In his sixteenth year as Artistic Director of the Stuttgart Ballet, Anderson has premiered over 80 world premieres in the Opera House and the Playhouse, mainly by young choreographers. It is his determined support for emerging choreographic talent which enabled him to win over prodigies such as Christian Spuck and Marco Goecke for Stuttgart, where both created their first choreographies for the Noverre Society and later their first works for a major ballet company.
Since the beginning of the 2005/2006 season, the Stuttgart Ballet has a further resident choreographer in Marco Goecke, who represents the young avant-garde with his unique dance language. Born in Wuppertal, he initially caused a stir with several remarkable pieces for the Noverre Society, before choreographing Sweet Sweet Sweet for the Stuttgart Ballet in 2005. Dance critics herald him as an artist on whom high hopes may be pinned (ballettanz magazine), repeatedly acknowledging him as an exceptional talent. In December 2006, Marco Goecke presented his third world premiere for the Stuttgart Ballet: A dark and mysterious version of The Nutcracker, which was enthusiastically celebrated by the audience and received major critical acclaim. In 2010, his groundbreaking full length ballet Orlando was presented in Stuttgart.
Not long after his debut as choreographer, Marco Goecke's innovative approach met with international interest. In the past years, he has been commissioned to choreograph works for dancers of the New York City Ballet, the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, the Hamburg Ballet and the Ballett of the Braunschweig State Theatre. His pieces were shown at the Joyce Theater in New York, the Jacob's Pillow Festival in Becket, Massachusetts, the Venice Dance Biennale as well as the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle, amongst others. In December 2006 Marco Goecke received the renowned Nijinsky Award as Emerging Choreographer at the Monaco Dance Forum in Monte Carlo.
The youngest of the Stuttgart Ballet's choreographic talents is Demis Volpi, born in Buenos Aires, who after several works for the Noverre-Society and contributions to mixed bills at Stuttgart Ballet presented his version of the Carnival of the Animals in the Opera House in 2010. In the annual critics survey of the renowned magazine tanz, Volpi was elected one of the hope-bearers of the year 2011.
Bridget Breiner, as of the 2012-13 season Artistic Director of the Ballet Company at the “Musiktheater im Revier” in Gelsenkirchen, danced and choreographed at Stuttgart Ballet for many years.
In addition to her very successful career as a Principal Dancer, she started working as a freelance choreographer with the status of an Artist in Residence in 2008. After presenting her first own choreographies In the kitchen, The Foul Prank and Sirs at the Noverre Society’s “Young Choreographers” in 2005, 2006 and 2007, Bridget Breiner has soon made herself a name as a tremendously creative and humorous contemporary choreographer, creating pieces such as Zeitsprünge, Adagio Assai, La Grande Parade du Funk (for the Erik-Bruhn-Competition), and in cooperation with Demis Volpi The Broadway Baby. Bridget Breiner has also created the choreography for the production Der Prinz von Dänemark – Ein Hamlet Musical with the Schauspiel Stuttgart in 2008. For the Kevin O’Day Ballet in Mannheim she choreographed Hold lightly in 2009, in 2010 followed her first commissioned work for the Stuttgart Ballett, Letters of Others, and another piece created for the Theater Augsburg: Othello. In 2011, she took her leave from Stuttgart Ballet by presenting Double Bass Concerto.
Also Douglas Lee danced and choreographed at Stuttgart Ballet from 1996 to 2011, before continuing his career as a freelance choreographer at international theatres. He gave his choreographic debut in February 1999 with Jane, John, John, Jane, Jane, John... for the Noverre Society’s “Young Choreographers”. In the same year Artistic Director Reid Anderson commissioned a new work for the Stuttgart Ballet from Douglas Lee: Curtain of Hands, followed by a number of further Ballets Lee created for the Stuttgart Ballet: Siren sounding, Cindy’s Gift, Aubade, Lachrymal, Dummy Run, Leviathan, Fanfare LX, Nightlight and finally Miniatures. Since 2005, Douglas Lee has also been invited to several international companies such as the Norwegian National Ballet, the Royal Ballet of Flanders and the New York City Ballet. His New York works Viewing Room and Lifecasting were also adopted into Stuttgart Ballet’s repertory.
Further choreographers from whom Reid Anderson has commissioned new works include David Bintley, Uwe Scholz, Mauro Bigonzetti, Jean-Christophe Blavier, Kevin O'Day, James Sutherland, Pascal Touzeau, Trey McIntyre, Dominique Dumais, Marguerite Donlon, Daniela Kurz, John Alleyne, Itzik Galili, Wayne McGregor, Marc Spradling, Matjash Mrozewski, Sabrina Matthews, Caetano Soto and Nicolo Fonte.
Amongst the new works were several full-length ballets: Maximiliano Guerra made his choreographic debut at the Stuttgart Ballet with a new production of Don Quijote in December 2000, and Jean-Christophe Blavier choreographed A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1998. During the 2006/2007 season Mauro Bigonzetti created his full-length I fratelli – The Brothers based on the film by Luchino Visconti. In October 2009 Kevin O'Day presented his Hamlet.
What is more, Reid Anderson has broadened the stylistic range of the company with works by Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, William Forsythe, James Kudelka, Paul Lightfoot/Sol León, Hans van Manen, John Neumeier, Jerome Robbins and Uwe Scholz, amongst others.
Alongside world premieres and the expansion of the repertoire, John Cranko's oeuvre represents a focal point in the programming of the Stuttgart Ballet. Not only in the Stuttgart Opera House, but also on the company's international tours,
Romeo and Juliet,
The Taming of the Shrew and
Onegin are always sold-out performances.
Since the beginning of his directorship, Reid Anderson has taken the company on extensive tours, including New York, San Francisco and other US cities, Peking, Hong Kong, Shanghai and other cities in China, to Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka and other Japanese cities, to Bangkok/Thailand, Cairo/Egypt and to numerous cities in Europe, including Palermo and Turin in Italy, Sevilla and Madrid in Spain, London/England, Paris/France, Neuchâtel/Switzerland and various cities all over Germany.
In addition, Reid Anderson has taught Cranko's masterpieces worldwide to countless leading ballet companies, including the American Ballet Theatre, the Boston Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, the Australian Ballet in Melbourne, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Chinese National Ballet, the Royal Ballet, London, the Paris Opera Ballet, La Scala Opera Ballet in Milan, the Rome Opera Ballet, the Norwegian National Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the National Ballet of Finland, the Ballet of the Vienna State Opera, the Staatsballett Berlin and the Hamburg Ballet.
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