John Neumeier

Told in a deeply personal and emotional way, AKRIS: FASHION WITH A HERITAGE switches between present and past by tracing the Kriemler family’s legacy — from founder Alice Kriemler-Schoch, to her successors Max and Ute, and on to today’s leaders, who continue to shape the future of AKRIS with great respect and responsibility for the company, the past and the people who made it work so successfully.

John Neumeier, of the Hamburg Opera, and Patrick Dupond, principal dancer at the Paris Opera, rehearse of Stravinsky's ballet 'Petrushka'.

Choreographer John Neumeier and dancer Patrick Dupond rehearse for a new version of Stravinsky's "Petrushka"

Follows the first season of Demis Volpi, the new ballet director at Hamburg's state opera.

The San Francisco Ballet's performance of John Neumeier's ballet, The Little Mermaid. Composer: Lera Auerbach Conductor: Martin West Artists: John Neumeier, Yuan Yuan Tan, Lloyd Riggins Year: 2011-11 Run time: 02:14:00

In an old nails factory in the suburbs of Hamburg, Neumeier has the dancers of the Opera Ballet working on his choreographic masterpiece, St. Matthew's Passion.

John Neumeier is always on the ballet-related path, dance is his life and ballet is his world. He is the senior ballet director of the Hamburg Ballet, has a workshop in the ballet center for his choreographies and creations, including training for young talents by the ballet boarding school. Neumeier has achieved a lot and yet has always remained a seeker, has never stopped, on the way permanently. The portrait of John Neumeier unites the choreographer's presence, with a look back at the essential creations and formative choreographies, including dancers.

The film approaches one of the greatest choreographers of our time on several levels: John Neumeier. Now, after 51 years, he is ending his time as head of the Hamburg Ballet. A turning point and occasion for a search for traces of origins, influences and possible secrets. In the USA, John Neumeier embarks on a journey into his own past and visits places from his childhood and youth.

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No synopsis available yet.

"Rejoice, exult" - John Neumeier turns Buch's Christmas Oratorio into an experience that confronts us all with the most basic questions of trust, hope, faith, doubt and self-sacrifice. "My choreography is not a religious undertaking. We perform to Bach's music, for a few hours unifying individuals of many different cultural and religious backgrounds, For me, the basic human values expressed through the choreography are always the most important thing. Therefore, in my ballet, Mary is known simply as 'The mother' and Joseph as 'Her husband'." "Once again it is impossible not to be impressed by the flawless technique of the ensemble ... When at the end Lloyd Riggins tap-dances his way across the stage like Fred Astaire, the Christmas oratorio is complete" (Sueddeutsche Zeitung).

Reimagine Christoph Willibald Gluck’s enduringly popular opera based on the famous Greek myth. From Lyric Opera of Chicago in collaboration with the Joffrey Ballet. Starring Dmitry Korchak, Andriana Chuchman and Lauren Snouffer.

"Lady of the Camellias" (Kameliendame) was premiered in Jan 1978 at the Stuttgart ballet. Choreographer and text writer was John Neumeier who had been requested in 1972 by ballerina Marcia Haydee to write a full length ballet. He suggested "Lady of the Camellias" , the Dumas fils autobiographical novel. The idea of using Chopin music was suggested by ballet conductor Gehart Markson. The ballet was a success and this version was also presented in 1979 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Neumeier revised it for the Hamburg Ballet now directed by Brazilian ballerina Marcia Haydee after the death of famous director John Kranko. The revised version with sets and costumes by Jugen Rose and conducted by Heribert Beissel was recorded as a movie in 1987.

After making its triumphant U.S. Premiere and playing to sold-out houses, John Neumeier's superlative work of dance-theater returns. Featuring an evocative score by Lera Auerbach, and danced by the prestigious San Francisco Ballet, this heart-wrenching story of sacrifice and unrequited love comes to life against dazzling scenic, costume and lighting designs.

Neumeier's dance version of the Shakespeare play about the trials and tribulations of love has lost none of its freshness over three decades after its premiere. With his selection of music, which ranges from Mendelssohn Bartholdy to György Ligeti to traditional barrel organ music, John Neumeier shows his dramaturgical sensibility by integrating three different musical styles into his choreographic narrative.

Josephs Legende, Opus 63, is an “opera without words” or “ballet-drama” composed by Richard Strauss (1864-1949) with libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929). The story attempts to reconstruct a particular biblical passage that was given prominence in the Old Testament (Genesis 37-50) centered around the first Joseph’s, parts of the so-called Egyptian episode and the incident in Potiphar’s house (Genesis 37: 36 and 39: 1-23). Although in the biblical story there are no great details about such episode they can be easily imagined, as Strauss and Hofmannsthal did in fact; please refer to Genesis 39: 11-19 for more specifics.

In this narrative ballet, John Neumeier links the myth of the swan prince Siegfried with the tragic life story of Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, who fell into madness, and contrasts his own creations with the old original choreography by Ivanov and Petipa from 1895. Recorded at the Hamburg State Opera in May 2001.