Fordlandia
dancers: Lucía Lacarra and Matthew Golding
concept, direction, film: Matthew Golding
choreography: Anna Hop, Yuri Possokhov, Juanjo Arqués, Christopher Wheeldon
camera: Altin Kaftira
screenings: Mario Simon, Max Schweder
duration: 70’
premiere: Dortmund Theater, 2020.
production: Lucía Lacarra, Goldenlac Producciones y Espectáculos
In a time that is also difficult for dance, we want to dream of better days. We want to see a light at the end of the tunnel and we hope that the distance we have to walk is temporary, the love we feel is permanent…
Stillness
choreography: Anna Hop
music: F. Chopin
Close
choreography: Anna Hop
music: F. Chopin
Anna Hop graduated from The National Ballet School in Warsaw in 2009. In 2014, she completed a Masters degree in Journalism and Communication at The University of Warsaw. Since 2009, she has been a dancer with Polish National Ballet. Hop’s debut as a choreographer was a piece for the Polish National Ballet’s Choreographic Workshop. Since then, she has presented numerous works for the company.
Snow Storm
choreography: Yuri Possokhov
music: G. Sviridov
Yuri Possokhov received his training at the Moscow Ballet Academy. Upon graduating in 1982, he joined the Bolshoi Ballet. During his ten years with the company, he worked primarily with Yuri Grigorovich and was quickly promoted to the principal dancer, partnering Natalia Bessmertnova, Ludmila Semenyaka, Nadezhda Pavlova and Galina Stepanenko. While performing, he studied choreography and the ballet teaching at the State College of Theatrical Arts. In addition to participating in the Bolshoi’s frequent international tours, Possokhov was often invited to perform as a guest artist in Europe, Asia and Latin America. He also performed with Nina Ananiashvili in numerous performances and galas worldwide. In 1992, he joined the Royal Danish Ballet as a principal dancer. Performing many leading roles on the stage of The Royal Danish Theater, Possokhov’s repertory diversified with works by John Neumeier, George Balanchine and John Cranko. The following year, he was invited to dance a guest performance at San Francisco Ballet’s opening night gala, and stayed with the company as a principal, for the following 12 years. During this period, he began choreographing intensively. Today, some of the major companies like American Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet or San Francisco Ballet, are performing his works.
Fordlandia
choreography: Juanjo Arques
music: J. Johannsson
Pile of Dust
choreography: Juanjo Arques
music: J. Johannsson
Before moving to the Netherlands, Juanjo Arqués danced with Ballet Victor Ullate and with English National Ballet. He joined Dutch National Ballet in 2004, and three years later he was promoted to a soloist. He performed works by notable choreographers including William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, David Dawson and Hans van Manen. In 2012 he decided to stop his dancing career to focus exclusively on choreography. Arqués has created the majority of his works for Dutch National Ballet and its Junior ensemble but also has produce creations for international ballet companies such as the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Theatre Ballet Moscow, Compañia Nacional de Danza, Junior Ballet Dortmund, Acosta Danza, New York Choreographic Institute… He also works in theatre, films, fashion and performing arts.
After the Rain
choreography: Christopher Wheeldon
music: A. Part
Christopher Wheeldon is an English international choreographer of contemporary and neo-classical ballet, born in 1973. A Gold medal winner of the Lausanne competition, Wheeldon began dancing with the NYCB in 1993 and started choreographing for the company in 1997, while continuing his career as a dancer. In 2001, he became the NYCB’s resident choreographer and first resident artist. He quickly developed a reputation as a talented choreographer, and several other eminent ballet companies, such as the San Francisco Ballet, the Bolshoi, the Canada National Ballet and the Royal Ballet, London have commissioned dances from him. To date, Wheeldon had composed at least 50 works including few musicals among them the successful “An American in Paris”.
Born in the Basque town of Zumaia, Lucia Lacarra was interested in dance from an early age but only received training from the age of 10 when a ballet school opened in her home town. After participating in a summer course run by Rosella Hightower, she studied for three years in San Sebastián before attending Víctor Ullate's school in Madrid. She soon became a member of Ballet de Victor Ullate, dancing George Balanchine's “Allegro Brillante” when she was 15, as well as other abstract ballets. After four seasons with Ullate, she moved to Roland Petit's Ballet de Marseille as a principal dancer. In 1997, she joined the San Francisco Ballet where she performed in various classical and contemporary works. In 2002, she became a principal with the Bayerisches Staatsballett in Munich. The same year, Lacarra received the Nijinsky Award. In 2003, at a gala in Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre she was awarded the Prix Benois de la Danse as best female dancer for her role of Tatiana in Cranko's “Onegin”. In 2011, at the World Ballet Stars Gala in St Petersburg, she was named the Dancer of the Decade.
Matthew Golding was born in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, where he started dancing at age eight. He began his professional ballet training at 14, at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, then moved on to the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington DC, where he studied on a full scholarship for two years. At 16, Golding received the prestigious Prix de Lausanne, which gave him the opportunity to study at The Royal Ballet School in London, where he graduated with honors. Golding also won the Youth America Grand Prix in New York in 2002. Golding joined ABT's Studio Company in September 2003 and the main company in April 2004. He joined the Royal Ballet as a Principal Dancer in February 2014, but left the company in 2017. Since then, Golding has been a guest artist with the Hong Kong Ballet.
