Side Steps

Newcomer

Emanuele Babici

What choreographer has an invitation from the Royal Ballet on their resume at the age of 21? Emanuele Babici, a company dancer with the Stuttgarter Ballett, was delighted to have the opportunity to participate in this year's "International Draft Works" in London. The young talent format is aimed at aspiring choreographers — and Emanuele Babici's ballets have been ambitious ever since he made his debut as a Cranko student in 2022 with La nascita di Venere. Back then, he moved 22 fellow students with classical elegance and grace. Since then, the Italian from Trieste, who completed his training in 2022 and joined the Stuttgarter Ballett as an eleve, has created a total of six pieces, three of them as part of the Noverre evenings, where he most recently told a story of becoming independent in Daydreaming.

Babici values ​​the Stuttgarter Ballett's tradition of promoting choreographic talent as much as the passion for narrative ballet that is cultivated there. "I love dramatic ballet," he says. This enthusiasm permeates each of his pieces, including his latest trio: Heartquake to music by Rachmaninoff. "I want to explore feelings through dance," the choreographer explains his inspiration. Heartquake, he adds, is about "the relationship between three people, how it grows and changes." The work also convinced Maggie Foyer, the critic for the online platform Seeing Dance, who wrote about the premiere in April: "The Stuttgart Ballet's Heartquake was a surprise in a program of new works: a romantic relationship, traditionally costumed and choreographed in academic ballet vocabulary. But with so many well-trained ballet dancers, we need choreographers who use and develop the language of ballet alongside more contemporary styles." And he continues: "The theme is brilliant, and Emanuele Babici's choreography is bold and beautiful, especially in the partner work."

Babici doesn't want to rest on his laurels; he is already preparing his next two projects.

Andrea Kachelrieß

www.stuttgarter-ballett.de