Canzone per Ornella

Before becoming a dramatist then a choreographer, Raimund Hoghe used to write portraits, both of famous and unknown people, which were published in Die Zeit. That habit remains at the heart of his work as a choreographer, under the guise of solos addressed to famous figures—Joseph Schmidt, Judy Garland, Maria Callas—or to some of his favourite performers—”Songs for Takashi” or “Musiques et mots pour Emmanuel”.
They always take the form of a “musical offering,” where his performers express their art through a presence deeply aware of the effects of music and of time, of the imaginary resonance of a voice and a melody. Ornella Balestra—widely recognised for her work with Maurice Béjart—is one of those dancers able to best embody this mixture of intensity and reverie that characterises Raimund Hoghe’s dance (see his “Swan Lake”, “4 Acts”, “Boléro Variations”, “Quartet”, or “La Valse”). In “Canzone per Ornella”, the choreographer brings together for his dancer music and texts by Pier Paolo Pasolini, both those that have already been explored and those that are still to be experienced, playing with her ability to strike the perfect balance between virtuosity and entertainment, between enigmatic presence and movie-like figure.

Direction, choregraphy, stage design Raimund Hoghe
Artistic collaboration Luca Giacomo Schulte
Dancers Ornella Balestra, Raimund Hoghe, Luca Giacomo Schulte
Lights Raimund Hoghe, Amaury Seval

Production Hoghe & Schulte GbR
Coproduction Theater im Pumpenhaus Münster
With the support of Ministère de la Culture et de la Science de Rhénanie-du-Nord-Westphalie, Kunststiftung NRW, Town of Düsseldorf.
With the help of La Ménagerie de verre (Paris), agnès b.