A double bill featuring Ralf Dörnen and Adonai Luna, with music by Gershwin, Beethoven, Scholl and others.

“When composing, we combine our musical knowledge with our emotions. I regard a piece of music as a sketch. With a melody, you can take in the whole sketch at a glance.” George Gershwin, renowned as a composer, pianist and conductor, is regarded as a master of ‘short’ compositions. Everything he composed – from his world-famous songs to his rhapsodies – is characterised by a distinctive dynamism and a unique use of rhythm, which makes his music particularly well-suited to dance, especially for dance evenings comprising several choreographies. With ‘Gershwin Bits’, Ralf Dörnen now presents a ballet that features a new version of choreographies such as ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ from the dance evening ‘111m² Tanz’, combined with other short choreographies; creating a kaleidoscope that perfectly blends the composer’s creative power with the dancers’ virtuosity.
After the interval, we plunge into the depths of the Arctic Ocean. In 2024, the year marking the anniversary of Caspar David Friedrich, Adonai Luna created a choreography for St Nikolai Cathedral in Greifswald as part of the ‘Tanzfusionen’ festival. Building on this idea, the long-standing ballet master is now developing the dance evening ‘Eismeer’ with BallettVorpommern, set to music by Beethoven, Scholl and Jóhannsson, drawing on selected biographical stages and several paintings by the Greifswald artist. A journey through the life of Caspar David Friedrich in solos, duets and ensemble pieces, presented as an abstract ballet combining classical and contemporary elements.