Swan Lakes

Gauthier Dance//Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart is a young, dynamic company of 16 highly individual, versatile artists directed by the dancer, choreographer and musician Eric Gauthier. Since 2007, the company has established itself in the German dance scene and has long since become an international brand. The repertoire includes works by Gauthier himself as well as famous contemporary choreographers such as Mauro Bigonzetti, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Marie Chouinard, Sharon Eyal, Andonis Foniadakis, William Forsythe, Itzik Galili, Jiří Kylián, Lightfoot/León, Hans van Manen, Marcos Morau, Ohad Naharin and Sasha Waltz. In addition to the performances at its home base Theaterhaus Stuttgart, the company is busy touring international dance cities, including Toronto, New York, Tel Aviv, Venice, Amsterdam, St. Petersburg, Monaco, Quebec City, Montreal, Berlin and Chicago. 

Theaterhaus Stuttgart, which opened its doors in 1985, is a unique cultural centre which presents theatre, music, dance, cabaret, comedy, literature, political discussions and more on a total of four stages. Not only has Theaterhaus had a long tradition of producing and presenting dance theatre, but best known are the collaborations between Marcia Haydée and Ismail Ivo. It has also traditionally been a venue for the freelance dance scene in Stuttgart. Gauthier Dance is the First Resident Contemporary Dance Company in Stuttgart.  

Along with its contemporary theatre and dance ensembles, comedy, cabaret, jazz, rock and new music, it is also an integral part of the Theaterhaus program. The building complex also hosts political discussions, readings, lectures, exhibitions and events for children and young people. With over 350,000 visitors yearly, the Theaterhaus is one of the Stuttgart region’s major institutions. The building houses a concert hall, three theatres, a sports centre, rehearsal spaces and workshops, a two-storey foyer with food outlets, a large beer garden in the inner courtyard and a restaurant. An average of 900 performances and events take place here annually. Harbourfront Centre is proud to present the company for the first time in Toronto.  

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It only took Eric Gauthier a few years to make it from charismatic soloist of the Stuttgart Ballet to high-profile international choreographer and artistic director of one of Germany’s most successful companies, Gauthier Dance//Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart. Top companies worldwide have taken Gauthier’s works into their repertoire, among them the Staatsballett Berlin, the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Ballet, the Stuttgart Ballet, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam or Het Nationale Ballet Amsterdam. He is also known for his forays into other genres, for example with choreographies for the stage show of panda rapper Cro, the cinema hit Mackie Messer – Brecht’s Threepenny Film (2018), the Keep on Dancing campaign of the fashion company Marc Cain or the Grand Show ARISE at the Friedrichstadtpalast Berlin (both in 2021).

Moreover, Gauthier can now also be seen in front of the camera, as the presenter and dance expert of the SWR documentary series Dance Around the World, which takes the television audience to the world’s great dance cities. The first three episodes show the dance scenes in Tel Aviv, St. Petersburg and the Netherlands and are available in the media library of the German national channel ARD. Further shoots in London and Cuba are planned for the near future. In the summer of 2015, the premiere edition of COLOURS International Dance Festival, conceived by Gauthier and produced by Theaterhaus Stuttgart, took the public, the media and the dance world by storm. With an expanded program in Stuttgart’s city centre and an even more prestigious artistic line-up, the biennial event is now one of the most important dance festivals in Europe. Gauthier has also received great international recognition with The Dying Swans Project, comprising of 16 short films for the 16 members of the company, realized by 16 choreographers, 16 filmmakers and 16 composers – adding up to 64 artistic participants and 48 external commissions.

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Cayetano Soto

Cayetano Soto is a Gauthier Dance regular. It is hard to say by whom he is loved more – by the dancers or the audiences at Theaterhaus. His flamboyant choreographies CONRAZONCORAZON and Malasangre are two of the greatest hits in the company’s repertoire: dynamic and set to hot Latin rhythms, the dancers dressed up in fantastic costumes by Soto. His trademarks are the unusual ideas and the eccentric but compassionate worldview. The Spanish choreographer feels drawn towards the seekers – people and artists who do not fit into our concepts, such as the Cuban soul legend La Lupe, who inspired Malasangre. His Swan Lake (UNTITLED FOR 7 DANCERS), too, is exciting, for Soto aims at nothing less than the core of the myth: the moment of transformation from human to animal, from woman to swan. The magical soundscape to go with his piece was created by the young composer and cellist Peter Gregson.  

Marie Chouinard

No other female choreographer is so firmly rooted in the avant-garde as Marie Chouinard. Following twelve trailblazing years as a solo performer and choreographer, she founded Compagnie Marie Chouinard in 1990. In more than 50 works, she has celebrated dance as a sacred, spiritual art, always searching for “the mystery”: the invisible, primordial energy of life in our bodies. Masterpieces such as Les 24 Préludes de Chopin, the controversial Après-midi d’un Faune (with its all-women cast) and bODY_rEMIX / les_vARIATIONS_gOLDBERG, Act 1 feature in the repertoire of the world’s most influential dance companies. Then it was the turn of Gauthier Dance. The new creation has marked another step in inspiring cooperation. At the first COLOURS Festival 2015, Compagnie Marie Chouinard premiered soft virtuosity, still humid and on the edge of great acclaim. Chouinard was charmed by the warmth of the festival team and the Stuttgart audience and has stayed in touch with fellow Canadian Eric Gauthier ever since. Theaterhaus Stuttgart is excited about the first direct collaboration with Marie Chouinard: LE CHANT DU CYGNE : LE LAC, an immersive, sensual experience where dance, electronic music and video projections merge. The centre from which the dancers fill this unique contemporary creation with life is a simple, refined architectural element.

Marco Goecke

As Artist-in-Residence, Marco Goecke was associated with the company until the summer of 2023. The familiarity grew over the years and found expression in increasingly personal creations for Gauthier Dance. Two full-length ballets are highlights of the collaboration: Nijinski and Do You Love Gershwin? With a story ideally suited to Goecke’s dark worlds and his fierce, quivering aesthetics, Swan Lake has all it takes to fire the imagination of the famous choreographer. With Goecke, though, there is no chance of the romantic topos of the female swans. He set about his piece, Shara Nur, with a statement: a self-confident unisex cast. 

Hofesh Shecter

Hofesh Shechter is recognized as one of the most exciting artists making stage work today. His dark, visceral, vibrant universe positively bursts with innovation and political relevance. The choreographer is renowned for composing atmospheric musical scores to complement the unique physicality of his movement. His dual artistic talent was shaped by his years as a dancer with the legendary Batsheva Dance Company and his music studies in Paris. The partnership between Gauthier Dance and Hofesh Shechter was born in 2017 when Shechter’s iconic Uprising was part of the opening production Mega Israel for the second COLOURS International Dance Festival. His company was also represented with the sensational German premiere of Grand Finale. Since then, Shechter and Gauthier Dance have kept in touch. SWAN CAKE was their first collaboration. It focuses on the dark undercurrent of the ballet classic. Instead of the beautiful, the pure and the clean, Shechter shows us driven people who have no home, place, or choice – but desires, fantasies and dreams. And in doing so, he makes us understand that a unique kind of beauty is just waiting to come to light beneath the surface.  

Artistic Director Eric Gauthier Company Coach Egon Madsen Ballet Masters Luis Eduardo Sayago, Cesar Locsin Production, Company Management Inga Kunz Production Management Alexandra Brenk Artistic Management Daria Mosunova, Maria Strom Artistic Coordination: Costumes Gudrun Schretzmeier Technical Production Management Mario Daszenies, Holger Reuker Touring ecotopia dance productions 

Dancers Bruna Andrade, Andrew Cummings, Anneleen Dedroog, Karlijn Dedroog, Barbara Melo Freire, Shai Ottolenghi, Luca Pannacci, Garazi Perez Oloriz, Rina Pinsky, Arnau Redorta Ortiz, Izabela Szylinska, Sidney Elizabeth Turtschi, Locke Egidio Venturato, Giovanni Visone, Shawn Wu, Shori Yamamoto

Untitled For 7 Dancers

Choreography Cayetano Soto Set, Costume Design Cayetano Soto, Dario Suša Lighting Design Cayetano Soto Dramaturgy Dario Suša, Esther Dreesen-Schaback Assistant to the Choreographer Mikiko Arai Music Peter Gregson 

LE CHANT DU CYGNE : LE LAC

Choreographer, Set, Costume, Lighting, Video Designer Marie Chouinard Rehearsal Director Lucie Vigneault Assistant to the Lighting Director Chantal Labonté Production Manager Jérémie Boucher Composer Louis Dufort. The work includes Un violador en tu camino by and with the courtesy of Colectivo LASTESIS. 

Shara Nur

Choreography Marco Goecke Lighting Design Udo Haberland Set, Costume Design Michaela Springer Music Björk, Jesse Callaert

Swan Cakes

Choreography, Composition Hofesh Shechter Lighting Design Mario Daszenies, Hofesh Shechter Costume Design Gudrun Schretzmeier, Hofesh Shechter Assistant Kim Kohlmann

A warm thank you to our sponsors STIHL, Fashion-und Lifestylehaus Breuninger in Stuttgart and Law Firm CMS Germany as well as to oursupporters Kästner GmbH & Co. KG, the First Friends and Friends of Gauthier Dance, the Gerhard and Paul-Hermann Bauder Foundation, the Foundation Herbert Metzger und Anneliese Metzger-Nord and the Dr. Roland & Brigitte Schmid Foundation. Theaterhaus Stuttgart is sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Bank, the City of Stuttgart and the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg.