Abstract
At the start of the 2023/24 season, British choreographer Cathy Marston will become the new director of the Ballett Zürich. Walkways is the title of her first premiere, in which movement from one point to another isn’t just a central choreographic theme, but which also marks the beginning of a new chapter in the company’s history.
The creative connection between dance, science, and technology has become one of the British choreographer Wayne McGregor’s trademarks. Infra, created in 2008 for the Royal Ballet in London, takes us into the pulsing life in a big city, pulling our focus to the encounters that take place beneath a hectically vibrating, seemingly anonymous surface. In expressive solos, duets, and ensemble works, the dancers move through the piece accompanied by the music of Max Richter. In doing so, they stand in vivid contrast to animated figures striding across an LED wall that spans the stage.
Human relationships, conflicts, and emotional worlds are at the heart of Cathy Marston's creations. Her ballet Snowblind, which premiered in San Francisco in 2018, is based on the novel Ethan Frome by American author Edith Wharton. There, the wintry, hermetic world of an American village is the setting for a hopeless love triangle between simple farmer Ethan, his hypochondriac wife Zeena, and her young cousin Mattie. In her gripping choreography, Cathy Marston tells of love, self-sacrifice, despair, and addiction. In his ballet music, Philip Feeney combines his own compositions with works by Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, and Arvo Pärt.
For the first time since 2011, Ballett Zürich will dance a piece by Jerome Robbins. Robbins was associated with the New York City Ballet for decades, and beyond that, caused a sensation with his work on Broadway. Robbins was one of the first choreographers to draw inspiration from American minimalist composer Philip Glass. He created Glass Pieces in 1983, a ballet driven by the energy of urban life. Fusing athleticism and elegance, classical ballet and modern dance, the huge ensemble of dancers reveals a vibrant architecture of bodies and movements.
