Squandered

“Scirocco” (“Death in Venice”/“Bridge of Sighs”)
WINNDance
Teatro Malibran
Venice, Italy
August 01, 2026

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

 1. M.Rademaker, M.Galeazzi, D.Vishneva, S.Henriksen, and K.Everhart; “Death in Venice” by I. and M.van Opstal, O.R. De Jesús, and R.Behr; WINNDance 2026, photo courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia © A.AvezzùWhen if not now” (WINN) is the attitude of movers and shakers. Earlier this year, two such movers and shakers, Slava Tutukin (former soloist of the Mikhailovsky Ballet, St. Petersburg, and the Aalto Ballet, Essen) and Marijn Rademaker (choreographer and ex-principal of Stuttgart Ballet and Dutch National Ballet) founded WINNDance, a Stuttgart-based dance company for dancers forty years old and older. It attracted renowned names: People’s Artist of Russia, Diana Vishneva; the late Hans van Manen’s muse, Igone de Jongh; Hamburg Ballet’s Ivan Urban, Silvia Azzoni, and Oleksandr Ryabko; the Royal Ballet’s former principal, Mara Galeazzi; and Polina Semionova (who didn’t perform in Venice). The new enterprise includes an educational platform (WINN&Learn) and an exploratory platform for collaboration with different industries (WINNLab). Continue reading “Squandered”

In a Gray and Surreal World

“Choreographies by Sol León and Paul Lightfoot”
Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT 1)
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden, Germany
March 08, 2014

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2014 by Ilona Landgraf

1. Sehnsucht by Sol León and Paul Lightfoot, NDT 1 Nederlands Dans Theater showed only “Choreographies by Sol León and Paul Lightfoot” on its two day visit to Baden-Baden. Perhaps this was a test run for the coming time of not dancing anything by Jiří Kylián, the company’s former artistic director. Kylian is withdrawing the performing rights to all of his pieces for a three year period that begins in the fall of 2014. Is the idea to boost new creativity? Certainly the repertory’s one-sidedness surprised. NDT is supposed to be at the heart of European modern dance, ever since the company was founded 55 years ago. Instead of showing off NDT’s fascinating vibrancy and diversity (in works by the four associate choreographers – Marco Goecke, Crystal Pite, Johan Inger and Alexander Ekman), we were subjected to much the same fare three times over. A pity! Continue reading “In a Gray and Surreal World”