Cottbus

Not just talking, but also listening — that’s what Brice Asnar's first choreographic work for Ballett Cottbus is about. The title Hīeran is the Old English word for listening and thus refers to an earlier form of this practice, which, according to Asnar, we have lost today. Not so in the theater, where the audience is forced to listen. But is dance the ideal art form for exploring listening? At the premiere in early May, one can only hear the ensemble breathing now and then. The sounds of the dancers' movements are absorbed by a velvety carpet on the chamber stage of the Staatstheater. But even without us being able to hear them, the dancers tell a lot in the almost hour-long piece.