Lutz Förster

In Lutz Förster, the French choreographer Jérôme Bel will be bringing Lutz Förster to the stage, one of the dancers of Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal. Förster will review his career as a dancer with Pina Bausch, Susanne Linke, the José Limon company and Bob Wilson.

The work Lutz Förster (2009) is part of a series: Véronique Doisneau (2004), Pichet Klunchun and myself (2005), Cédric Andrieux (2009). Each piece is named after the artist by whom it is performed. Their work embraces a variety of traditions: classical ballet, classical Thai dance, American modern dance and German Tanztheater. They tell a personal story of their personal experience with the important developments of Western or Asian choreography. 

With extracts from pieces by Pina Bausch (Kontakthof, 1980 - Ein Stück von Pina Bausch, Nelken, Ahnen, Für die Kinder von gestern, heute und morgen), José Limón (The Moor’s Pavane)

+ : 'on Pina Bausch', 3/2, 22:00

The extraordinarily beautiful opening solo in the Stadsschouwburg, a world premiere by Jérôme Bel, is also almost entirely dance-free. On an empty stage, the Pina Bausch dancer Lutz Förster (56, with a resemblance to David Bowie), is able to captivate for more than an hour with what is apparently a narrative dance biography full of personal references to the history of modern dance in the West. He occasionally inserts a fine piece of dance from renowned productions by Bausch, Robert Wilson and José Limón. Poses and subtle, swinging gestures of hands and feet. Förster’s blend of amused mockery (as in the ode to a chair), his light step, his calm presence and the ease with which he traverses dance history make this solo a splendid icon of a dancer’s self-assurance. 
Annette Embrechts (de Volkskrant - 18/4/2009)

Jérôme Bel studied at the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine of Angers (France) and danced from 1985 to 1991 for many choreographers in France and in Italy. In 1992, he was assistant to the choreographer Philippe Découflé for the ceremonies of the XVIth Winter Olympic Games of Albertville and Savoie. His first piece, a choreography of objects, is entitled nom donné par l'auteurJérôme Bel (1995), Shirtology (1997), The last performance (1998) and The show must go on (2001). For this last piece he got a Bessie Award in New York and it was in the repertory of the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg between 2000 and 2005. It is also in the repertory of the Lyon Opera Ballet from 2007 until 2014. In 2004, he was invited to produce a piece for the Paris Opera ballet: Véronique Doisneau, and he started his series of solo performance which Lutz Förster is a part of. In 2009 he gave the first performance of Un Spectateur (at the Kaaitheater in May), a monologue of at least an hour, in which he deals with his experiences as a spectator. In 2010 he will make 3Adieux with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, based on Schoenberg’s version of Mahler’s Lied von der Erde: Der Abscheid. In 2008 Jérôme Bel and Pichet Klunchun received the Routes Princess Margriet Award for Cultural Diversity (European Cultural Foundation) for Pichet Klunchun & myself (2005). (1994). After that he made several performances

Lutz Förster has been dancing with the Tanztheater Wuppertal - Pina Bausch since 1975 with whom he has been performing in countries all over the world. He is currently professor for Contemporary Dance and the representative of the Dance Department of the Folkwang Hochschule Essen and has also been teaching for many different companies and universities. He studied at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen with Hans Züllig and Jean Cébron. He danced with the José Limón Dance Company and has also been working with Susanne Linke, Reinhild Hoffmann, Anna Sokolow, Meredith Monk, Robert Wilson and Sir Simon Rattle among others.