Raimund Hoghe

Boléro Variations (USA Premiere)

Raimund Hoghe first encountered Ravel’s Bolero when figure skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean gave a legendary ice dance performance at the Olympic Games in Sarajevo in 1984. Hoghe’s Variations pieces together different performances of the bolero (a genre of Spanish music created in the 18th century) from Eydie Gormé to Maria Callas, Benny Goodman to Tchaikovsky. Performed by six dancers, the piece highlights each body’s unique physicality with minimalist precision.

Inspired to perform by Pier Paolo Pasolini’s injunction to "Throw your body into the fight," Hoghe was born in Wuppertal, Germany, and began his career as a writer. Until 1990, he worked as dramaturge for Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal. In 1994, he produced his first solo for himself, Meinwärts, which together with the subsequent Chambre séparée (1997) and Another Dream (2000) made up a trilogy on the 20th century. Since 2002, Hoghe has choreographed group productions or duos that reinterpret classic dance pieces, including Swan Lake, 4 Acts (2005); Sacre — The Rite of the Spring (2004), with Lorenzo De Brabandere; Boléro Variations (2007) and L'Après-midi with Emmanuel Eggermont (2008).

Boléro Variations’ US tour is presented with the support of the Federal Foreign Office and the Goethe-Institut New York. With thanks to the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF). Produced by Cie Raimund Hoghe. Co-produced by Les Spectacles vivants, Centre Pompidou Paris (France), Festival d’Automne à Paris (France), Tanzquartier Wien (Austria) and Centre Chorégraphique National de Franche-Comté à Belfort (France). With the support of CULTURESFRANCE / Conseil Régional de Franche-Comté / DRAC Franche-Comté. With the financial support of Kulturamt der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf (Germany).

www.raimundhoghe.com

[Hoghe] opens up spaces between things, words, and songs for personal reminiscences and affective moments. They are moments for reflection but also for laughter. Gerald Siegmund