Odyssee

• Dance

One of the most important pieces of poetry is the epic "Odyssey" by the Greek poet Homer. John Neumeier decided to tackle this comprehensive work about the hero Odysseus and his adventurous journey in 1995 following an invitation from the Athens Opera and Concert Hall Megaron. His dance stage version was to get as close as possible to the roots of the epic and at the same time translate the literary original to a level of movement. A prerequisite for this was the commissioning of a work by the Greek composer George Couroupos and the collaboration with the Greek stage and costume designer Yannis Kokkos.

ten years of wandering
ten years of return
ten years of healing
after ten years of war.

The "Odyssey" is unthinkable without war. For me it's about a person having to find themselves again after a ten-year war, that they have to find their way back to their wholeness from this macho world of fighting and war, defined in a negative sense as male, and rediscover their feminine side. It's called Penelope.

John Neumeier


Music: George Couroupos – commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera
Choreography and direction: John Neumeier
Set design and costumes: Yannis Kokkos

2 hours 15 minutes | no break

PREMIERE:
Hamburg Ballet, Megaron The Athens Concert Hall, Athens, 20 November 1995
PREMIERE IN HAMBURG:
Hamburg Ballet, 17 December 1995

ORIGINAL CAST:
Odysseus: Ivan Liska
Penelope: Anna Polikarpova
Telemachus: Ivan Urban
Pallas Athena: Anna Grabka
He: Nicolas Musin
Calypso: Heather Jurgensen
Nausicaa: Bettina Beckmann
Church: Chantal Lefèvre
The Sea: Laura Cazzaniga
The Suitors / The War: Jirí Bubenícek, Otto Bubenícek
Eurycleia: Karen Niles

GUEST PERFORMANCES:
1995 Athens 1996 Ludwigshafen, Montpellier, Genoa Nervi 1997 Sagami Ono, Osaka, Tokyo

IN THE REPERTOIRE:
Royal Danish Ballet