Bavarian State Ballet: Thoughts about its present situation. An analysis by Prof. Dr. Alleswisser

It has been a long time since my last visit to Munich - the Company is changing, and some very talented Dancers are even coming to Vienna to work with Alessandra Ferri. Who is staying in the company? Feyferlik and MacKay?

Here is an analysis of the present situation of the company by “Prof. Dr Alleswisser”, a friend, an American from the U.S., who likes to write under this pseudonym and who has a great insight into the Bavarian Company.

Well, he is tough. But he stands by his opinion, and that is becoming quite a rare thing nowadays!

The current Director of the Bavarian State Ballet: Ex POB Etoile Laurent Hilaire - who allowed the company to dance one of the significant Balanchine ballets - "Jewels" that it was not prepared to dance. He has also allowed the disgusting Goecke to "curate" some ballets and brings in choreographers who do not have a ballet background. He neglects classical ballet in favour of so-called "contemporary " dance, which usually consists of flapping the arms and crawling on the stage floor wearing what look like pyjamas, with a mixture of inferior music, and the use of silly props and bizarre lighting effects, which the "Buerger" of Munich lap up. His contract has been extended, but he has allowed some of his best dancers - Young, Wagman, Casalinho, and Fernandes to leave for Vienna and Alessandra Ferri. All he has left is Feyferlik and MacKay ( Whose ego has no limit ) and the dancer/bodybuilder/truck driver Osiel Guneo - a product of the Cuban/Soviet style. His most significant success was in the primitive Soviet agitprop “Spartacus", by the Communist and "Stalin Prize" winner Grigorevich, which the stolid "Bürger" of Munich loved.

Baranova, Summerscales ( I read somewhere that she is also leaving ), and Ibraimova...among the women...

What are the audiences in Munich getting for their money - for what is supposed to be a "ballet" company?

The program for the coming Ballet Festival is discouraging, to say the least: Bausch, Cherkaouis, Killian, Max Richter - “Lost Letters”(October 2023, Bilbao), which celebrates the power of love during wartime. Who is he? His ballet "celebrates the power of love in times of war " - How can this be "illustrated " in ballet terms. Perhaps the Jooss piece should have been scheduled instead ....... Where does Hilaire find these people? A new version of "Afternoon of a Faun" by Cher... whatever his name is - whose "work" litters many ballet companies in Europe. What about reviving the Nijinsky along with the Robbins? As for the Bausch horror - will the stage be covered with a layer of dirt? By the way, what does "Wings of Memory " mean?

Prof. Dr. Alleswisser

Ney York, April 13th, 2025