Richard Siegal, photo Sergej Horowitz, from Siegal – The Bakery homepage

Bayerisches Staatsballet in Munich is an active part of Münchener Festspiele. This participating with a classical ballett,  La Fille mal Gardé by Frederic Ashton, and a contemporary program concisting of the famouse Merce Cunningham piece BIPED and a world premiere UNITXT by Richard Siegal (choreography, light, stage) with music by Carsten Nicolai in an interesting design by Konstantin Greie both presented at the Prinzregententheater gives the totale festival a “lighter” profile than if you only are looking at what is going on at the National Theater with Wagner, Verdi and the other operas.

Review by Henning Høholt

MUNICH: Therefore, with great pleasure, I went to beautiful Prinzregententheater, across the river, to attend both the two above mentioned productions, and became very happy surprised. The company is well. It can dance both the classical beautiful part and the intrigant comic details in La Fille mal Gardé, and form elegantly the demanding contemporary older BIPED (1999) and the latest new UNITXT with great virtuosity and body controle.

BIPED / 
Music by Gavin Bryars Biped / Carsten Nicolai, alva noto unitxt’

The production Exits and Entrances combines two highly virtuosic productions in one evening.

BIPED by Merce Cunningham

To add a piece by Merce Cunningham to the repertory of The Bavarian State Ballett has been a long awaited dream come true. The late choreographer Merce Cunningham himself was involved in discussing the possibility thereof, but unfortunately the opportunity didn´t materialize during his lifetime. The Bavarian State Ballet as a larger-sized company is very mindful when it comes to building repertory. We selected a piece that can be viewed as representative of Cunningham´s entire body of work. 45-minutes in length, it is a new challenge for the dancers and establishes Merce Cunningham as one of the most significant and distinguished 20th century choreographers – also in the repertory of European Companies.

UNITXT by Richard Siegal, foto Wilfried Hösl

Then there is Richard Siegal, who has become a household name in different contextual settings from New York to Paris to Munich, where he has shown impressive productions in recent years. His nearly scientific approach to the choreographic process is not unlike Cunningham´s. Siegal is sometimes aided in the creative process by newly invented computer technology and works closely with other influential artists – in the case of Unitxt, with German industrial designer, Konstantin Grcic
. American born Siegal was a student of Merce Cunningham in his youth and puts the focus of his choreography on virtuosity by employing an eclectic range of movement and pushing the boundaries of what the human body is capable of.  Sensational, surprising and exciting best describe his work – this particular one was created on 

From UNITXT, choreography Richard Siegal, foto: Wilfried Hösl (?)

Lisa-Maree Cullum, Tigran Mikayelyan, Zuzana Zahradníková, Séverine Ferrolier, Katherina Markowskaja, Javier Amo, Karen Azatyan, Wlademir Faccioni and the ensemble of the Bavarian State Ballet. On 05 July, 2013, Richard Siegal received the Dance Award of the city of Munich. 

In UNITXT we enjoyed the following dancers: Lisa-Maree Cullum, Sophia Carolina Fernandes, Stephanie Hancoz, Katherina Markowskaja, Claudia Ortiz Arraiza, Mia Rudic, Zuzana Zahradniková, Javier Amo, Léonard Engel, Wladimir Faccioni, Dustin Klein and Tigran Mikayelyan.

Poster and program, Design Bureau Mirko Borsche, photo: Wilfried Hösl

In BIPED we enjoyed the following dancers:   Francesca dell´Aria, Martina Balabanova, Luiza Bernardes Bertho, Maria Sascha Khan, Teegan Kollmann, Mai Kono, Antonia McAuley, Nicha Rodboon, Vittorio Alberton, Martin Milner, Gregory Mislin, Ruben de Monte, Erik Murzagaliyev and Olzhas Tarlanov. 

The original music composed for this ballett by Gavin Bryars was performed live by the Gavin Bryars ensemble: Gavin Bryars, Audrey Riley, James Woodrow, Morgan Goff, led by the composer

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The deliciouse stage was by Shelley Eshkar and Paul Kaiser. Beautiful costumes in a shining material in blue colours which during the way was covered by a see through jacket was by Suzanne Gallo and light by Aaron Coop.

The autumn/winter season 2013/2014 with the Bavarian State Ballet, starts September 21th with John Cranko´s Romeo and Julia. – Musik: Sergej Prokofiev.

IVAN LISKA is balletdirector for The Bavarian State Ballett, Munich.