photo: Jubal Battisti.
At the end of August, the operas and theaters of Berlin will be able to reopen again after the lockdown. We are really happy about this but it’s not going to be the same with a lot of restrictions on stage and behind the scenes, as well as way fewer seats in the audience room. A lot of the new productions we were looking forward to were scrapped because they either didn’t comply with distance rules or could simply not be rehearsed due to the restrictions.
For a few months now the dancers of Staatsballett Berlin were not able to perform nor practice together. In an earlier stage of the lockdown, we already shared a really wonderful video initiated and edited by Principal Dancer Ksenia Ovsyanick that showed the dancers performing in their homes and gardens during self-isolation. Now, a few months later, the dancers were able to leave their houses and practice again, but still not together like they were used to. Following the big success of the first video, they now released two more videos that we want to share with you here.
The first one that was filmed by Jubal Battisti shows a part of the piece Sunny by Emanuel Gat performed in the Hasenheide park at with distance. I actually never saw this piece live, but I’m glad I have this version in the park now instead that shows the contemporary and cool side of the Staatsballett Berlin.
The second video that was shot and edited by Olaf Kollmannsperger is more along the lines of the dancing in isolation video by Ksenia. This time 30 of the ensemble dancers perform little improvisations in front of the places they usually perform at: Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Komische Oper, and Deutsche Oper. This video was also initiated and directed by one of the dancers themselves: solo dancer Arshak Ghalumyan.
