Mar 30

Mar 30 „Visionary Dances“, Première, Vienna State Ballet (Wiener Staatsballett), March 28th, 2026.

„Visionary Dances“, Première, Vienna State Ballet (Wiener Staatsballett), March 28th, 2026.

Visions… what a wonderful word this can be. Inspiring, ahead-looking, positive…

Sometimes in life, it is very good to take a certain distance from your everyday life and habits. After being away from Vienna for more than one month and having had no contact whatsoever with the world of Dance during this time, it felt quite good, even if extremely jet-lagged, to go to a Première again. Especially because out of the chosen three pieces, there were two I had never seen: Justin Peck’s „Heatscape“ and Wayne McGregor’s „Yugen“. I had already seen Tharp’s „In the Upper Room “ with music by Philip Glass, which premiered in 1986 and was labelled by the New York Times as “one of the greatest ballets of all time“, a statement I cannot agree with, as there are far more inspired (earlier) works by Twyla Tharp (was this statement made by my “idol”, critic Alastair MaCaulay?)

But perhaps I only want to make it quite clear that I had no real expectations yesterday.

Somehow, I was “free” from any form of the “anticipation syndrome”. And that is good (It does not happen frequently, at least with me!).

Copyright: Ricardo Leitner / a t t i t u d e

This combination seemed quite interesting. Three (relatively) short works musically consistently and very well framed (especially „Heatscape“ with the wonderful Martinů’s Concert #1 in D-Major, H 149 for Piano and Orchestra), as all „ingredients“ seemed also to be right. I did not count on a single factor that was determinant for the evening: monotonicity (and, sadly to say, the order of the factors would not have altered the final product as the use of more “dynamic contrast” between three works would have been highly welcome).

Atractively monotonous. That is how the evening’s concept turned out. Good and even brilliant in very many ways, but wrapped up in the cellophane of monotonicity. Misjudgments like this can happen, but this is not “the end of the world”.

Nonetheless, many performances and performers should be mentioned, highlighted and praised.

It is no secret that I believe that Alessandra Ferri’s direction period is bringing extremely important improvements to the company. A not very well-succeeded programme selection can happen, but the importance of seeing this company fully revitalised (and „alive“) again is a joy. To be able to „see“ members of the Corps de Ballet on stage is a pleasure. And when I say „see“, it is because one now realises the potential that has always existed, but was wasted because of a lack of perception. I mean good dancers, such as Kristián Pokorny, Laura Cislaghi, Godwin Merano, Sveva Gargiulo, Isabella Knights, Chiara Uderzo (and the list goes on and on), who are now present (and now “right there”) on stage. Each one of them has a strong personality. This is nearly a „rebirth“for the company.

Copyright: Ashley Taylor / Vienna State Ballet

In „Heatscape“, a piece that tends to “abuse of the right“ of using port de bras, Laura Fernandez Gromova and Alessandro Cavallo filled the stage with precision and presence. Miss Gromova, whose over-extensions in „Giselle“ I once mentioned, was very contained. A clean, harmonic, controlled and very correct display of professionalism.

Once more together Zsolt Török and Milda Luckuté made me think of what the future will bring to those dancers – it is quite visible for an observer that Mr Török (Demi Soloist) and Miss Luckuté (Corps de Ballet), whose work I have been following quite closely since the beginning of this season, have been given „quite a few“ Soloist roles during the last months.

Repeating myself, I must mention that ONCE MORE both have shown the right dose of chemistry on stage! Any promotions in the near future?

And, no question about that, in the third movement, Rinaldo Venutti dominated the stage. A strong dancer.

My favourite piece of the evening was definitely „Yugen“. McGregor at his very best. The whole cast was splendidly chosen. It is quite hard for me, in this case, to mention names separately, as every single performer gave their full sensibility and savoir-faire to the piece. Therefore (and you’ll have to be indulgent with me this time) I am breaking a rule and will do something I have never done before as I only have the option to mention all names: Bravo to Benjamin Alexander, Natalya Butchko, Victor Cagnin, Victor Caixeta, Antônio Casalinho, Davide Dato, Lars Philipp Gramlich, Milda Luckuté, Rossa Pierro and Cassandra Trenary.

A very good work that combines and unites orchestra, ballet, choir, and a lovely young boy’s voice (Dominik Baumgartner) as a soloist: Art.

And one cannot leave unmentioned the wonderful and subtle lighting by Lucy Carter. A joy!

As mentioned before, I do not consider „In the upper room“ a very inspired work by Tharp as, especially in the late 80s, she seemed to be going through a very „dry“ phase of her work, „light years“ apart from her glorious, more daring and corageous days of the late 60s, when she was choreographing on Graciela Figueroa (with whom I personally worked for a long time), Sheela Raj, wonderful Sara Rudner, the great Rose Marie Wright and herself. Later in her career, she turned out to be an extremely “U.S. choreographer” (I refuse to say the word “American” as America begins in Patagonia and ends in Alaska) and stopped “writing” more international choreographies. “In the upper room” represents for me the beginning of the third chapter in her career.

One must mention that the production’s coaching by Shelley Washington was absolutely flawless, but what else can one say (and do) about Glass’ monotonous and repetitious tape music?

There were a few highlights worth mentioning, especially (and choreographically) the parts danced by Margarita Fernandes, Gaia Fredianelli and Francesca Cesaro – definitely the best ones in the whole production! How I enjoy watching dancers who (truly) understand (and execute) the simplicity and needed precision of what Effacés, Croisés and Écartes really are… I enjoy nothing more than looking at people with this broad experience. And I must admit that I was once more fascinated by these details that everyone overlooks and (perhaps) ignores. Details. Extremely important ones!

Timoor Afshar, as usual, „shining“ on stage using his versatility and star-quality at the very best: Command, precision, style. Giorgio Fourés’ strong personality, strength and harmonic lines, and the corps de ballet dancer Hanno Oppermann, giving very good performances. Perhaps the ones from the evening that most deserve the adjective “physical”.

The public reacted nicely to the whole programme, and the applause was strong. So I must say that, even if the evening was monotonous for me, it seems to have been well-received by the audience at the sold-out Opera House.

Looking forward to reading your opinions about the show.

Ricardo Leitner

a t t i t u d e

Vienna, March 29th, 2026