Magdeburg

Instead of recorded music, ballet director Jörg Mannes wanted a contemporary dance evening performed with the Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra. With Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich’s Drifting Out, set to the first movement of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, the first work was chosen: created in 2022 for Bern Ballett as a choreographic reflection on climate change. At first, silence: the dancers move across the stage in uniform lines, trapped in everyday routine—only Chiara Amato attempts to awaken those around her. Suddenly she is pressed in, the double bass intrudes threateningly into the silence. Amato is encircled, her dance filled with foreboding and concern. Ansa and Bacovich’s movement language is fluid, breath-driven, yet heavy. Gradually more strings enter the lento. ...