Restages

Choreography, scenario and lighting: William Forsythe
Music: Duetti per due violini, vol.1 ,by Luciano Berio (1925-2003) (by agreement with Universal Edition AG, Vienna, www.universaledition.com)
Costume: Stephen Galloway
Restaging: Allisson Brown and Noah Gelber
Premiere: 1998 | Frankfurt Opera House, Frankfurt/Germany
Debut SPDC: 2014

Workwithinwork, by William Forsythe, refers to the choreographer’s method in considering a new work as an excerpt from a long process of work. Forsythe, in his choreography, creates a continuous flow of movements from variations of classic technique, without breakage or distended articulations, with reference to the past and at the same time, updating it. The music, a work for two violins by Luciano Berio performed in small snippets, creates impulses to the unfolding of duets in trios, quartets and ensembles. The work is constantly evolving within itself, creating new settings for the scene. This is the second choreography by Forsythe restaged by SPDC.

Choreography, scenario and lightning conception: Jirí Kylián
Music: Concerto for Piano in La Mayor KV 488 (Adagio) and Concierto for Piano in Sol Mayor KV 467 (Andante), by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Lightning realization:  Joop Caboort
Costume: Joke Visser
Restaging: Patrick Delcroix
Choreagraphy Assitant: Patrick Delcroix
Technical supervision of light and stage: Kees Tjebbes
Premiere: 1991 | Kleines Festspielhaus, Salzburg / Austria
SPDC: 2013

Petite Mort is about two Mozart concerts for piano, the work for six men and six women has as main theme the pleasure and duration of time in which we are reminded that life is relatively short and that death is never far from us. In this play, dancers interact with foils while death lurks life. “Death always accompanies our life; it is sometimes small, sometimes large. But, it is the faithful companion since we were born, until the end”, says Kylián.

Choreography: Nacho Duato
Music: Jordi Savall – Music antigua española
Lightning: Nicolás Fischtel
Restaging: Thomas Klein and Tony Fabre (1964-2013)
Poem: Garcilaso de la Vega (1501-1536)
Voice: Miguel Bosé
Organization: Carlos Iturrioz Mediart Producciones SL (Spain)
Execution of scenario and costume: Fábio Brando (FCR Produções Artísticas)
Premiere: 1996 | Madrid Theater, Madrid/Spain
Debut SPDC: 2013

Por Vos Muero, by Nacho Duato, is a choreography that uses the classical and contemporary dance to suggest timelessness in human relations. Duato uses ghostly poetry by Garcilaso de la Vega and the Spanish guitar to capture the essence of the artistic spirit of Spain at that time, by translating the choreography as an expression of the people and a tribute to the essential role performed by the dance in that country. The merge of old Spanish music, from the 15th and 16th centuries, promotes diversity of dynamics explored by the choreographer and reveals a fluid and rhythmic dance that leads to other times, however, it is timeless.

Choreography: Tatiana Leskova from the original 1892 Marius Petipa (1818-1910) and Lev Ivanov (1834-1901)
Music: Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Lighting: Wagner Freire
Costume: Marilda Fontes
Premiere: 1892 | Mariinsky Theater , St. Petersburg / Russia
Debut SPDC: 2012

The Nutcracker Grand Pas de Deux is the highlight of this ballet inspired by the story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (1816), by E.T.A. Hoffmann. The Sugaring Fairy dances with the Nutcracker to honor the little girl Clara, who came to visit the Kingdom of Sweets. The ballet tells the story of Clara, who earns a Nutcracker doll as a Christmas gift from her Godfather. At the end of the party, she sleeps with the doll and dreams to be in enchanted worlds, she takes part on battles and adventures. After saving her prince in the fight against the Mouse King, he takes her to meet the Kingdom of Snows and then the Kingdom of Sweets.

Choreography, lighting, scenario and costume: William Forsythe
Music: Thom Willems
Restaging: Agnès Noltenius
Premiere: 1987 | Palais Garnier, Paris/France
Debut SPDC: 2012

Entrusted by Rudolf Nureyev in 1987 for the Ballet Ópera de Paris, In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated is a play by William Forsythe based on the perception of speed – fast and slow. The choreographer makes use of the language of classical dance to “write the stories of today.” In The Middle uses the traditional way of composing a theme and its variations, that is, Forsythe creates a sentence that develops, evolves and transforms in the body of each ballet dancer. A ballerina dances the opening theme and progressively drives an increasing number of other performers until the set is complete with nine people: six women and three men. The music by Thom Willems presents accelerations and slowness that dialogue with the choreography; both the dancers and the audience are taken by surprise by turbulences the play presents at different times. For the scenario, the choreographer had thought of several everyday golden objects, hung by invisible wires. From this initial idea, he opted for the synthesis, translated by two cherries, which won a symbolic meaning: two small mirrors that reflect the performance hall. The title of the work refers to these two cherries in the middle, somewhat elevated, at the scene. São Paulo Dance Compay is the first company in Latin America to have a work of Forsythe in its repertory.

Choreography: Duda Braz from original 1869 by Marius Petipa (1818-1910)
Music: Leon Minkus (1826-1917)
Lighting: Wagner Freire
Costume: Tânia Agra
Duration: 10 minutes
Premiere: 1896 | Imperial Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow / Russia
Debut SPDC:2012 │ Teatro Unesp, São Paulo/SP – Brazil

The Don Quixote Grand Pas de Deux is the moment of the wedding of Kitri and Basilio, the main characters of this work. Danced around the world, this duo is a big challenge for performers, not only for the technical quality, but also for the interpretation. Choreographed by Marius Petipa, the ballet Don Quixote is based on a chapter of the famous work of Miguel de Cervantes, which tells the adventures of the barber Basilio and his love for Kitri, the daughter of the innkeeper. The knight Quixote falls in love with Kitri, confusing her with Dulcinea, his love. After venturing into the world in imaginary battles against winds and mills, in the last act the protagonist celebrates, alongside his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, the marriage between the two lovers.

Choreography: Eric Gauthier
Narrator: William Moragas
Restaging: Renato Arismendi
Premiere: 2006 | Noverre Gesellschaft Stuttgart, Stuttgart/ Germany
Debut SPDC: 2012

Ballet 101, by Eric Gauthier, is an eight-minute solo that plays with classical dance. Based on the five positions of ballet, the choreographer tells other 96 possible variants by making reference to choreographers – William Forsythe, George Balanchine, Glen Tetley, Marius Petipa, John Cranko and Eric Gauthier – and to established ballets – such as Romeo and Juliet and Onegin. “It’s a vibrant ballet, which has a blast at the end”, says Renato Arismendi, reassembler of the work. This is the first version of the text translated into Portuguese.

Choreography and costume: Marco Goecke
Music: Pierre Louis Garcia-Leccia (Ohimé – tema Aka), Antony & The Johnsons (Another Word – tema Shake That Debil)
Lighting: Udo Haberland
Restaging: Giovanni Di Palma
Costume execution: Madalena Machado (Arte & Cia)
Dramaturgy: Nadja Kadel
Execution of scenic objects: Fábio Brando (FCR Artistic Productions)
Premiere: 2009 | Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Rotterdam/Netherlands
Debut SPDC: 2011

Inspired by the music of Antony & The Johnsons and by the astronomical phenomenon of the supernovas – stars that explode with brightness as they die – Marco Goecke created this work in 2009 to Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. Supernova is choreography full of contrasts, in which death and life, dark and light, are linked by the energy of each body. The dancers mysteriously appear and disappear on stage and their movement is characterized by very quick, precise and controlled sequences that make the bodies vibrate. To Goecke, each movement can happen only once. “You can always make it quicker, so, it will hardly exist in the end”. São Paulo Dance Company is the first ballet company in Brazil to dance a work from Goecke.

Choreography: John Cranko (1927-1973)
Music: Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880)
Costume: Arte & Cia.
Restaging: Richard Cragun
Premiere: 1972 | Stuttgart Ballet, Munich/Germany
Debut SPDC: 2011

Legend is a neoclassical pas de deux immortalised by Márcia Haydée and Richard Cragun, which tells in gentle steps the lyrical love between a man and a woman by the confidence and surrender of the movements and by the bodies’ fusion in a delicate balance. John Cranko’s choregraphy (1927-1973) was inspired in the legend Galina Ulanova’s tunic (1910-1998) received by Richard Cragun and offered to Márcia Haydée. Ulanova started her professional career in the Kirov Ballet in 1928 and she was prima ballerina in the Bolshoi Ballet from 1944 to 1962. Her plastic movements, her perfect technique, her versatility and expressive dance became emblematic. The tunic worn by Ulonova was again used by Márcia in the première of Legend on 29th June 1972. The music Legend,op. 17, used by Cranko in the choreography was composed by the Polish violinist Henryck Wieniawski (1835-1880), as a love confession to his future wife Isabel Hampton. The film The Turning Point 1977, directed by Herbert Ross, reveals part of this choreography. The Sao Paulo Companhia de Dança’s new assembly of Legend is signed by Richard Cragun, this being the first time that this piece is presented by a company in Brazil.

Choreography, scenario and costume: Marco Goecke
Music: The Firebird (Berceuse and Final), by Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Lightning: Udo Haberland | Version for SPDC: Wagner Freire
Restaging: Giovanni Di Palma
Dramaturgy: Nadja Kadel
Premiere:2010 | Theater aan het Vrijthof , Maastricht/Netherlands
Debuit SPDC: 2017

Marco Goeke created this pas de deux to the music of Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird, with premiered in 1910 – in the 100th anniversary of the masterpiece, during the Holland Dance Festival (2010). Goeke takes what at that time was wholly in keeping with the character of the original Russian fairytale – Ivan Tsarevich’s fight against the magician Koschei to the captive Tsarevna and her playmates – and remodels it into an encounter between two shy creatures. For the music he chooses: the lullaby that the mythical firebird uses to put the magician and his companions to sleep, adding the triumphant finale. His duet can also be interpreted as a meeting between the firebird and the prince, two creatures of different natures: a bird that dances and a human who flies, says Nadja Kadel – Drammaturgy.

Choreography, conception, scenario and costume: Jirí Kylián
Music: Sechs Deustsche Tänze KV 571, de Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Lighting: Joop Caboort
Restaging: Patrick Delcroix
Technical adaptation: Erick van Houten
Execution of scenario and costumes: Fábio Brando (FCR Artistic Productions)
Premiere: 1987 | Het Muziektheater Amsterdam, Amsterdam / Netherlands
Debut SPDC: 2010

Sechs Tänze, by Kylian, is a work that combines dance and humor. According to the words of Kylián: “Mozart’s music was the main element for the creation of the Sechs Tänze. I suppose he was a funny man as he knew how to use sense of humor. To be able to dance Sechs Tänze one should be fast and put on a mask. It´s like being yourself and not at the same time. Pretending you want something or not. It´s like being manipulated today, tomorrow and yesterday. SPDC was the first dance company in Brazil to dance a Kylián´s piece.

Choreographer: Marie Chouinard
Music: Prèlude à L´après-midi d´un Faune, by Claude Debussy (1862-1818)
Costume: Marie Chouinard and Vandal and Luc Courchesne
Lighting: Alain Lortie
Lighting consultant: François Marceau
Lighting adaptation to SPDC: Wagner Freire
Makeup: Jacques-Lee Pelletier
Art direction: Isabella Poirier
Rehearsal direction: Carol Prieur
Costume remodeled: Vandal
Rehearsal: Allan Falieri
Premiere: 1994 | Festival Danse Canada, Ottawa/Canada
Debut SPDC: 2010

When Stéphane Mallarmé wrote Prélude à l’après-midi d´un Faune in 1876, he wanted to write poetry for the theater. The poem inspired Claude Debussy to compose Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (Prélude à l´après-midi d´un Faune), in 1894. In Paris in 1912, Vaslav Nijinsky created his first choreography, based on the poem. The work was permeated with a ritualistic, sensual tone inspired by the movements of the Greek friezes. When Marie Chouinard created her Faun, she chose to study the photos of Nijinsky’s choreography taken by Adolphe Meyer and put together a piece that was based on horizontality, as in the original choreography. However, in the solo, the seven nymphs of the 1912 performance turn into dreams, revealed through the lighting design.

Choreography: George Balanchine (1904-1983)
Music: Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1983)
Costume: Tânia Agra
Restaging: Ben Huys
Premiere: 1947| City Center of Music and Drama, Nwe Yourk/United States
Debut SPDC: 2010

Balanchine evokes a period in which classical dance flourished, with Theme and Variations. The Final Movement of Suite No. 3 consists of 12 variations. At the beginning, 12 dancers and a leading couple present the themes that are then recaptured throughout the choreography. The work demands a great deal of its interpreters because, like all of Balanchine’s works, the technical stamina, lightness, strength, skill and virtuosity in the imbalances are necessary. In the course of the work, the couple merges their involvement with the corps de ballet, and the work ends with a grand polonaise with 26 dancers.
The presentation of Theme and Variations, a Balanchine Ballet® is made through an agreement with The George Balanchine Trust and was produced in accordance with the standards of the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique® established and provided by the Trust.

Choreography: George Balanchine (1904-1983)
Music: Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Costume: Barbara Karinska
Restaging: Ben Huys
Premiere: 1960| City Center of Music and Drama, Nwe York/United States
Debut SPDC: 2009

This George Balanchine choreography is an eight-minute work that combines classical with and neoclassical techniques, in a tribute to romantic ballet. The ballerina plays with a vertical axis as she dances, with a special command of balance and imbalance. For the male dancers, the challenge lies in the combination of difficult spins, the speed of the movements, and the great leaps.
The presentation of the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, a Balanchine Ballet® is made through an agreement with The George Balanchine Trust and was produced in accordance with the standards of the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique® established and provided by the Trust.

Choreography: Nacho Duato
Music: Hassan Hakmoun, Adam Rudolph, Juan Alberto Arteche, Javier Paxariño, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Velez, Kusur and Sarkissian
Lighting: Nicolás Fischtel
Costume: Luis Devota and Modesto Lomba
Restaging: Hilde Koch and Tony Fabre (1964-2013)
Organization and original production: Carlos Iturrioz Mediart Producciones SL (Spain)
Duration/cast: 23 minutes with 14 dancers
Premiere: 2005 | Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Chicago/United States
Debut SPDC: 2009 | Teatro Sérgio Cardoso, São Paulo/SP – Brazil

Nacho Duato was inspired by the nature of Valencia, surrounded by sea and sun, and by Mediterranean aromas, colors and flavors, to create Gnawa. The Gnawas are a mystical Islamic fellowship. Duato is interested in gravity and the use of the solo as key elements in constituting his dance. This interest is renewed in a ritualistic tone involving a musical trance that leads to (and is driven by) the movement of the bodies.

Choreography: George Balanchine (1904-1983)
Music: Serenade for Strings in C, op. 48 (1880), by Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Original lighting: Roland Bates
Lighting adaptation to SPDC: Wagner Freire
Costume: Barbara Karinska and Arte & Cia
Restaging: Ben Huys
Estreia mundial:1935 | Adelphi Theater, New York/United States
Debut SPDC: 2008

Serenade was created by George Balanchine for the premiere of his School of American Ballet. The work started with exercises that sought to show his students the fundamental differences between the ballet classroom and dance presented on stage. The choreographer incorporated unusual formations into the piece, such as a group of seventeen or five dancers, and incidents, such as the tardiness of one of them, the gesture another makes to protect herself from the sun, and the fall of a third one, to renew the tradition of classical dance.
The presentation of Serenade, a Balanchine Ballet® is made through an agreement with The George Balanchine Trust and was produced in accordance with the standards of the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique® established and provided by the Trust.

Choreographer: Bronislava Nijinska (1891-1972)
Music: Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Costume and scenario: Natalia Gontcharova (1881-1962)
Costume execution: Fábio Brando (FCR Produções Artísticas)
Rehearsal invited: Suzana Mafra
Restaging: Maria Palmeirim
Premiere: 1932 | Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris/France
Debut SPDC: 2008

Despite the seemingly trivial theme – a marriage of traditional Russian peasant presented in four movements – Les Noces is setting a new artistic innovation, for its peculiar geometry of motion and its scenic austerity, combined with the originality of the Stravinsky composition. Besides its cultural relevance, as the first ballet whose focus is through the female gaze, Les Noces incorporates dance movement to break the innovative use of modernism to the wedding rituals of ancient Russia to explore the possibilities of the dancers and bring new accents to the classical language. Nijinska draw lines with the bodies and abstract shapes in the spirit of constructivism.