Midnight Raga/ Bouffées / I’m afraid to forget your smile

Bouffées by Leïla Ka is a restaging of the French choreographer’s independent production. The award-winning 2022 piece portrays five women caught in the grip of a grief whose causes remain unknown yet seem manifold. Feelings of overwhelm and release counterbalance one another as the dancers simultaneously attempt to transform their rising sorrow into the force of life. Dressed in floral-patterned dresses, the five bodies create a physical and sonic cacophony that merges breath, recurring gestures, and a rhythm of falling and rising again.

For exceptional choreographer Marco Goecke, music is usually not the starting point of his work. In his duet Midnight Raga, however—whose title refers to classical Indian music—things are different: the music of Ravi Shankar forms the point of departure. Despite its inspiration in the Oriental-Indian aesthetic, which is also reflected in the heavy blue silk fabrics of the costumes, Goecke’s unmistakably idiosyncratic, nervous movement language remains clearly present. Following its 2017 premiere at Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT 2), this choreography—tailor-made for two dancers—takes on a new embodiment in its restaging at the Hessian State Ballet.

The Dutch sibling duo Imre & Marne van Opstal are rising stars of the European dance scene. For the Hessisches Staatsballett, they created their new work I’m afraid to forget your smile for six dancers, incorporating choral elements and exploring the moment of letting go as a transitional state of surrender to loss. A brief flash—so tangible and fleeting that time itself seems to stand still.

After performing with the renowned Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) 1 & 2 as well as the Batsheva Dance Company, the young van Opstal duo launched a promising choreographic career at NDT in 2016. They now create regularly for the prestigious Dutch institution and for companies across Europe.