A goodbye gala: Demis Volpi leaves Ballett am Rhein with his Favourite Things

As we reached the end of season gala, Ballett am Rhein offered up a selection of highlights from the past four seasons in celebration of outgoing Artistic Director, Demis Volpi. Volpi arrived in 2020 and has since presented an eclectic collection of largely contemporary work. He now moves on to succeed John Neumeier at Hamburg Ballet, but not before one final curtain call in Düsseldorf.

One thing I have learnt as a spectator of ballet in Germany in recent years is patience. And in the case of saying goodbye, these things take time, which on this final evening was approximately three hours and 15 minutes. The bill was packed with engaging neoclassical works from William Forsythe, Hans van Manen and George Balanchine as well as excerpts from Volpi’s own choreography and others. Although there were some touching highlights, the whole programme would have benefited from a critical eye and some editing in order to allow the evening to flow. The van Manen piece, Solo, is a brief trio that fizzes with the energy of three male dancers, but Volpi’s The Thing with Feathers is a largely impenetrable, darkly lit piece, of which 30 minutes was unnecessary.

The evening was not without some deeply tender moments, the most memorable of which was And my beloved, a pas de deux for Paula Alves and Daniele Bonelli. Performed to David Lang’s mournful acapella song Just, it tracks the ups and downs of a couple’s relationship, from the passionate, to the mundane. Neshama Nashman’s choreography highlights their dependence on each other and their continuous connection. When one is weak, the other must be strong. It’s intensely physically demanding, they begin tentatively with shyness, the later lifts and falls requiring complete trust and familiarity. The hypnotic choreography draws you in and there’s something quietly moving about it.

Volpi’s choreography is also strong in the pas de deux Ebony Concerto, a snappy modern work danced by Futaba Ishizaki and Miguel Martínez Pedro in high-cut denim shorts and little else. It’s a playful piece of cat and mouse, the pair pushing and pulling for power with magnetic elasticity. Ishizaki was beautifully poised, as always showing great lines and razor sharp footwork.

Other picks on the night was the only solo, Fly, a simply staged work that showed Long Zou perform ballet drills at the barre which gradually evolved into grander sweeping movements as if a bird taking flight. Zou is a perfect match with an innate musicality and long flowing hair. It was gratifying to see some Balanchine on the bill and the quintet led by Pedro Maricato did well with the third variation from The Four Temperaments. William Forsythe’s Artifact II was a curious choice as the opener but acted as a solid showcase of clean, classical technique for the four lead dancers.

The 23/24 season saw the premiere of Dominique Dumais’ A Kiss to the World and there was a floaty expert here which provided some dreamy escapism. Sara Giovanelli showed herself to be a very engaging performer, long limbs and wild hair suiting the euphoric choreography.

Volpi certainly left the audience with a lot to chew over. The evening ended with a segment entitled Final Curtain which sees each dancer come and perform a brief, individual party piece. All fine. But there are 40 or so of them to get through and we were thirty minutes overtime. The audience was twitchy. A further unavoidable curiosity of the night was the number of leavers in the company. After each performance Volpi handed out a number of bouquets to departing dancers, the flowers kept coming and by the end it seemed as though nearly half the company was moving to pastures new. 

These final gala performances were clearly emotional for many and there was a sense Volpi had positively impacted a lot of their careers. From August, Ballett am Rhein will be under the dual leadership of Bridget Breiner (Staatsheater Karlsruhe) and Raphaël Coumes-Marquet (Semperoper Ballett, Dresden).