An evening of ballet can create a seamless world. “Different Grounds” opts for contrast: three choreographers, three pieces, three different ways of organising the body on stage. On 31 October, the Semperoper Ballett will give the world premieres of works by Stephanie Lake, Julian Nicosia and Shahar Binyamini.
The title promises not a unified grammar, but an encounter across differences. The Semperoper describes the perspectives as contributions from three continents. What they share, first of all, is a framework: all three choreographers are also designing the costumes and lighting for their works. Only the performance will reveal the images and forms of movement that emerge from this.
Three signatures, one ensemble
The evening opens with “Quanta” by Stephanie Lake, choreographed to music by Robin Fox. The Australian choreographer already has a connection with the house through her artistic residency; now she is developing a work for the Semperoper’s main stage for the first time. “Quanta” is followed by “A Quiet Collision” by French choreographer Julian Nicosia, with music by Michael Anklin and Janiv Oron.
The evening closes with “Body Suites” by Israeli choreographer Shahar Binyamini, set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach. The shift from electronically inflected sound worlds to Bach places different musical points of reference side by side. This is a dramaturgy that does more than simply put three names on a programme: it also invites questions about how movement responds to different musical logics.
Ballet as an open form
“Different Grounds” belongs to a tradition of ballet that cannot be pinned down to a single technical or aesthetic norm. Classical theatrical dance remains its point of reference, but contemporary choreography can shift its order: in its dynamics, its groupings and the relationship between music and movement. A triple bill makes such differences visible without necessarily smoothing them into a shared narrative.
This also poses a question for a major repertory house. Here, the Semperoper is not simply presenting an ensemble in new works, but making the diversity of contemporary choreography its programme. The fact that all three artists are responsible for both costumes and lighting also promises a close connection between movement and visual design – not as mere decoration, but as part of each choreographer’s distinctive signature.
The premiere as a starting point
For the Semperoper Ballett, the evening is also a framework for encounter: the ensemble moves between three working methods within a single programme, while audiences can compare different ideas of what sustains ballet today. The premiere on 31 October opens this encounter. Whether the three pieces complement or contradict one another, or deliberately diverge, cannot responsibly be predicted before the curtain first rises. One thing is certain: “Different Grounds” makes difference itself its subject.
Original reviewed by the editors · 30 October 2026
