together with the dramaturge Inga Schonlau we have created a clearly structured flow of scenes. We are looking forward to welcoming you to one of the many places we will perform "in schnee". Next is La Monnaie in Brussels on September 19 and 20, then we'll get back to pvc with first performances in Freiburg on October 5 and in Heidelberg on October 10. Don't miss it! electric boy Before the next premiere there's the rare opportunity to watch electric boy on August 17 at 4 pm and August 18 at 7 pm at the Stattkino in Lucerne. "electric boy" is an early filmic work for 3 dancers. It is shown together with Pina Bausch's sacre du printemps. ma sacre On September 1 follows ma sacre, a project with teenagers from the Kantonalschule in Lucerne. The open air world premiere at the Wagenbachbrunnen is done in co-operation with this school; 38 pupils will take part. The main topic is the "victim". Franz Hause (responsible for the musical part) and I created a 30 minutes body/music play following Stravinsky's sacre du printemps. It will take place directly at/in the famous Wagenbach well in front of the KKL Lucerne. speed, neither/nor On September 6 we'll have another performance of speed, neither/nor. It looks like this work won't let Graham Smith and me come to rest. So this time I won't say: last performance in Theater Lucerne, as it's on the contrary the beginning of a new series of performances. I'll keep you informed. entführung aus dem serail Last but not least entführung aus dem serail by W. A. Mozart. The world premiere of the new version takes place on September 14, followed by another performance on the 15th. The project will also be shown on October 3 and 4 at the Festspielhaus St. Pölten, my new place of activity from September 2009 on. I'm neither interested in oriental harem magic, nor in puppets, I'm rather focusing on the extreme psychical situation: How do the victims experience the abduction? What happens to them during captivity? Is there any chance for a "normal" life afterwards? The German philologist Jan Philipp Reemtsma was abducted in spring 1996. He has dealt with the five weeks of imprisonment in his book Im Keller. "An abduction, a time outside of all other social contacts but for the asocial contact with the abductors, is a time of forced intimacy. Social manners are developed - however they may be constituted. You get to know one another, barely, but still a bit. All this within an extreme shift of power: absolute power there, absolute helplessness here", writes Reemtsma. "You never lose this thought: a human being decides on my life. In a double sense: He can kill me any time and he alone decides on my living conditions." From this perspective of the victim I'm trying to access the story, which Mozart tells in his Opera. The production undertakes an experiment: Supervised by Bassa Selims several persons are subjected to different constellations of an abduction. The complete "helplessness", which was experienced by Reemtsma, the "feeling to be alive but to not exist", will by symbolized by the splitting of all characters into dancer and singer, into "body" and "self". 08/12/2008 Photos Photos from in schnee and entführung aus dem serail are now available. 06/12/2008 Breaking News! I am happy to announce that I am the designated director of the Festspielhauses St. Pölten in Austria since June 9. The season 09/10 will be my first, the preparations start now. We have big plans and I'll be happy, if you are all going to be future guests. tango la queen has finally premiered and was very successful. You can read more about it on the project page. It will be renewed next season starting on October 22.