When, if not now?

WINNDance, or When, If Not Now. In Stuttgart, in the shadow of the great John Neumeier, Slava Tütükin—trained at the Vaganova Academy before becoming a soloist at the Mikhailovsky Theatre – and Marijn Rademaker, for many years one of the leading dancers of the Stuttgart Ballet (we remember him as a very young performer at MilanOltre 2020 in the solo Äffi, created for him by Marco Goecke), came together around a shared vision. The idea is to bring great dance back to the stage by creating an ensemble of some of the most distinguished classical performers over the age of 40, who, due to the natural progression of their careers, are leaving their prestigious roles within major companies. The project is accompanied by educational programmes for young dancers and workshops dedicated to choreographic practices. For its world premiere, WINNDance chooses Venice and the Biennale Danza directed by Wayne McGregor, whose 20th anniversary edition is titled, significantly, Time Does Not Exist.

The protagonists are charismatic figures, beloved by audiences worldwide. Among the Italian dancers, to name just a few: Silvia Azzoni, for two decades a principal dancer at the Hamburg Ballet, remembered at Teatro La Fenice in 2020 for her interpretation of Sarah Bernhardt in Duse; Mara Galeazzi, former principal dancer of the Royal Ballet (her performance as Virginia Woolf with McGregor in Woolf Works in 2017 remains memorable); and Giulia Tonelli, principal dancer at the Zurich Ballet.

The title of the work is Scirocco, a production composed of two chapters with different moods and styles, both dedicated to Venice. The first, Death in Venice, draws from Thomas Mann’s novel of the same name, with a sophisticated Nietzschean background exploring the overcoming of the Apollonian and Dionysian dualism. The choreography is by Imre & Marne van Opstal – whose creations for Nederlands Dans Theater and educational activities in Italy have received great recognition – together with Omar Román De Jesús and Rainer Behr.
The second episode, The Bridge of Sighs, is signed by John Neumeier, with music by Shostakovich, Hollaender and Weill, and costumes created by one of WINNDance’s partners: Boss. A classic from the Hamburg Ballet repertoire, it was first presented in 1985. Fourteen dancers appear in poignant scenes of nostalgia and memory: “When I was a young man / courting the girls / I played me a waiting game” – the notes of September Song in Frank Sinatra’s voice still seem to resonate.