German choreographer Sasha Waltz has been the pioneering leader of the genre of choreographic opera. Early in her career, she noticed a lack of independent voices in dance in Berlin. As she grew as non-institutional artist, she worked to employ her own dancers rather than create on other companies. She spoke to ICONS about her choreographic approach, including her widely popular work In C and its call for human connection -- something that is diminishing in the world around us now.

Dance ICONS: Can you tell us about your early choreographic influences from your training in Germany, the Netherlands, and New York?

Sasha Waltz: I started dancing at five years old under a former pupil of Mary Wigman. My teacher was called Waltraud Kornhaas; I was lucky to have her as my early teacher. She had a lot of books about German expressionism and the first books on Pina Bausch. When I was 15, I did a workshop in Contact Improvisation, and from that moment on, I was focused on post-modern development that came from the United States. Steve Paxton and Judson Church were both strong influences. 

I studied in Amsterdam at the School for New Dance Development, and after my studies, I went to New York. I was working with Lisa Kraus, one of the early members of Trisha Brown’s company, and some of the more experimental choreographers like Yoshiko Chuma, who has been in New York for many years in the experimental wing of downtown New York. Then I returned to Europe because I really wanted to create my own work. My focus was strongly on everything post-Cunningham and all the various forms that could take on. I think in my work, you can see two directions, always something very abstract and conceptual and then sort of an emotional narrative.

Dance ICONS: What made Berlin an inspiring location to base your artistic practice and build your company?

SW: In 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. I was living in Amsterdam at that time, and I always loved Berlin, but before then, I didn't feel like living there. It was a historic moment but there was not much of an art scene and definitely not a dance scene. Half of the city was vacant. I found incredible studios for very affordable prices. It was another reason to create my own work than going into a community. That didn’t exist yet. We were building the dance scene and creating the structures. From very early on in 1993, we started a company Sasha Watlz & Guests. 

In 1996, my husband, Jochen Sandig, and myself founded Sophiensæle in Berlin Mitte because we were looking for a studio and there were not many theaters. My development as an artist and as a choreographer goes together with the forming of the structures that we needed. Sophiensæle is still an important place for emerging artists and for new directions in the performing arts.

After that, we moved to the Schaubühne as an artistic team with Thomas Ostermeier and Jens Hillje. That opened up a whole new audience that would not necessarily go to dance, but were now offered new access in. After Schaubühne, we once again started a new venue, Jochen Sandig, Folkert Uhde, and myself, Radialsystem, which is still in Berlin Mitte. This is where we are situated as a company, where our studio is, where we occasionally perform.

Dance ICONS: You're not only known for contemporary dance pieces, but also for choreographic operas. How do you treat these choreographic processes differently?

SW: In general, if a work on a opera, I prefer to work with my company. I need to also generate work for my dancers.  I don’t often work for other ballet companies.  Sometimes I make exceptions, like for the Paris Opera Ballet where I created Romeo and Juliet, or for the Mariinsky Theater where I choreograohed Sacre. Creating choreographic opera, taeks much more time. Ther are the libretto, and the score. That defines characters and how I want to work with the opera. Sometimes I break it open, sometimes I insert contemporary parts or insert silences. I try to find a contemporary way to interpret these scores from another time to relate them to the present time. 

I don't consider myself a stage director, but a choreographer, because I really choreograph as much as I can, including the soloists and the choir. I work with them physically and try to break open the established hierarchy that exists in the opera world, and create a huge ensemble. If possible, I also like to include musicians so that they are on stage participating. That's why I call it choreographic opera.

Dance ICONS: You frequently work with new music that's being composed synchronously with your choreography. Can you talk about that?

SW: The range of my interest in music is very wide. It goes from early music, Renaissance, Baroque, classical, romantic, new music, contemporary classical, but also electronic, experimental, or jazz. I love to float between worlds because every time that I work in one world, I will hear music differently the next time. In my last piece, I did Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, and I also worked with a young Chilean composer, Diego Noguera, who works with a modular synthesizer. His world is ecstatic, liberating, and physical. Beethoven's music, on the other hand, is a completely different classical sound experience. 

What I love is when we can create in the studio together, so that the composer is with us and works with us live as we are creating. There's a relationship between what's happening as the rhythms get created through the movement and integrated into the composition. This idea exchange and creative interaction with a living composer is beautiful and inspiring.

Dance ICONS: The piece you created during COVID lockdowns In C has become famous. What do you want people to know about the work?

SW: What is very stimulating about In C  is that it empowers people to think and make choices. And the audience is part of the process. It's thrilling because people are thinking in the moment, and that’s lively and energetic. In C  gives the collective a huge responsibility. The participants experience collective thinking constructively. In our current times, we do not often see people fully enjoying thinking collectively but rather independently. That is another reason why this piece is so uplifting. 

The dance work also gives freedom to the individual within the collective, as it continually refers to the collective. It's very much a practice of freedom within society. I find that together, freedom and responsibility make a functioning society.

Dance ICONS: What are you currently working on that you're most excited about? 

SW: I'm most excited about St. John's Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach; the premiere will be at the Felsenreitschule in Salzburg for the opening of the Salzburg Easter Festival before it goes to Opéra de Dijion. I’m working with musical director Leonardo García Alarcón and the Baroque music ensemble Cappella Mediterranea, with the Chœur de chambre de Namur and the Choir of Opéra de Dijon and my dancers. It's a big production.

I think Bach can really give hope and help us in hard times. I said yes to this project during the pandemic, but I think our crises are not getting fewer. We are out of the pandemic, hopefully, but we are facing two wars, and the climate crisis is as severe as it can be, and the polarization of right and left. We're facing so many aspects that are very challenging to global societies. I feel that this piece can give something to people. The music in St. John's Passion is dramatic yet so joyful and uplifting. I feel very honored and grateful that I can create this piece with such amazing artists.

We're doing lots of touring of In C and Beethoven 7 and different pieces, but also I’ll be remounting my Romeo and Juliet by Hector Berlioz on the Opera in Lodz in Poland. They're very excited that this piece will return and have a new life in Poland. 

Dance ICONS: If you could give advice to your younger self, what would that be?

SW: I would do pretty much the same thing; I don’t think I did too badly. I would always say to listen to one’s inner voice. Listen to what your heart really says. Follow that and then life will show you if it’s working or put you on a new path. Dance and theater and music are collective arts. Trust in collectivity as an essence of our work. Trust people and create community. As a young artist, it’s hard being alone, so build networks and circles of friends and collaborators.

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MORE INFORMATION AND A BIOGRAPHY OF SASHA WALTZ:
 
https://sashawaltz.de/
 
 
VIDEO SAMPLES OF SASHA WALTZ’S WORK:

IN C, by Sasha Walz & Guests:

Beethoven 7, by Sasha Waltz & Guests

   
PHOTO CREDITS:

Photography © Herlinde Koelbl, portrait of Sasha Waltz, 2023

Performance photography © Sebastian Bolesch and Bernd Uhlig, works choreographed by Sash Waltz, performed by Sasha Waltz & Guests.

CREATIVE TEAM ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
 
Interviewer: Charles Scheland
Executive Content Editor: Camilla Acquista
Executive Assistant: Charles Scheland
Executive Director: Vladimir Angelov
Dance ICONS, Inc., March 2024 © All rights reserved.