Ludwigshafen, on tour

It's hard to believe that Akram Khan had never before created a piece for a German company. Turning of Bones for Gauthier Dance at the Theaterhaus Stuttgart, which opened the Colours festival, is more than just a premiere, especially since the ensemble immerses itself completely in Khan's cosmos. With a simple, semi-transparent curtain that borders the stage in a semicircle to the rear and sides, Khan creates a microcosm from which there is no exit for those within it—at least not alive. In this world lives a kind of archaic tribe, a closed community that admits no one, literally: A young woman (Tuti Cedeño) wants to introduce a man (Stefano Gallelli) to the community, but the community treats him with hostility. Their "leader" (Giovanni Visone) even goes so far as to mock the stranger to ...