Ballet of Difference — Nürnberg, Year One
Saw the new Staatstheater Nürnberg Ballet under Richard Siegal — sneakers, M83, real energy. And the old Opernhaus has two seasons left before the move.
Last weekend I caught the new Staatstheater Nürnberg Ballet in Les Ballets Actuels.
Quick context: the ensemble has been rebuilt under Richard Siegal, who took over as ballet director this season after Goyo Montero’s 17-year run. Siegal is American, ex-Forsythe Company, founded Ballet of Difference in 2016 and brought it to Nürnberg from Cologne. The whole company is now branded Staatstheater Nürnberg Ballet of Difference — 22 dancers, about a third holdovers from the Montero era, a third followed Siegal from Cologne, the rest new hires.
The evening was a triple bill:
- Justin Peck — Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (originally San Francisco Ballet, 2018). Set to M83. The dancers wear sneakers. Giddy, kinetic, the kind of piece that makes the case for ballet as something under-40s should actually want to watch.
- Kirsten Wicklund — Overcast. A sparse pas de deux. Quiet, mostly. Gave the eye a moment to recover after Peck.
- Richard Siegal — My Generation (2015, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet). The closer. Music by AtomTM, costumes by Flora Miranda. Felt the most “this is what Siegal wants the company to look like”: classical technique used as raw material, every movement signaling something contemporary.
The energy on stage was high — not respectful-recital high, real-enthusiasm high.
One detail worth flagging: the Opernhaus itself is on borrowed time. The 1905 building is in bad enough shape that the city is moving the entire opera/ballet/concert operation to an interim venue (the Kongresshalle by the Dutzendteich) for the 2028/29 season, then renovating the old house for an estimated ten years. So if you want to see this ensemble in the building they were built for, you have roughly two more seasons.
Recommendation: go.