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YOUNG DANCERS’ EVENING AT THE FINNISH NATIONAL BALLET
The young dancers’ evening of the Finnish National Ballet offers a captivating mix of the classic and contemporary. The highlight of the evening is the premiere of German choreographer Marco Goecke’s Blushing, the winner of the 2003 Prix Dom Pérignon, which was originally created for the Stuttgart Ballet. The Finnish National Ballet has also previously performed Goecke’s compelling choreography, Lonesome George.
In addition to Blushing, the evening features excerpts of the ballet La Bayadère, and select contemporary dance pieces.
La bayadère
Pas d’action from La Bayadère
La Bayadère is one of the cornerstones of classical ballet. Set in India, the ballet tells the story of the love between the warrior Solor and the temple dancer, which cannot be fulfilled.
The artistic director of the Finnish National Ballet, Javier Torres, has created a scene from the ballet for the Youth Company based on the original choreography by Marius Petipa. The scene features a pas d’action dance, in which Solor is engaged to Princess Gamzatti, who has been chosen as his bride.
Fragments of time
“One of the things I love to do is to go back to my earliest memories of when I was a child. Every time these memories reappear, I try to understand why they come to my mind and especially why at that particular moment.
Our memories are often connected to the present. Is there always a reason for a memory to come back or is it sometimes a pure coincidence? Whether from the past or the present, these “moments” need each other in order to keep creating the future.
Fragments of Time is about memories and moments that haven’t yet become memories. How they coexist, and how the past and future can be integrated into a single moment. I also tried to highlight the preciousness of youth. That limitless energy, enthusiasm, and determination.
In this creation, we move from neoclassical style to a more contemporary aesthetic, from classical music to darker, futuristic sounds. I think it really represents the journey and the phases I’ve been lucky enough to go through as a dancer and as a person.“
– Julian Nicosia
Julian Nicosia
Julian Nicosia was born in France. He first developed his skills as an acrobatic rock dancer. He joined the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon for classical training from 2006 to 2010. He started a professional career in the Lyon Opera Ballet 2010 and moved to the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company (DFDC) in 2015. Nicosia created the choreography for a piece called How long is now-Part1 in 2017 and the choreography for a filmed creation entitled An Endless Shape in 2019. After being Assistant Choreographer and Ballet Master for the DFDC, he moved towards a career as a freelance choreographer.
Blushing
“Blushing”, explains Marco Goecke, “means ‘to go red’. My starting point was to investigate what is happening inside a person when he is going red. In my work I start from individual phenomena such as a word, a movement.” This is how the choreographer explains the piece that constitutes the beginning of his international career.
In 2003 Goecke created the piece for the Stuttgart Ballet. Before it was performed there, however, he won first prize for “Blushing” in the international choreography competition Prix Dom Pérignon in Hamburg. The jury – one of its members being the Russian ballet legend Natalia Makarova – decided on this unconventional piece after lengthy discussions.
Today Goecke’s language of movement is so established that the German dance critic Horst Koegler has spoken of a “Système Goeckien”. In 2003, however, it was very surprising that a jury, which up until then had not shown any particular preference for the avant-garde, voted for, of all things, “Blushing”.
The sound collage in “Blushing” switches between punk rock, street music and silence. Within this silence, however, the dancers can be heard breathing, tapping, stamping and sliding. In contrast to later choreographies, in “Blushing” there is no stage set. Goecke still values the clarity and simplicity of this creation. Precisely because this is a piece where there are no props or stage set at all, everything is concentrated on the artistic presence of the dancers.
Marco Goecke
Marco Goecke completed his ballet studies at the Heinz-Bosl Foundation Ballet Academy in Munich and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He worked as a dancer at the Berlin State Opera and the Hagen Theatre, where he also created his first own choreography, Loch, in 2000.
Goecke began choreographing for various dance companies around the world and has created nearly a hundred works in a few years. He has been a resident choreographer at the Stuttgart Ballet since 2005, at the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam from 2006 to 2012, and at Gauthier Dance Stuttgart from 2019 to 2023, as well as an associate choreographer at Nederlands Dans Theater since 2013.
From 2019 to 2023, Goecke was the artistic director of the Hanover State Ballet, and from 2025 he will serve as the artistic director and resident choreographer of the Basel Theatre Ballet Company. Goecke has been awarded several international cultural prizes, such as the Nijinsky Prize in 2006. His work Blushing for the Stuttgart Ballet won the Dom Pérignon Prize in 2003. His piece Lonesome George was part of the Finnish National Ballet’s repertoire in 2019.
Photo: Rahi Rezvani
the youth company of the national ballet
Kansallisbaletin nuorisoryhmä
14 young dancers
Established in 2013, the Youth Company of the Finnish National Ballet comprises 14 young dancers. Approximately one third of the international group are Finnish, while the rest come from the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, the United States, France, and South Korea. In addition to their own performances, the dancers of the Youth Company also participate in Main Stage productions with other dancers of the Finnish National Ballet. The Youth Company is funded by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation.
J.S. Bach, Janiv Oron, Michael Anklin, Kelly Lee Owens
Lighting Design
Vesa Pohjolainen
Blushing
Choreography, costumes and lighting design
Marco Goecke
Music
Tom Waits, Garbage
Cast
Cast will be published later.
Stage
This performance is in Almi Hall
The Almi Hall stage is the smaller stage of the Opera House. Entrance to Almi Hall is located on the Töölönlahti bay side.
The seating in Almi Hall has a slight incline in rows 1–7, with a steeper incline starting from row 8. Additional rows A–E are on a flat floor but are not used for all performances.
Please note that the Almi Hall stage is about one meter high. Therefore, we do not recommend purchasing tickets for the front rows if you are coming to the performance with, for example, small children.
