Overture

The Spanish choreographer Marcos Morau has emerged as a shooting star of the modern dance scene with his visually spectacular productions. He studied drama theory and choreography in his hometown of Valencia, as well as in Barcelona and New York, without training as a dancer himself. In 2005, he founded his own company, La Veronal, in Barcelona. With this experimental group of dancers and artists, whose members come from different arts sectors, he is a regular guest at the Tanz im August Festival in Berlin. His elaborate stage works have been shown in opera houses and theatres in Lyon, Zurich, Copenhagen and Basel, among others, and captivate audiences and the press alike. From the 2023/2024 season, he will be artist-in-residence at the Staatsballett Berlin where he will work on a new production for the first time with the Staatsballett ensemble and the Staatskapelle Berlin. Canadian dancer Crystal Pite was a member of the Ballet British Columbia and the Frankfurt Ballet under the direction of William Forsythe. She made her debut as a choreographer in 1990 with the Ballet BC. Since then, she has developed more than fifty dance pieces for the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris, the Royal Ballet, the Nederlands Dans Theater I, the Cullberg Ballet and Ballet Frankfurt, among others. Her exhilarating, unconventional work has won numerous international awards, confirming her place as one of the most outstanding artists in recent dance history. Angels’ Atlas was created by Crystal Pite for the National Ballet of Canada in 2020. It unfolds in front of a constantly changing light installation – a vast, unrecognisable landscape of light and matter. Against this fantastical backdrop, dancing bodies become a sign of human transience as well as vitality. Based on commissioned music by Owen Belton and choral pieces by Peter I. Tchaikovsky and Morten Lauridsen, Angels’ Atlas is a profound work. It is arranged by Crystal Pite for a large ensemble with her usual mastery of classical and modern dance, yet she does not shy away from the challenge of making complex human issues visually and emotionally tangible.