Watch: Hannover Choreographic Competition
For many years, the Tanja Liedtke Foundation has had a creative association with the Hannover Choreographic Competition.
As a result, a number of Australian dancers and companies have enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with their German counterparts. The current choreographer in residence, for example, is Australian Joel Bray (in partnership with Melbourne’s Chunky Move).
This year’s annual choreographic competition was to be held at the Theatre am Aegi on July 2 and 3, but was instead held on-line (for the second year running). More than 400 works were submitted from which the jury selected 20 choreographers. The main prizes went to:
1st: Sofia Nappi (Italy) with her work Dodi,
2nd: Li Chen/Shi Feiyang (China) with Should Life be busy?
3rd: Gild Kerer (Israel) for Concerto for Mandonlin and Strings in C Major.
Nappi also won the Critics’ Prize and the Production Award, a new prize from the Tanja Liedtke Foundation.
Queensland Ballet alumnus Nicola Wills, who is now with the Ballet of Flanders in Belgium, won the Bundesjugendballett Production Award with The Glass Ceiling.
The jury was made up of Marco Goecke (Director Ballet Staatstheater Hannover); Anna Konjetzky (Choreographer and Artist); Toula Limnaios (Artistic Direction cie. toula limnaios); Honji Wang (Choreographer and Artistic Director WR – Wang Ramirez); Richard Wherlock (Director Ballett Basel); and Gregor Zöllig (Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer Staatstheater Braunschweig and Artistic Director of the competition.
Tanja Liedtke was an German-born Australian choreographer who was killed in a road accident just before she was due to take up the artistic directorship of Sydney Dance Company in 2007.
You can watch the winning work above.
Learn more about the Tanja Liedtke Foundation here.