This double performance – of Emergence by Crystal Pite and Speak for Yourself by Sol León/Paul Lightfoot – features two exceptionally thrilling choreographies. Ballett Zürich will be dancing a piece by Crystal Pite for the first time. Born in 1970, the native Canadian is one of today’s most sought-after choreographers. She danced with Ballet British Columbia as well as William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt. In Vancouver, Canada, she later established her own company, “Kidd Pivot,” which is now a guest at all the renowned dance festivals. Crystal Pite’s choreographies are characterised by both strength and softness, flowing and staccato movements, the gentle interaction of the dancers as well as abrupt collisions. Emergence was created in 2009 for the National Ballet of Canada, and combines the hierarchical world of classical ballet with the scurrying energy of a swarm of bees. In Emergence, the stage is transformed into a mysterious, subterranean beehive in which the dancers appear as bizarre, insect-like creatures, moving to the hypnotic electronic strains of Owen Belton.

Sol León and Paul Lightfoot were both dancers at the long-established Nederlands Dans Theater, on which they have also had a lasting influence as choreographers for many years. Paul Lightfoot has been Artistic Director of the renowned Dutch company since 2011. The choreographer duo has already caused a sensation for Ballett Zürich with two pieces – the highly explosive Skew-Whiff and the mysterious Sleight of Hand. No less spectacular is the choreography Speak for Yourself, created in 1999, at the beginning of which smoke rises from a dancer’s back. To music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Steve Reich, a “chemical” dance experiment unfolds during which there is a magical encounter between fire, water and dance.