Schmetterling & Silent Screen by Various, sun 24 mar 2024, Frá (2023/2024), Leikstýrt af Sol León, Paul Lightfoot, Nationaltheater, Munich, Germany

The two-part ballet evening Butterfly combines two choreographies by Sol León and Paul Lightfoot, Silent Screen and Butterfly , which are among the formative works of their oeuvre. The successful artistic working group of the two dance professionals dates back to 1989. Together they have created more than 60 world premieres for the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT), where they were house choreographers from 2002 to 2020. The Bavarian State Ballet is the first company to rehearse Silent Screen and Butterfly outside of the NDT. Both works, which are being shown together for the first time, are characterized by the unmistakable dance language of Sol León and Paul Lightfoot. She is characterized by technical sophistication and a strong sense of theatricality. All steps, gestures and figures are based on an emotional attitude, a narrative content or a poetic idea. As a result, human existence unfolds in both ballets as a specific experiential space that spans between the love of life and the consciousness of death. For the choreography Silent Screen, which premiered in 2005 , Sol León and Paul Lightfoot were inspired, among other things, by silent films, which, like ballet, are about interpersonal but not verbal communication. A man and a woman lead the dance dialogue, which revolves around the emotional phases of a couple relationship. Different figures appear in other scenes, commenting on or reflecting the story of the couple in ambiguous images. The scenes follow less a coherent story than a dream logic and are translated by the ensemble to instrumental works by the American composer Philip Glass. In the second half of the ballet evening, the eponymous choreography Butterfly from 2010 can be seen. This ballet was also premiered at the NDT. The term "butterfly" symbolizes transience, beauty, life, death and transformation. The work begins with the relationship between a mother and her son. He is confronted with her death. This is joined by a group of other characters who express human existence in a thoughtful, humorous and sarcastic way in the dance movements. The music that is used in Butterfly comes from Max Richter on the one hand. On the other hand is a selection of the 69 Love Songsby the indie rock band The Magnetic Fields. The absurd, sad, sarcastic, passionate, yearning and human element of an emotional world in which love in all its shades forms the energetic center can be heard in these songs.