Between Dogs & Wolves    

Performance · Wiener Staatsballett

The French have an expression for the hour when the light fails and you can’t tell a dog from a wolf. Pontus Lidberg’s ballet for the Wiener Staatsballett lives in that hour: men who turn into dogs, women who are afraid of them, and a she-wolf at the end. My part was the animation on a screen 10 meters wide and three high, centered on stage.

The projection puts them in a forest. It’s stark black and white, and for long stretches it barely moves — dusk coming on, slow enough to sit behind the choreography rather than in front of it. Then it stops being scenery. A man walks behind the screen and the animation picks him up as a wolf; he comes out the other side a man in a wolf's mask. The screen turns on a center pivot, ballerinas scattering around it. Later they dance behind it, and their shadows join the forest, answering the dancers in front.

Five weeks in Vienna: rehearsals, the stage, the tech tables, checking the projection from the back of the house, and animating from an apartment between sessions. The score is Shostakovich, played live. The piece premiered at the State Opera on 4 March 2020.

Ballet · 2020

"On the contrary, it is a dialogue of black and white; the two media complement each other."

— Pontus Lidberg, choreographer · tanzschrift

On opening night, ballerinas in tutus stand in silhouette before a projected forest of dark painted trees — Between Dogs & Wolves, Wiener Staatsballett.

Dog or wolf

Concept

A wolf-headed man in a suit and tie runs through a snowy forest, mid-transformation — Between Dogs & Wolves, Wiener Staatsballett.
Dark tree trunks crowd a snowy forest floor — Between Dogs & Wolves, Wiener Staatsballett.
A snarling wolf, its fur bristling in jagged black strokes, crouches in the grass — Between Dogs & Wolves, Wiener Staatsballett.
A wolf in trousers lunges forward on clawed feet, teeth bared — Between Dogs & Wolves, Wiener Staatsballett.
Bare trees stand against a dark, speckled sky above the snow — Between Dogs & Wolves, Wiener Staatsballett.
A dog-headed figure in a coat strides through the snowy woods — Between Dogs & Wolves, Wiener Staatsballett.
A dense black forest, its branches tangled against a pale sky — Between Dogs & Wolves, Wiener Staatsballett.
A wolf-headed man in a black suit stands calmly among the trees — Between Dogs & Wolves, Wiener Staatsballett.

A forest at dusk

Motion Test
Paced to sit behind the dancers.

Opening night

Performance

Ballerinas in white tutus link hands for safety as a projected wolf prowls through the painted forest in front of them — Between Dogs & Wolves, Wiener Staatsballett.
A ballerina in a white tutu extends her leg high beside a dancer in a dark suit, as wolf-masked figures move through the projected trees — Between Dogs & Wolves, Wiener Staatsballett.
Male dancers crouch low like wolves around a she-wolf in front of a projected forest of dark trees — Between Dogs & Wolves, Wiener Staatsballett.

Credits

Choreography
Pontus Lidberg

Music
Dmitri Shostakovich
String Quartet No. 10, arranged for string orchestra by Rudolf Barshai

Animation & Projection Design
Jason Carpenter

Set Design
Pontus Lidberg · Jaffar Chalabi

Costume Design
Rachel Quarmby-Spadaccini

Lighting Design
Patrik Bogårdh

Orchestra
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, conducted by Fayçal Karoui

Company
Wiener Staatsballett

Photography
Ashley Taylor, courtesy of Wiener Staatsballett

Video
Courtesy of Wiener Staatsballett


World Premiere
Vienna State Opera · 4 March 2020

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