April 2024 brings both home and away games for the dancers of Theaterhaus Stuttgart. After a trip to Wolfsburg at the beginning of the month, the main company will embark on a major tour of Eric Gauthier’s native Canada from April 18 to May 4, 2024, with stops in Toronto, Québec, Montréal and Sherbrooke.

It will present Ohad Naharin’s Kamuyot as well as a mixed programme put together especially for the tour, including the Swan Lakes piece LE CHANT DU CYGNE: LE LAC by Canada’s iconic choreographer Marie Chouinard.
Meanwhile, the Gauthier Dance JUNIORS are holding the fort in Stuttgart – with an appearance at the Ballet Reunion Gala for former star dancers of The Stuttgart Ballet on April 25, 2024 as well as with the second performance series of the bill RENAISSANCE. The sensational success of the premiere on January 18, 2024 still resonates. The brand new trailer vividly demonstrates why. Accordingly, all dates in April are already sold out. Those interested can currently still try their luck at the shows from June 6 to 9, 2024 – although the number of tickets available is dwindling …

Gauthier Dance//Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Artistic Director: Eric Gauthier
Company Coach: Egon Madsen
Ballet masters: Cesar Locsin, Luis Eduardo Sayago
Company Manager: Inga Kunz
Artistic management: Daria Mosunova, Susanne Wildermuth
Technical production management: Holger Reuker
Artistic coordination set and costumes: Gudrun Schretzmeier
Dancers: Bruna Andrade, Andrew Cummings, Anneleen Dedroog, Karlijn Dedroog, Barbara Melo Freire, Luca Pannacci, Garazi Perez Oloriz, Arnau Redorta Ortiz, Shai Ottolenghi, Rina Pinsky, Izabela Szylinska, Sidney Elizabeth Turtschi, Locke Egidio Venturato, Giovanni Visone, Shawn Wu, Shori Yamamoto
Tour management: ecotopia dance productions, www.ecotopiadance.com

Gauthier Dance JUNIORS//Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Artistic Director: Eric Gauthier
Ballet Master: Tara Yipp
Rebecca Amoroso, Rong Chang, Stefano Gallelli), Ayda Frances Güneri, Joan Jansana Escobedo, Mathilde Roberge

Gauthier Dance JUNIORS//Theaterhaus Stuttgart
RENAISSANCE
Uraufführungen von Rena Butler und Barak Marshall
Choreographien von Sharon Eyal, Andonis Foniadakis und Marco Goecke
Kurzfilm-Premiere von Eric Gauthier
Eine Produktion von Theaterhaus Stuttgart

Fancy travelling back in time? Just book a ticket for RENAISSANCE. After all, the first own stage programme of the Gauthier Dance JUNIORS is a rebirth of sorts. The production conveys much of the spirit of optimism that prevailed at Theaterhaus Stuttgart in the 2007/2008 season when Eric Gauthier opened the first chapter of an astonishing success story – with a company of six dancers and the bill Six Pack.
Now a new story has begun. From the moment rehearsals started, the enthusiasm and motivation of the six young dancers were palpable – as well as their formidable talent. For RENAISSANCE, the JUNIORS did indeed need it! The varied and challenging sextet of pieces not only includes world premieres by Rena Butler and Barak Marshall, masterpieces by Sharon Eyal, Andonis Foniadakis and Marco Goecke as well as a new short film by Eric Gauthier. The illustrious international line-up of the choreographers involved also makes clear that there is no compromise on artistic excellence. RENAISSANCE thus gave the JUNIORS an extremely valuable opportunity: to grow in the face of a great challenge.

Ballet Reunion. Gala

This gala will be a family get-together: Former soloists of The Stuttgart Ballet return to their old artistic home. Their present to the Stuttgart audience and themselves will be a danced reunion. The names alone will make the hearts of local ballet fans beat faster: Rachele Buriassi, Elisa Carrillo Cabrera, Maria Eichwald, Hyo-Jung Kang, Mikhail Kaniskin and Marijn Rademaker. They will appear in choreographies by William Forsythe, Uwe Scholz, Martin Schläpfer and Marijn Rademaker, among others. The Gauthier Dance JUNIORS will also perform on the part of the host Theaterhaus Stuttgart. With Marco Goecke’s masterful pas de deux Midnight Raga and Barak Marshall’s touching group piece At the River Styx from RENAISSANCE, they are going to show that the next generation of dancers holds just as much promise …

Theaterhaus, T1
Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.

Gauthier Dance on the road
Tour management: ecotopia dance productions, www.ecotopiadance.com

15 YEARS ALIVE
In the 2022/23 season, the Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart had a wonderful reason to celebrate: Gauthier Dance turned 15! The title of the anniversary programme says it a little differently: 15 YEARS ALIVE, thus making us aware that its survival and the artistic success of the past 15 years could never be taken for granted. The production takes the audience on a trip down memory lane – with revivals of scenic milestones  including Mauro Bigonzetti’s Pression, Alejandro Cerrudo’s PACOPEPEPLUTO, Itzik Galili’s The Sofa, Eric Gauthier’s ABC and Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16. But there are also plenty of new discoveries to be made, notably the short films by artist in residence Hofesh Shechter and Marco Goecke.
Friday, April 5, 2024 at 7:30 p.m., Scharoun Theater Wolfsburg

Especially for the international spring tour, Eric Gauthier has come up with a trio of group pieces that add up to a perfect artistic showcase for the Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart. The first part combines two contrasting choreographies from the Swan Lakes programme: Marie Chouinard’s LE CHANT DU CYGNE: LE LAC turns the company’s women dancers from oppressed swans into outspoken rebels with an in-your-face feminist message. Hofesh Shechter’s decidedly cool SWAN CAKE, on the other hand, seems like a danced study in swarm behaviour, set to an immersive score of his own making. After the interval, another treat awaits. All 16 company members unite for Ohad Naharin’s cult classic Minus 16. Like in a kaleidoscope, the choreography combines diverse episodes, musical material and moods which Naharin continually re-arranges and modifies. The result is an intense and fitting finale to a tailor-made programme celebrating three masters of contemporary dance.
Thursday, April 18, 2024/ Friday, April 19, 2024 / Saturday, April 20, 2024 – at 7:30 p.m., Fleck Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre Toronto (Canada)
Monday, April 22, 2024 at 7:30 p.m., Grand Théâtre de Québec (Canada)
Tuesday, April 30, 2024 at 8:00 p.m., Centre culturel de l’Université de Sherbrooke (Canada)
Wednesday, May 1, 2024 / Thursday, May 2, 2024 / Friday, May 3, 2024 / Saturday, May 4, 2024 – at 8:00 p.m., Théâtre Maisonneuve Montréal (Canada) – in co-operation with Danse Danse

Ohad Naharin, Kamuyot
At the 2015 and 2022 editions of the COLOURS festival, Gauthier Dance rocked the the Theaterhaus gym with Ohad Naharin’s crazy, rousing celebration of dance. There is a simple reason that Kamuyot was later included in the regular repertoire: The colourful collage of reggae, klezmer, heavy metal and classical music works for all ages. Originally, however, the piece with its easygoing mix of styles ranging from ballet to disco was conceived for young audiences, as an introduction to Naharin’s „Gaga“ method: free instead of standardised movement, dancing not to please others but to feel oneself, dancing as play, exploration and self-knowledge. In this sense, Gauthier Dance is now going back to the roots in Montréal – by presenting Kamuyot in three matinee school performances.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024 / Thursday, April 25, 2024 / Friday, April 26, 2024 – at 1:30 p.m., Gymnasium Trafalgar School for Girls Montréal – in co-operation with Danse Danse

Photos Jeanette Bak