Luca Giacomo Schulte Rosenzeit - A solo for Ornella Balestra

A video of the show is on http://vimeo.com/45558344, please ask me for the password under lucaschulte@gmx.net

Rosenzeit - A solo for Ornella Balestra

A chamber piece constructed on songs and poetry from throughout centuries, tell of love, hope, solitude, death and the joy of life, illustrating the timelessness of emotions. Ornella Balestra, former soloist at Maurice Béjart's Ballet du Vingtième Siècle and since 2003 performing with the Raimund Hoghe Company, interprets these songs, appearing almost to sing them with her body. Through the intimacy of these stories, the spectator is linked with European cultural history as Rosenzeit charts a path between highs and lows of emotion, through a vocabulary of classical dance, avant-garde and visual arts. Rosenzeit could be seen as a minimalist portrait, etched by an exceptional dancer with a long artistic history.

„...Formally, Rosenzeit offers a languid minimalist treatise on gender, beauty, and the tracts of history which caress Balestra‘s form, and the empty space which surrounds her. [...] Visually, the work operates like an ever-evolving painting, with Balestra as the central figure in an otherwise unadorned black landscape.“

Mary Kate Connolly (Dance Theatre Journal)

„...Schulte presents here [with Rosenzeit] his first work for theatre, but the years as artistic associate with Raimund Hoghe are worth gold. Such maturity creates a veritable ,coup de théâtre‘.“

Thomas Hahn („Danser“)

Concept/Production/Direction: Luca Giacomo Schulte

Dance: Ornella Balestra

Duration: 60 minutes.

Coproduction: CCN Centre Choréographique National de Franche-Comté à Belfort dans le cadre d‘acceuil studio, Theater im Pumpenhaus Münster,„tanzhaus nrw“ Düsseldorf with support of Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf. Thanks to ACTI Teatri Indipendenti Torino.

Premiere: 14.05.2009 „tanzhaus nrw“ Düsseldorf, Festival „tanz nrw 09“

Music by Fabrizio De André, Cesare Andrea Bixio, Hendrik Andriessen, Johannes Brahms, Franz Liszt, Frank Martin, Erik Satie, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann.

Lyrics by an Anonymous of the 13th century, Matthäus von Collin, Henri Ghéon, Eduard Mörike, Herbert Pagani, Friedrich Rückert, Johann Gabriel Seidl, Boris Vian.

Vocals by Elly Ameling, Hildegard Knef, Katrin Mägi, Mina, Gino Paoli, Robert Shaw Chamber Singers, Vittorio De Sica.

Piano played by Dalton Baldwin, Alfred Brendel, Jörg Demus, Aldo Ciccolini, Frank Martin.

Organ played by Albert de Klerk.

Rosenzeit.

Écrire un solo, c’est toujours faire une double portrait. D’abord celui du sujet, ici

Ornella Ballestra, danseuse italienne qui fut soliste chez Maurice Béjart et qui incarne depuis 2003 une idée de la Femme dans les pièces du chorégraphe allemand Raimund Hoghe. Ensuite celui du chorégraphe, Luca Giacomo Schulte, aux origines italoallemande, là aussi associé au nom de Raimund Hoghe dont il est le dramaturge depuis le début des années 90. Et c’est bien ça qui se joue dans cette pièce : une intimité à deux, au-delà de leur Maître commun Raimund Hoghe, un lien à deux qui passe par la culture italienne (les chansons de Mina), le romantisme allemand qui « éclaire » le solo quand il s’achève sur l’air de Mein schöner Stern de Robert Schumann.

My lovely star, I implore you,

O let not your bright light

Be dimmed by the gloom in me,

Rather let the gloom in me,

My lovely star, be transfigured into light!

Ombre pour Lui, lumière transfigurée pour Elle, voilà le programme de ce solo qui sculpte la silhouette androgyne et puissamment féminine d’Ornella Ballestra dans un registre purement émotionnel. Les chansons, les lieders s’enchaînent plongeant chaque fois la danseuse dans un nouveau récit, comme autant d’histoires pour une seule femme.

Enfin seule sur le plateau — qu’elle a longtemps partagé dans les pièces de groupe de Raimund Hoghe —, la danseuse peut rêver d’être Etoile, c’est-à-dire d’être littéralement « transfigured into light ». Mais pour cela il faut un cadre conçu comme un écrin, un plateau qui à la fois expose et protège : c’est tout le travail que mène ici son chorégraphe qui lui se souvient de sa formation de plasticien, quand il exposait de fragiles installations de papier qui ne durent que le temps des roses : Rosenzeit !

Laurent Goumarre

Biographies:

Ornella Balestra studied classical dance at the Royal Ballet School in London and La Scala Opera House in Milan. She performed as soloist in Maurice Béjart‘s Ballet du Vingtìème Siècle and studied at his Mudra School in Brussels. Returning to Italy, she continued to work with Italian choreographers, performing in major theatres and festivals across the country. Her international career gained new momentum when she began collaborating with Raimund Hoghe. She is a leading dancer in his pieces "Tanzgeschichten" (German Producers Award 2003), "Swan Lake, 4 Acts" (2005), "Boléro Variations"(2007) and "Si je meurs laissez le balcon ouvert" (2010). The pieces are performed worldwide. „Rosenzeit“ (2009) is her first solo piece.

Luca Giacomo Schulte completed a degree in fine arts at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf/Münster (Germany). His installations were presented in several exhibitions in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway and France. Since 1992 he is artistic collaborator of the internationally renowned choreographer and dancer Raimund Hoghe. With „Rosenzeit“ (2009) and „Joseph“ (2011) the Düsseldorf based artist is presenting his first complete works for theatre. As a choreographer he aims at discovering the common denominator of dance and visual arts and seeks the original significance of these two realms of art. Thus his interest is in combining the two as one and redefining their initial meaning.