Dancers: Zuhal Balkan, Erhan Güzel
Copyright picture: Yaşar Saraçoğlu

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Place a chill rehearsal. dancers: Maggie Mullin, Ezra Thomson. copyright picture: Nadja Kadel

In spring 1965, a New York Times critic wrote enthusiastically about the young English violoncelloist Jacqueline du Pré: „She played like an angel“. Listening to a recording of Camille Saint Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 interpreted by du Pré, Marco Goecke was inspired to create „Place a chill“ for Pacific Northwest Ballet. The Cello Concerto was du Pré’s last record before she had to stop playing in public because of an incurable illess, during which she continuously lost the control over her movement and body, dying in a wheelchair at the age of 42 in 1987. The quivering, shaking and flattering movements of Marco Goecke’s choreographies might, at a first glimpse, look like a loss of body control, but in fact they are exactly the opposite: they are the result of a very precise and detailed rehearsal process, a sophisticated elaboration of every single movement. If they rarely show the symmetrical formations which are so characteristic for classical and neoclassical ballet, they do create another kind of order: an organic and dynamic order where nothing is left to case. But the order which appears in Goecke’s choreographys does not try to compete with the heavenly or angelic hierarchies evoked by the music – which in Seattle will be performed live by orchestra. He rather builds up an antithetical world: a world in which darkness, evil and the opacity of filthy materia are predominant. Goecke found an explicit formulation for this when he worked with the dancer Ezra Thomson during a rehearsal: „You have to show up like the devil in person“. However, „Place a chill“ does not argue for a sharp dualism between the two worlds, The threatening destructiveness of earthly life and the angelic sphere are not independent from each other, they interact and are inseparably connected. It is the communication between the two spheres which produces the tension that moves the choreography.

Nadja Kadel

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DANSE: Tell us, please, about your work and agency in Berlin and the “Uwe Scholz Legacy”?

NADJA KADEL: My agency for artist management is specialized in dance, we represent choreographers, dancers and companies as well as other artists involved in dance. Associated partners are Ballet companies, opera houses, festivals, sometimes also fashion designers and enterprises.
In January 2009 I have started to represent the legacy of Uwe Scholz , which belongs to his mother, and since then we have presented his “2nd Symphony by Robert Schumann” at the Estonian National Ballet in Tallinn, “Jeunehomme Piano Concerto” with Ballett Karlsruhe and the Pas de Deux of “Jeunehomme” with the Staatsballett Berlin, “7th symphony by Beethoven” with Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse, “The Creation of the World” by Haydn with Ballet Posnan in Poland and currently his “7th Symphony” is being staged with Ankara Ballet.

DANSE: What do you like mostly in the chorographies of Uwe Scholz?

NADJA KADEL: I first saw his pieces in the 1980ies with Stuttgart ballet, when my mother took me to see performances there, and I simply loved them. He created very intricate Pas de Deux and gorgeous formations for the corps. But his choreographies are not only absolutely beautiful to watch, they also helped me to get a deeper understanding of the music. And last but not least some of his pieces have a great sense of humour!

DANSE: According to your experience, how should be the best way to bring and teach the intentions of Uwe Scholz in a such way, so that the dancers will be able to feel and understand the essence of it and pass Uwe's message to the audience?

NADJA KADEL: I work with at team of former dancers and ballet masters and sometimes also with a choreologist in order to restage his works. Experts who have worked with Scholz over many years and dancers that he created major roles on. They know exactly what his idea was, they feel and understand the essence and can pass their incredible knowledge to future generations.
Currently I am also working on a book publication about 18 of his best works and therefore interviewed 18 artists who worked closely with him during the creation process. The interesting thing they all agree with, is that quite often Uwe did change pieces when he restaged them – adopting them to a certain quality of a dancer and also sometimes recreating the costumes of the scenery. This means that he did not think of his choreographies as something static.
Last year, for example, when we restaged the “Creation of the world” and could not use the original set due to a copyright issue, the ballet master worked together with a visual artist and a photographer, in order to create a new stage design, which would be in sense and the aesthetic of Uwe. Of course something like this is always difficult if the choreographer himself cannot be asked anymore, but the result eventually became more current, more close to our present time, than the original one and I hope Uwe would have liked it.

DANSE: What is the major point for a Company, Ballet School, or Artist to dance and show a choreography of Uwe Scholz? How should they proceed, if they want to have one of his ballet?

NADJA KADEL: When I talk to dancers they are usually very enthusiastic about dancing the choreographies of Scholz. He created some timeless masterpieces that are not only extremely beautiful to watch for the audience but also technically challenging and also something like a calling card for a company. An interested company can either contact me via my website www.nadjakadel.de or just call me on the phone.

DANSE: Tell us also, please, a little about your futur projects and how do you think to
develop the concept regarding the “Uwe Scholz Legacy”?

NADJA KADEL: Future projects for 2011 are the “Creation of the world” with Haydn’s music in Brno, Czech Republic, “Jeunehomme Pas de Deux” with the State ballet in Vienna, “2nd Symphony” in Istanbul, and the “Rachmaninov Piano Concerto” in Tokio.
In general I am trying to bring his pieces to places that have not danced Scholz before, companies that are big enough and have a good classical basis – such as some of the Eastern European companies or Japan.
Further I am supporting workshops about his movement language, such as in Leipzig, with the Ballet Academy in Monte Carlo or in Tokio in order to introduce younger dancers to his creations.
An the third thing is that I am cooperating with the German Dance Archive in Leipzig, which owns most of his legacy. Further, I am in touch with German Universities that have a focus on dance and theatre science in order to foster a more analytic approach to his work.

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