Captivating: Ludwigshafen's International Choreography Competition Finals 2011

Last Saturday evening at the Pfalzbau Theatre in Ludwigshafen am Rhein (Germany) , a truly international choreography competition no ballet went into its finals. The 6th International Choreography Competition in Ludwigshafen was hold in front a live audience and judged by seven professionals from different fields of study, but especially with majors in theater, dance and cinematography. No ballet, as the name may already suggests, is not a classical ballet choreography competition, it rather is a competition that specializes on contemporary dance. Part of the juror crew were stars like Suzanne Linke, (dancer at the Folkwang Dance Studio directed by Pina Bausch), or Reinhild Hoffman (ballet master and opera director was awarded the Critics' in 1983, is the owner of the German Federal Cross of Merit I degree, 1992), artistic director and founder of the contest director Julian Roessler and Ludwisghafen theater’s director, Hans Gunther Heyme, decided the outcome of the competition. Apart of the jurors he audience has been enabled to select its favorite at the end of the show by majority vote.
First place was taken by the German group «(How to be) almost there," choreographed by Anna Hirt, Max Lipskerov, Tim Behren and Florian Pachovski. Second «ugoku» (in motion), choreography Shumpei Nemoto from Japan, and the third place was unexpectedly awarded to Italian Fabrizio Favale «Un ricamo fatto sul nulla» (an embroidery on the bare canvas). Other competitors participating were Fang-Yu Sheng from Taiwan, Yaron Shamir from Israel, Rosana Hribar and Gregor Lustek from Slovenia, Vivan Chai - Malaysia and Taulant Shehu of Albania. All the contestants surprised the audience with incredible poise and body flexibility.
The Taiwanese artist Fang-Yu Shen showed the audience the piece “In a Frame Of Reference”, Yaron Shamir from Israel experimented with a combination of static disturbances and fitful movements, while Rosana Hribar and Gregor Lustek attracted the spectators’ interest by showing off a choreographic version of lustful sadistic sexual relationships between women and men which rendered the first part of the evening and gave the audience lots of discussion material.
Vivan Chai and her group from Malaysia presented a whole unique experience to the viewer. The atmosphere- mysterious and gloomy, just like those insect-like creepy-crawling movements the dancers performed on the big background screen and mainly on stage. These big eyes and the animal-like looks on their faces transformed this choreography competition into a mixed performance contest. The performance of the Albanian group directed by Taulant Shehu could be easily compared to Einstein’s pendulum. It gave the heavy impression that the main female dancer initiated the flowing movements of all the other dancers. Last but not least the German choreographic group fascinated with facility of movements and the display of tenderness.
The final prize was proudly awarded by the city councilor in charge of cultural affairs Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Prof. Dr. Cornelia Reiffenberg. Among professional dancers, choreographer and amateurs the Ludwigshafen International Choreographic Contest is highly valued.

Peter A. Breier for Flashtube News