Three choreographic signatures can be experienced in the second ballet evening of this season, which combines works by William Forsythe and Christian Spuck with a new creation by Edward Clug, and owes its musical appeal to live performances of compositions for various string ensembles.

After his enthusiastically received winter fantasy, Hill Harper’s Dream, Edward Clug has worked with Zurich Ballet for the second time and will once again be presenting a première performance. The director of the Slovenian National Ballet is one of the world’s most sought-after choreographers today. In his creations, he surprises audiences with minimalist movements and the interlocking and intertwining of the dancers’ limbs. In Clug’s work, the dancers, tilting and losing their balance, exude an unexpected beauty.

William Forsythe is appreciated all over the world as one of the most creative and intelligent revivers of the dance tradition. In his work, he frequently explores and crosses the boundaries of dance as an art form. Forsythe completely liberates the human body from the traditional formulae of classical ballet, tipping, turning and spinning it in all directions. The choreography workwithinwork, created in 1998 during his time in Frankfurt, is the last of his “ballets about ballet”. To the music of Duetti per due violine by Luciano Berio, Forsythe has succeeded in creating a complex, critical analysis of the rules of classical dance.

Franz Schubert’s string quartet, Death and the Maiden, provides the musical background for Christian Spuck’s choreography entitleddas siebte blau (The Seventh Blue). In sensitive tableaux full of speed and synchronicity, the Director of Zurich Ballet follows the music without ever losing sight of the theme of Schubert’s composition.