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TV ballet dancers pose with masks
Photo: Sebastian Willnow / dpa
The German TV Ballet will disband at the end of 2020, the originally planned farewell tour in the coming year will be canceled due to the corona pandemic.
This is what managing director Peter Wolf said on Friday in Leipzig before the recording of a show with which the ensemble said goodbye to the TV audience.
It is to be broadcast on October 31st on MDR at prime time.
The gala "Das Deutsche Fernsehballett - The big farewell show" will be presented by singer and presenter Ross Antony.
Guests include the musicians David Garrett, Beatrice Egli and Michelle as well as the television ballet veteran Emöke Pöstenyi.
Wolf had originally announced that he wanted to dissolve the ensemble at the end of 2021.
After a farewell tour, the ensemble should have danced for the last time on December 4, 2021 at a concert by the singer Semino Rossi in Bremen.
The MDR was the only regular TV client left, which was not enough to continue to entertain the ensemble, Wolf had justified the dissolution.
A show with 18 dancers on television would cost around 40,000 euros.
In 1962, the ballet master Günter Jätzlau founded the ballet on behalf of the GDR's German TV broadcaster; after reunification, the company was first taken over by MDR, and then in 2012 by Peter Wolf.
Six years ago, the ensemble was on the verge of collapse due to the poor order situation.
At that time, however, it survived because numerous celebrities campaigned for its continued existence.
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feb / dpa
