In May 2018, the members of the Stuttgart based Noverre Society – which celebrated its 60th anniversary this year – voted to disband the Society due to lack of new, young members willing to carry on the Society’s activities – all of which have been organized on a volunteer basis for the last 60 years. The Society was founded in 1958 by Fritz Hoever whose aim it was to foster interest in ballet in a city which was then dominated by the opera. In 1961, when John Cranko became the director of the Stuttgart Ballet, he and Hoever conceived the idea of a platform in which fledgling choreographers could try their hand at a craft which per definition requires space, dancers and not least an audience in order to create and evaluate new work. Since 1961, the Noverre Society has presented its “Young Choreographers” evenings on a yearly basis and has brought forth some of Europe’s most renowned choreographers – all of whom created their very first ballets for the Society. Among others: John Neumeier, Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe, Uwe Scholz, Christian Spuck and Marco Goecke.                      

This platform has been invaluable to the Stuttgart Ballet over the last decades. On average, 80% of the young choreographers per season are dancers from within the company who create works for their colleagues. Almost all of the above mentioned choreographers went on to become resident choreographers of the Stuttgart Ballet, providing the basis for the extremely diverse repertory of the company. In order not to lose this vital creative source Tamas Detrich has found the means to rescue the Young Choreographers Evening and will integrate this project into the Stuttgart Ballet without changing the basic principles and ideals of the founders Hoever and Cranko: experimentation, exploration and risk taking with no expectations that the works be a “success”. 2019 will be the first year in which the “Noverre Young Choreographers Evening” will be organized and presented by the Stuttgart Ballet. The name “Noverre” will continue to be used in tribute to the great dance reformer and to Hoever and Cranko.