Busy, busier, Gauthier Dance: In the winter months of January and February, Gauthier Dance will focus on the intensive rehearsals for the new concept evening ELEMENTS with world premieres by Mauro Bigonzetti (Earth), Sharon Eyal (Fire), Andonis Foniadakis (Water) and Louise Lecavalier (Air). The premiere is on leap day February 29, 2024, followed by the first series of shows at home in Theaterhaus Stuttgart until March 10, 2024. After that, the company will once again answer the call of the big wide dance world. After all, Gauthier Dance is also much sought-after on international stages – in Bilbao and Luxembourg in March 2024 and on tour in Canada in April.

And there is more good news: The premiere of their first stage programme RENAISSANCE on January 18, 2024 was a sensational success for the Gauthier Dance JUNIORS – a milestone that put the young dancers in a downright euphoric mood. Now the six are showing the piece on tour for the first time, on February 9, 2024 at ROXY Ulm and on March 26 and 27, 2024 as the „supporting act“ for the main company at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg. Apart from that, the young crew will certainly not suffer from boredom, as their March schedule includes numerous school performances with the MOVES FOR FUTURE Mobile format.

ELEMENTS_Probe_Mauro_Bigonzetti_Erde_Foto_Jeanette_Bak

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
Dancers: Rebecca Amoroso, Rong Chang, Stefano Gallelli, Ayda Frances Güneri, Joan Jansana Escobedo, Mathilde Roberge

ELEMENTS
World premieres by Mauro Bigonzetti, Sharon Eyal, Andonis Foniadakis, Louise Lecavalier
Premiere on February 29, 2024
A production of Theaterhaus Stuttgart

The upcoming new production by Gauthier Dance promises nothing less than an elementary experience – for the company itself as well as for the audience. And because Eric Gauthier has always had a penchant for playing with numbers, this bill will also be marked by a number, four. Even the premiere will take place on a day that only occurs every four years: February 29, 2024. Above all, however, this programme brings together four artists who are as stylistically different as the four primary substances of all things:

No one has collaborated with Gauthier Dance as many times as the great dance aesthete from Italy. Mauro Bigonzetti’s pieces have been an integral part of the company’s repertoire since the first season in 2007/08. Just recently, Eric Gauthier „incorporated“ the body-twisting choreography Pression from High Five in the anniversary programme 15 YEARS ALIVE.
Those familiar with Bigonzetti’s work will not be surprised by the element Eric Gauthier has chosen for him: Earth. After all, the Roman-born artist finds the inspiration for it right on his doorstep – in the village in the Marche region where he settled down a long time ago. One of his recurrent themes is the power of nature, as can be seen in his signature piece Cantata, in which the native music of southern Italy and a close-knit village community merge into an exuberant celebration of life. Pietra Viva was the name of the vibrant pas de deux he created for Gauthier Dance in 2011, the living stone. The company can’t wait for Mauro Bigonzetti to turn earth into dance.

The first piece Sharon Eyal created specifically for Gauthier Dance was a quiet bang – her deceptively elegant yet devious pas de trois for The Seven Sins. What was still smouldering under the surface in Point will now catch fire. For what other element would be more appropriate to the star choreographer than … Fire? In ELEMENTS, after the deadly sin of envy, Sharon Eyal returns to the large cast she became famous for. Eyal’s immensely focused, meticulous work process regularly produces group pieces that have an almost hypnotic effect, transforming the dancers into a single, breathing organism. As precise, rhythmic and relentless as clockwork. As powerful and unstoppable as a sea of flames.

Is it because he grew up on the island of Crete and has been familiar with Water since childhood? In any case, one thing is clear: Andonis Foniadakis can do flowing. Anyone who has seen the stunning dance symphony Streams, which he created for the tenth anniversary of Gauthier Dance in 2017, will agree. No one before him has shown the dancers as smoothly, organically, pliably. Few before him have challenged them so much at the same time. The rapid shifts and complicated lifts make Foniadakis‘ choreographies notoriously difficult to dance. Impressive virtuosity and plenty of atmosphere were also demonstrated in his second work for Gauthier Dance AELLΩ. The solo for a mysterious avian creature shrouded in mist was Foniadakis‘ contribution to The Dying Swans Project. Expectations for the third collaboration couldn’t be higher.

Louise Lecavalier is the icon of contemporary dance from Canada. Eric Gauthier has admired the legendary front woman of Édouard Lock’s company La La La Human Steps since he was in ballet school in Toronto. The punk, physical strength and incredible speed she brought to dance had never been seen till then, least of all from a woman. She has retained her unruliness and wildness to this day. No wonder, then, that she will take on the element of Air. Or should we better say storm in her case? Either way, her piece for Gauthier Dance will shake things up quite a bit. The world premiere by Louise Lecavalier will be a premiere in two respects: Instead of choreographing herself, she will, for the first time, create a piece for another company. Incidentally, she is also changing the element. That’s because her new solo will partially take up So Blue, her choreographic debut of 2012, whose title evoked – water.

Theaterhaus, T1
Premiere on Thursday, February 29, 2024 / Friday, March 1, 2024 / Saturday, March 2, 2024  – at 8:00 p.m. / Sunday, March 3, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. / Wednesday, March 6, 2024 / Thursday, March 7, 2024 / Friday, March 8, 2024 / Saturday, March 9, 2024  – at 8:00 p.m. / Sunday, March 10, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.

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

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.
Friday, March 22, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. / Saturday, March 23, 2024 at 7:00 p.m., Teatro Arriaga, Bilbao (Spain)

Gauthier Dance JUNIORS, RENAISSANCE
The first stage programme of the Gauthier Dance JUNIORS//Theaterhaus Stuttgart is reminiscent of the beginnings of Gauthier Dance with Six Pack. In 2008, the company also started out with six dancers and six pieces. The choreographic line-up of RENAISSANCE leaves nothing to be desired either. It includes world premieres by Rena Butler and Barak Marshall plus a short film premiere by Eric Gauthier. The evening is rounded off by three masterpieces: Sharon Eyal’s SARA, Andonis Foniadakis’ amazing Bolero, danced on trampolines, as well as Marco Goecke’s Midnight Raga.
„The young dancers throw themselves into their tasks with dedication – the first series of performances is already sold out. A cheer for Eric Gauthier’s tenacity!“ Reutlinger Generalanzeiger
„Renaissance shows that the young professionals are up to every trick in dance and have the stamina to achieve great things.“ Stuttgarter Zeitung / Stuttgarter Nachrichten
Tuesday, March 26, 2024 / Wednesday, March 27, 2024 – at 8:00 p.m., Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg

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.
Thursday, March 28, 2024 / Friday, March 29, 2024 – at 8:00 p.m., Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg

Photos Jeanette Bak