Following Tetley’s resignation in 1976, prima ballerina and principal dancer
Marcia Haydée took over the directorship of the Stuttgart Ballet. Haydée considerably broadened the company's repertoire with works by
Hans van Manen and
Maurice Béjart, as well as by young choreographers and former company members such as
William Forsythe and
Jiří Kylián (both by then successful in Europe), and in so doing established the Stuttgart Ballet as one of the most artistically interesting companies on the international stage. Haydée fostered a new generation of supremely talented dancers, substantially advancing the level of the ensemble’s technique.
Just as Cranko, she was a dedicated supporter of emerging choreographers. One of the most promising talents in her company was
Uwe Scholz, whom she appointed resident choreographer in 1980; after leaving Stuttgart, he became ballet director in Zürich, then in Leipzig.
John Neumeier, too, was a choreographer who followed in the footsteps of John Cranko in striving for a further development of the narrative ballet genre. In Marcia Haydée he found a world-class dancer at the peak of her performance abilities. For her, he created
The Lady of the Camellias in 1978 and
A Streetcar named Desire in 1983.
As director, she also had great success with her staging of
Sleeping Beauty in 1987. After a dance career of 35 years and 20 years as director, Marcia Haydée took leave of the Stuttgart Ballet in 1996.
With Reid Anderson as her successor, the Stuttgart Ballet successfully began its journey into the next millennium.
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