Before the Premiere
Feature |
Elliot Caplan's legendary documentary from the 1990s at the Filmcasino provides insights into an incomparable artistic community ahead of the premiere of the Vienna State Ballet's Pathétique .
"Watching this ballet is like looking into a forest clearing - at once overwhelmingly beautiful, full of movement and yet peaceful," writes New York Times critic Marina Harss about Merce Cunningham's Summerspace. Created in 1956, the work remains one of the icons of modern dance to this day. Morton Feldman composed the music for it with Ixion for two pianos, while the stage and costume design, dabbed along like a pointillist spring landscape, was created by none other than Robert Rauschenberg, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year.
With Summerspace , Cunningham's work Pathétique will be performed for the first time with the Vienna State Ballet at the Vienna State Opera on April 9 - in combination with George Balanchine's Mozart ballet Divertimento No. 15 and Martin Schläpfer's last Viennese premiere Pathétique: three works that come together in a utopian space dedicated entirely to dance.
Before the premiere, the next matinee in the DANCE MOVIESseries on March 30 at the Filmcasino will show a special documentary: the 1991 US film Cage/Cunningham by Elliot Caplan. Characterized by highly interesting camera work and editing techniques, the documentary tells the story of the extraordinary collaboration between choreographer Merce Cunningham and composer John Cage. The two were not only "partners in crime" in artistic terms, but also companions in their private lives. Recordings from around the world and interviews with Robert Rauschenberg, Rudolf Nureyev, David Tudor, Jasper Johns and Virgil Thomson, among others, allow us to immerse ourselves in a time that was as creative as it was fascinatingly visionary. An audience discussion following the film will also provide an opportunity for dialog with participants in the Vienna State Ballet's production of Summerspace.
Tickets are available exclusively from the Filmcasino