AKRIS- Ballet Pas de deux

For John Neumeier's "Beethoven Project II" at the Hamburg State Opera, Albert Kriemler designed the dancers' dresses and suits and explores the question of how modern costumes can actually become. The Akris designer began collaborating with the American choreographer 16 years ago. Since then, five projects have been realized in which Kriemler has transferred his creations onto the stage. In keeping with John Neumeier's choreographic color spectrum, for which the ballet director was inspired by his selection of Beethoven's works, Kriemler now designed a total of 49 stage outfits. For Beethoven's oratorio "Christ on the Mount of Olives", which the composer wrote at the onset of his deafness, he designed architectural dresses in sheer techno mesh and tuxedos with body-hugging turtleneck shirts of tulle in black, contrasted by a dress of silk organza in green and denim blue for prima ballerina Hélène Bouchet. In Beethoven's Symphony No7, Kriemler dressed the female dancers in white ensembles of cotton shirt and georgette skirt with linear grid embroidery at the hem; the male dancers wore chintzed mesh skirts. An impressive tribute to the joy of life, the love of dance, rushing and gentle at the same time, punctuated by flowing dresses in crêpe and georgette in the bold primary colors blue, red and yellow. "In the end, it's the overall visual appearance in form and color that interests us," Kriemler explains, "and the vision of seeing the dancers dance in truly modern dresses." A credo that grants the costume design its own status, alongside the choreographic work.