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Long exposure of a dance performance (symbol image)
Photo: Bernd Weißbrod / picture alliance / dpa
Cultural criticism has a long tradition, many artists fear it.
Dealing with it confidently, even if your own work is completely torn to pieces, is an art in itself, so to speak.
How a person can also derail when criticized was evidently to be observed on Saturday evening during the first break of the ballet evening "Faith - Love - Hope" in the foyer of the Hanover State Opera: According to a report in the "Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung", the ballet director of the house, Marco, objected Goecke, a woman with dog feces.
The victim of the attack is said to be the ballet critic Wiebke Hüster.
She had previously written in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" about another production by Goecke, about the ballet evening "In the Dutch Mountain" it said: The audience was "alternately crazy and killed a long time ago".
And further: »It is a disgrace and a cheek, and one has to blame the choreographer for both, as the virtuosity and presence of the dancers of the Nederlands Dans Theater demand more.«
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It is unclear whether it was also these lines that drove the dance boss to incandescence, but at least it is not far off.
The fact is: no matter how offended Marco Goecke might have felt – the incident will probably have consequences.
The State Opera has now published a statement in which the most important and most piquant detail of the attack - the attack with dog feces of all things - is comparatively reverently circumvented.
There it says that the critic "was violated in her personal integrity".
We regret the incident, the disturbance of the audience and we have already apologized.
In addition, it is announced: "We will examine the employment law steps against ballet director Marco Goecke."
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Ballet director Marco Goecke
Photo: Christophe Gateau / picture alliance / dpa
In the meantime, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" has also published an article in which the attack on the newspaper's critic is discussed.
Accordingly, Goecke is said to have initially approached the journalist verbally and then, according to "FAZ", became more and more upset.
Finally, he pulled out a "paper bag with animal feces" and "macked the dance critic's face with the contents."
A criminal complaint was immediately filed.
Fortunately, the times when such outbursts were considered tolerable peculiarities of hypersensitive and emotional artists are over.
The chairman of the German Association of Journalists in Lower Saxony, Frank Rieger, has already called for “a clear reaction from those responsible” on Twitter.
An artist has to endure criticism, even if it may seem exaggerated.
Anyone who reacts to criticism with violence is not acceptable.
"The attack on the journalist from the FAZ is also an attack on freedom of the press," said Rieger.
According to the Staatsoper website, Marco Goecke has been chief choreographer and ballet director of the Staatsballett Hannover since the 2019/20 season.
He brings »with his feverish, energetic dance language a style that is in demand all over the world« to the city, his oeuvre comprises more than 60 choreographies that are performed by important companies around the world.
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