Greeting from Ballet Director Bruno Heynderickx for the 2025/26 Season

Dear Friends of the Hessisches Staatsballett,
 Dear Readers,

The 2025/2026 season promises a wealth of inspiring and electrifying dance.
We open our season with Corps de Walk, a thrilling and highly energetic work. Created in 2011 by star choreographer Sharon Eyal and her longtime artistic partner Gai Behar, the piece marks a significant milestone in their creative journey. For me personally, Corps de Walk is also a walk down memory lane: I had the pleasure of commissioning the piece during my time as director of Carte Blanche, the Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance, before taking up my role here at the Hessisches Staatsballett. Since its premiere, the work has become a signature piece for Sharon and Gai — a defining moment that helped launch their distinctive choreographic voice onto the international stage.

Our season continues with two productions that explore the powerful synergy between dance and live music.

In December, we premiere CANTOS — a new piece Maciej Kuźmiński, marking our first collaboration with this Polish choreographer, who deeply impressed me with his emotionally charged physical language and his striking artistic vision. For CANTOS, he works with Canto Ostinato by Simeon ten Holt, a mesmerizing minimalist composition that will infuse the piece with rich sonic depth.

Then, in February 2026, we present Become Ocean, a new creation by Taiwanese-Hungarian choreographers Chen-Wei Lee and Zoltán Vakulya, set to the Pulitzer Prize-winning composition by John Luther Adams. We are especially proud that this production is co-commissioned by the National Theater and Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan — a collaboration that further strengthens our artistic ties across continents.

Artificial intelligence is becoming an integral part of many areas of life — including the performing arts. British choreographer Alexander Whitley will examine the creative potential and ethical questions surrounding AI in Mirror, his second collaboration with our company. In parallel, we are developing a second AI-based research project in collaboration with Prof. Thorsten Greiner (Design of Expanded Media Experiences) and the Hochschule Darmstadt. Titled Motion Creation Design, this innovative project will be presented as part of World Design Capital 2026, in various museums and galleries throughout the region.

This season, our extensive outreach program will also feature a large-scale participatory production led by Alessandra Corti – her Plan B will be an invitation for broader community engagement and shared artistic exploration.

In addition, we are proud to co-organize the Tanzfestival Rhein-Main, which this year celebrates its 10th edition. Beyond the festival, we are also welcoming several exciting guest companies to our stages in Wiesbaden and Darmstadt and will be hosting several artists in residence.

And for those of you outside the Rhein-Main region: don’t miss the opportunity to catch the Hessisches Staatsballett on tour — with performances across Germany and internationally, from Cologne to Paris to Aranya, China.

So, there is indeed a lot of exciting dance ahead — and we look forward to sharing it all with you, wherever you may be.

Yours,
Bruno Heynderickx
Ballet Director