The Invisibles

The piece is dedicated to the pioneers of German expressionist dance, the aesthetic developments since the beginning of the 20th century and the biographical breaks in dance after the National Socialists came to power, until the end of the Second World War.

It follows in the footsteps of central figures such as Rudolf von Laban and Mary Wigman in the flourishing German dance scene and brings to life how a movement supported by countless artists came to a standstill after 1933. The production also critically questions ambivalent attitudes, such as those of Mary Wigman and others.

Above all, however, it artistically focuses on the memory of the artists who were persecuted, expelled, suppressed from public consciousness or whose lives ended violently, ‘the invisibles’.

John Neumeier finds a completely free, narratively compelling form for this. The collage of dance, documentary scenes and live music from the period paints a moving picture of the emergence of this new dance form and its violent demise. The virtuoso young ensemble lending life to the dance rebels lends the performance a special authenticity. Each of the concretely narrated biographical episodes speaks its own choreographic language. They are artistic impressions of a spirit of the time that effortlessly connect yesterday with today – to create a new aesthetic statement that embraces empathy with the forgotten.

The accompanying exhibition adds another layer of remembrance and gives the invisibles a face through extensively researched biographies.

The premiere of the piece opened the Hamburg Ballet Days in 2022. The Berlin premiere marks the conclusion of the Academy of Arts’ programme The Invisibles – Departure, Interruption and Tradition in Dance.

---

From the press reviews of the premiere:

“John Neumeier fulfils the promise of the title The Invisibles with an incredibly powerful evening of dance and theatre. … The Hamburg ballet director does not attempt to reconstruct the dances historically, but relies on his artistic power of association to paint a realistic picture. .… In the grand revue of the times, which Neumeier describes as a “dance collage” that is by no means told chronologically, but in which the choreographer allows thematically justified, masterfully staged leaps in time, images emerge that get deep under your skin ...”
Stefan Grund, Welt

“The context alone makes The Invisibles an event … But the piece is also an event because it captures its narrative in moving theatre and dance images and extends it into the present with intelligent sensitivity. The theme and its realisation together make “The Invisibles” an outstanding event of the season coming to an end in Germany, with a significance that extends far beyond …”
Horst Vollmer, Tanz AT

“The fact that John Neumeier dedicates his almost three-hour evening to the invisibles, the persecuted from the world of dance, seems like a personal confession.”
Peter Helling, NDR