Vienna State Ballet – Landgraf on Dance

26. November 202526. November 2025

Mockery

“Die Fledermaus” (“The Bat”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
November 21, 2025

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

For Johann Strauss II’s bicentennial, the Vienna State Ballet revived Roland Petit’s 1979 ballet adaptation of Strauss’s famous operetta, Die Fledermaus (The Bat). It’s accompanied by a “best of” selection of compositions by Johann Strauss II, his father, Johann Strauss I, and his brother, Josef. The score’s oomph and gaiety are infectious. Strauss’ music, particularly the Viennese waltzes (of which Die Fledermaus has plenty), is part of the DNA of the Vienna State Opera’s orchestra, and under Luciano Di Martino’s baton, it fizzed like champagne. Melodies rose boisterously to a tipping point, balanced provocatively on the edge, and rippled down with relish as if on a rollercoaster ride.

Except for the core theme (male infidelity and female maneuvers to deal with it), Petit’s version has little in common with the operetta. He employs only three protagonists: Bella (Olga Esina), her husband (Timoor Afshar), who is named Johann (maybe an ironic jab at Strauss II, whose second wife, Angelika, cuckolded him?), and the family’s friend, Ulrich (Davide Dato). In Ulrich, Petit combined two characters of the operetta, the schemer, Dr. Falke, and the seducer, Alfred.

While the operetta’s Dr. Falke was ridiculed for wearing a bat costume, the ballet’s Johann transformed into a bat at night, flying from his conjugal bed to seek pleasure at other establishments. Bella no longer excited his senses, and their austere, Mondrian-style home (designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte) presumably didn’t either.

One night, she found out that Johann was leading a double life and called Ulrich. He rushed in as if he were waiting for the moment, covered Bella’s arm with an armada of kisses (in contradiction to his purported, noble altruism to save her marriage), and took action. Under his supervision, Bella metamorphosed into an Odile-like diva who ensnared her prince, Johann, at Maxim’s in Paris. (Bella and Johann live in an Austrian-Hungarian capital, so how they managed to get to Paris in no time was a mystery.)

Dressed as a waiter, Ulrich coached Bella’s performance as if he were Rothbart. She enraptured Johann, who failed to recognize his wife. When Bella and Ulrich escaped by carriage in the purple morning light, Johann jumped on as a stowaway. He stood on top in a bold arabesque like a hood ornament while the horse galloped off—a smashing exit!

Bella then moved on to a seductive gig at a masquerade ball reminiscent of the hunting scene in The Sleeping Beauty. In contrast to Prince Désiré, who followed his spiritual calling to search for Aurora, Johann was driven by sexual appetite. The parody intensified when Bella turned up. Wearing a scant, red tutu and a black neck ribbon (costumes by Luisa Spinatelli), she resembled a hybrid of Kitri and Carmen and danced like a frivolous Paquita. The Hungarian Csárdás that was part of the ball also turned farcical when Ulrich joined, his cheeks clownishly red.

Night fell as Johann, fueled by spiking hormones, tried to conquer Bella (he made me think of an unstoppable steam engine). Inevitably, Johann turned into a bat and fluttered above the guests. But Bella lured him to a lower altitude, and the trap snapped shut. Policemen arrested Johann. Behind bars, he lip-synced tenor Lukas Schmidt who didn’t sing about Bella, but the lovely Rosalinde, begging her to quench his desire (Rosalinde is the operetta’s heroine, and Alfred sings the song). Indeed, the beloved Bella appeared, effected his release, and, dropping her mask and clothes (except for a skin-colored, full-body leotard), rekindled their marital love.

The couple’s intimate pas de deux was the only scene that Petit didn’t turn into a comedy. But not for long. The moment Johann succumbed to Bella’s allure, Ulrich (this time dressed up as a prison guard) handed her huge scissors, and gone went the bat wings. As if stripped of his balls, Johann instantly transmuted into a henpecked husband, whose feet Bella tucked into felt slippers. She had realized her initial dream. Men orbited her; she called the shots, and life was as spiffy as a waltz.

Esina’s Bella cleverly hid her hurt from Johann’s disinterest under a shiny surface. It was unclear if her masquerade was motivated by true love or to secure her well-off status. Compared to Bella, Afshar’s Johann was an open book. His turns were hasty when he was impatient to break free, pretentious when he was eager to stand out, and spicy when he burned with lust. Women other than his wife lent wings to his showmanship.

Dato’s feet moved with such lightning speed and precision that I thought of hot needlework. A string puller, his Ulrich always turned up at the right moment. He puffed himself up like a toreador at Maxim’s, played the goof at the ball, and in prison he acted like a companion in crime.
Céline Janou Weder played Bella and Johann’s sometimes zealous, sometimes drowsy maidservant, Eno Peci was the police commissioner who arrested Johann. As servants at Maxim’s, Gaspare Li Mandri, Kristián Pokorný, and Géraud Wielick buzzed around, their spins, split jumps, and bobbing bottoms adding heat to the already hot atmosphere. The three can-can ladies (Francesca Cesaro, Sveva Gargiulo, and Chiara Uderzo) achieved the same by lifting their skirts extra high. Like a remnant of the good old times of ballet, Alessandro Cavallo continued to lead the Csárdás with composure, regardless of Ulrich’s interference. He only gave him a raised eyebrow.
The corps’ waltzes had pep, but their routine at the ball (including hands flapping up and down and heads turning left and right) looked silly.

Links:		Website of the Vienna State Ballet
		“Die Fledermaus” – Trailer
Photos:	1.	Timoor Afshar (Johann) and Olga Esina (Bella), “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	2.	Timoor Afshar (Johann) and Olga Esina (Bella), “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	3.	Olga Esina (Bella), “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	4.	Olga Esina (Bella) and Davide Dato (Ulrich), “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	5.	Ensemble, “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	6.	Géraud Wielick (Servant), “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	7.	Timoor Afshar (Johann), Olga Esina (Bella), Victor Cagnin, and ensemble; “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	8.	Kristián Pokorný, Géraud Wielick, and Gaspare Li Mandri (Servants), “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	9.	Gaia Fredianelli, Alessandro Cavallo, and Natalya Butchko; “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	10.	Francesca Cesaro and Duccio Tariello, “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	11.	Davide Dato (Ulrich), Olga Esina (Bella), Alessandro Cavallo, and ensemble; “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	12.	Timoor Afshar (Johann) and ensemble, “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	13.	Olga Esina (Bella) and Timoor Afshar (Johann), “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	14.	Davide Dato (Ulrich) and ensemble, “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	15.	Timoor Afshar (Johann) and Olga Esina (Bella), “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	16.	Davide Dato (Ulrich), “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	17.	Davide Dato (Ulrich) and Céline Janou Weder (Servant), “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
	18.	Timoor Afshar (Johann) and Olga Esina (Bella), “Die Fledermaus” by Roland Petit, Vienna State Ballet 2025
		all photos © Vienna State Ballet/Ashley Taylor
Editing:		Kayla Kauffman

27. October 202514. November 2025

Reborn

“Callirhoe”
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
October 19, 2025 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

The title of Martin Schläpfer’s farewell choreography, Pathétique, summarized the condition of the Vienna State Ballet he left behind after five years as its artistic director. His successor, Alessandra Ferri, restructured the company. Some dancers left, and others joined, some of whom were returnees. Last weekend, she presented the first premiere under her reign, Alexei Ratmansky’s Callirhoe (which he choreographed for ABT in 2020 under the title Of Love and Rage). It felt like the rebirth of the company. I cannot remember when I last saw the Vienna State Ballet perform with such force. Congratulations! Continue reading “Reborn”

14. April 202525. April 2025

A Farewell Triplet

“Pathétique” (“Divertimento No. 15”/“Summerspace”/“Pathétique”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
April 09, 2025 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

Triple bills have become a trademark of the Vienna State Ballet since Martin Schläpfer took over as artistic director in 2020. The latest, Pathétique, is titled after Schläpfer’s newest and last creation. As on previous occasions, the program’s safe and well-tested base was a Balanchine followed by Cunningham’s Summerspace. Continue reading “A Farewell Triplet”

1. February 202513. February 2025

As It Should Be

“Peter and the Wolf”
Jugendkompanie of the Ballet Academy of the Vienna State Opera
NEST (Künstlerhaus Vienna)
Vienna, Austria
January 26, 2025

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

Last December, the Vienna State Opera opened a new venue for its young audience in a side wing of the Künstlerhaus, around 550 yards from the Vienna State Opera. The venue was previously a home for the city’s independent companies but was rebuilt thanks to private funding and a grant from Austria’s Ministry of Education, Science, and Research. The theater’s steep auditorium ensures visibility of the stage for even the shortest audience members. Although I was told that its name, NEST, is an abbreviation of “New State Opera,” it reminded me of a bird’s nest.

Despite sunny early spring weather, last Sunday’s matinee was well attended by both children and grown-ups to see the premiere of Peter and the Wolf, Continue reading “As It Should Be”

30. January 20251. February 2025

Striking Similarities

“kaiserRequiem”
Vienna State Ballet & Volksoper Wien
Volksoper Wien
Vienna, Austria
January 25, 2025

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

kaiserRequiem, the Volksoper Wien’s latest premiere, is a joint production of the State Ballet Vienna and the singers, choir, and orchestra of the Volksoper. The piece intertwines the sixty-minute chamber opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis (The Emperor of Atlantis), composed by Viktor Ullmann in 1943/44, with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem in D minor (K. 626). Both pieces feature death, which overtook both composers while working on them. Mozart died in December 1791 before finishing Requiem. Requiem had been commissioned, and when Mozart died, his wife, Constanze, assigned its completion to Franz Xaver Süßmayr, her husband’s former pupil. Being of Jewish parentage, Ullmann and his wife were deported to the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt (in today’s Czech Republic) in September 1942. It was a showpiece ghetto to promote the allegedly successful resettlement of Jews, so Theresienstadt had a department for so-called “leisure activities,” such as sports, theater, lectures, and reading. Ullmann worked there as a composer, music critic, and musical event organizer. The premiere of his opera The Emperor of Atlantis was scheduled for Theresienstadt’s stage but was canceled after the general rehearsal. Perhaps the piece’s highly political sarcasm, though subtle, did not slip the notice of the ruling powers, but that’s only speculation. Continue reading “Striking Similarities”

29. March 202424. April 2024

Incomprehensible

“The Lady of the Camellias”
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
March 24, 2024, (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

Shouts of “Bravi!” mingled with enthusiastic applause after the curtain closed on John Neumeier’s The Lady of the Camellias last Sunday at the Vienna State Opera. I, who was following the performance on screen, was less happy. Being familiar with this piece as it was performed by other companies, I felt that this premiere left a lot to be desired.

To begin with, the choreography—almost forty-five years after its creation—suffers from the same mannerisms present in large parts of Neumeier’s oeuvre. The tools that he uses to express his protagonists’ inner life are repetitive. For example, books, confectionery, and bunches of flowers slipped from the dancers’ grip to signal astonishment or absent-mindedness. The number of people who stumbled, fell, barged into one another, and ran around precipitously was remarkable. As in other Neumeier-ballets, the buffoon (in this case, Count N., whom Géraud Wielick turned into an especially silly specimen of jealous lover) wore glasses. That Neumeier intertwined Marguerite and Armand’s fate with that of Manon Lescaut—a connection that is inherent in Alexandre Dumas’s novel—would be ingenious if the relevant scenes were less mawkish and didactic. Continue reading “Incomprehensible”

4. January 20245. January 2024

Rekindled

“Shifting Symmetries” (“Concertante”/”Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
December 23, 2023, (online: December 27, 2023)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

The Vienna State Ballet’s newest triple bill combines pieces by Hans van Manen, William Forsythe, and George Balanchine. As Forsythe doesn’t allow video streaming of his works, his In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated wasn’t part of the online broadcast on December 27^th (which showed a recording of the premiere on December 23^rd).
I’ve often been unhappy about the Viennese performances, but what’s to expect when the choreographies given to them are mediocre? This time though, a meaty dance-diet was on the menu, and the company rose splendidly to the occasion.

Concertante (1994) has the punchy elegance that van Manen is known for. It’s sophisticated (but without frills) and so densely energetic that my eyes stayed glued on the dancers. Van Manen doesn’t choreograph pretty steps. His dancers prance cooly and strongly, throw challenging glances, and are forcefully present on stage. Continue reading “Rekindled”

1. May 202311. May 2023

A Gain

“Goldberg-Variationen” (“Tabula Rasa” / “Goldberg-Variationen”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
April 27, 2023 (livestream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2023 by Ilona Landgraf

Since Martin Schläpfer took over the reins of the Vienna State Ballet in 2020, his pre-existing and new choreographies entered the company’s repertoire. Most of them I wouldn’t call assets. However, the most recent double bill is a gain. It combines Ohad Naharin’s “Tabula Rasa” (1986) and Heinz Spoerli’s “Goldberg-Variationen” (1993). Sadly, the livestream of the premiere began only after the break, omitting “Tabula Rasa”. Hence, I can only comment on “Goldberg-Variationen”.

I should have known better, but I was not prepared to read the name of Horst Koegler (1927 – 2012) in the piece description on the Vienna State Ballet’s website. It quotes Koegler who labeled “the Goldberg-Variationen as one of the works from Spoerli’s Bach ballet cathedral which describes people and life in a series of poetic, choreographed images and scenes (…)”. Koegler, one of Germany’s renowned ballet critics and the author of a book about Spoerli, was very well versed with the latter’s oeuvre. He loved “Goldberg-Variationen” – both Bach’s music and its interpretation through dance. Would he have liked Vienna’s one? Continue reading “A Gain”

31. October 20227. November 2022

Unpalatable

“The Sleeping Beauty”
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
October 24, 2022 (livestream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2022 by Ilona Landgraf

A few months before the premiere of his “Sleeping Beauty” with the Vienna State Ballet, artistic director Martin Schläpfer stated that he did not intend to alter Petipa’s original – that he was not creating something “a bit Schläpfer and a bit Petipa”. There are already enough of these blended works in the canon; instead of adding another, he preferred to stick with the original. Back then, though, he did not have a detailed vision for his production. So – how did his version finally turn out?

I’ll make one thing immediately clear: Schläpfer did not deliver a radically new take on the fairy tale. The three-acter still unfolds at court, includes the key characters, and follows the well-known storyline. Florian Etti’s modern and unsophisticated set includes an open yard looking out on a king-sized garden of red roses. Nestled among the twigs is the crib of the newborn Aurora, her birth an airy dream. Continue reading “Unpalatable”

7. May 202213. May 2022

Haydn Makes it Possible

“Die Jahreszeiten” (“The Seasons”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
April 30, 2022 (livestream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2022 by Ilona Landgraf

The third premiere of the Vienna State Ballet in this season – “Die Jahreszeiten” (“The Seasons”) – is entirely by Schläpfer. Past experience with his oeuvre made me skeptical of this new work, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The piece is set to Joseph Haydn’s 1801 oratorio “The Seasons” (which coincidentally also premiered in Vienna), for which Gottfried van Swieten penned lyrics based on extracts from a poem by James Thomson. Thomson’s verses describe the ordinary daily and seasonal life on the countryside: spring thaw and early field work, the lush countryside, harvest time, and a sudden thunderstorm, which cools down the sweltering summer heat. An autumnal hunt is followed by cheers for the new wine. Amidst winter gloom and the coziness of a warm cottage a fleeting romance blossoms. Continue reading “Haydn Makes it Possible”

20. January 20228. March 2022

Absurd

“Liebeslieder” (“Other Dances” / “Concerto” / “Liebeslieder Walzer”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
January 14, 2022 (livestream)

The Vienna State Ballet’s new triple bill is an all-American one, combining works from staple choreographers (Robbins and Balanchine) with a short piece by Lucinda Childs, whose name is less familiar in Europe.

Robbins’s “Other Dances”, a pas de deux set to one waltz and four mazurkas by Chopin, was tailor-made for Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1976. In Vienna, Hyo-Jung Kang and Davide Dato brought folksy playfulness to their roles as the carefree, happy-go-lucky couple. Their encounter is as lighthearted and upbeat as the light blue backdrop and the sheer blue fabric of Kang’s dress suggest (costumes by Santo Loquasto). After swaggering about with macho energy in a solo, Dato attends to Kang’s every step with buttery care. Continue reading “Absurd”

19. November 202110. December 2021

In Seventh Heaven?

“Im Siebten Himmel” (“In Seventh Heaven”): “Marsch, Walzer, Polka” / “Fly Paper Bird” / “Symphony in C”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
November 14, 2021 (live stream)

“Im Siebten Himmel” (“In Seventh Heaven”), the Vienna State Ballet’s second new triple bill this season, follows the formula of the previous one: one piece by Balanchine + one by Martin Schläpfer (the company’s artistic director) + one by a contemporary choreographer. Last time, this third choreographer was Ratmansky; this time, it’s Marco Goecke.

For the music, Schläpfer’s “Marsch, Walzer, Polka” – created for the Ballett Mainz in 2006 – was a fitting choice. What could be more engaging for the Viennese audience than popular melodies by Johann Strauss I and his two sons, Josef and Johann? Schläpfer uses “The Blue Danube”, “Annen- Polka”, “Sphärenklänge”, and “Radetzky March” – and, to expand the existing choreography, draws in the “New Pizzicato-Polka” as well. Continue reading “In Seventh Heaven?”

25. September 202130. September 2021

Comparisons

“Tänze Bilder Sinfonien” (“Symphony in Three Movements” / “Pictures at an Exhibition” / “Sinfonie Nr. 15”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
September 21, 2021 (live stream)

The Vienna State Ballet opened their season with a revival of “Tänze Bilder Sinfonien”, a triple bill that premiered in June. It is comprised of two ballets originally created for the New York City Ballet: Balanchine’s “Symphony in Three Movements” from 1972 and Ratmansky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” from 2014. The third choreography – “Sinfonie Nr. 15” – was a new piece by Martin Schläpfer (formerly the artistic director and choreographer of the Ballet am Rhein; currently in the same positions at the State Ballet Vienna). I viewed the live-stream of the performance on September 21, 2021.

“Symphony in Three Movements”, set to Stravinsky’s eponymous composition, is Balanchine’s tribute to the composer following the latter’s death in 1971. Continue reading “Comparisons”

18. May 201721. April 2020

Real Life and Ideals – Nureyev’s “Swan Lake”

“Swan Lake”
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
May 14, 2017

“French and Russian style differ, so everything is a bit new at the moment,” Semyon Chudin told me in an interview a few weeks before his premiere in Rudolf Nureyev’s “Swan Lake” in Vienna. He and Olga Smirnova, both figureheads of the Bolshoi, guested in the leading roles with Manuel Legris’s company. I saw the first of two performances. How did they do?

Nureyev’s version differs in style, choreography and the weight given to several characters in comparison to other traditional interpretations of “Swan Lake”. The role of Benno, Prince Siegfried’s friend, is gone and, unlike in Russian productions, there is no fool either. Instead the focus shifts towards Siegfried, whom Nureyev danced more than fifty times himself; his last performance was in 1988 a few days after his 50th birthday. Nureyev’s Siegfried has more to dance – a formal Pas de cinq at his birthday party followed by a melancholy solo, for example – and allows deeper insight into his psyche. At the end he falls victim to Von Rothbart’s revenge and drowns in the floods of the lake, whereas Odette, still alive, stands at the lakeside like the idealized female. However desperately Siegfried stretches his arms towards her she is unattainable. He is doomed to die. Continue reading “Real Life and Ideals – Nureyev’s “Swan Lake””

1. May 201721. April 2020

Olga Smirnova and Semyon Chudin on “Swan Lake”

“Swan Lake”
Vienna State Ballet
Moscow / Vienna
April 28, 2017

In mid-May Vienna State Ballet revives Rudolf Nureyev’s “Swan Lake,” the version he choreographed for the company in 1964. The new set and costumes are by Luisa Spinatelli. Four guest dancers will take the leading roles in the course of the run. The Bolshoi’s Olga Smirnova and Semyon Chudin dance twice, on May 14^th and 17^th; on June 4^th Marianela Nuñez and Vadim Muntagirov of The Royal Ballet guest in Vienna. The last performance on Monday, June 12^th, will be streamed live on the internet.

While “Swan Lake” is Smirnova’s debut in Vienna, Chudin returns for the third time to the Austrian capital. Two weeks before opening night I asked both about their roles and about Nureyev’s production in particular. Smirnova, who at that time was in Moscow, answered in written form. Katerina Novikova, head of the Bolshoi’s press office, kindly translated Smirnova’s answers into English. Chudin, already rehearsing with the company in Vienna, talked with me via Skype. Continue reading “Olga Smirnova and Semyon Chudin on “Swan Lake””