in a comedy series. well up next we have our documentary series doc film and that meets with john neumeier his longtime head of the hamburg ballet and don't forget there's more on these and other stories that are website e w dot com for now though for me brian thomas and the entire news team thanks for being here. let us we were. when we were. 80 percent of americans or something in our lives really experience hardship listening. to. people for d.w.i. on facebook and twitter update and in touch.

don't be too good just because it. take her take her. to go to. john nolan meyer at work that fast. and internationally renowned choreographer who depicts worlds of emotion in the language of dance thank you it's been done i'm a grateful person and that might be why i'm a happy person quickly and privileged to get to do what i love most is need.

for johnno i mire the artistic journey has always been more important than a destination. and i live and i know if my life is a painting dance is the frame. his creative home is the ballet center hamburg. sight is she ever since i've been a choreographer my aim has been to create a sort of microcosm of the world on stage after. a microcosm that includes the underworld johnno meyer is staging orpheus and you read a scene. where cliche you see is stick christians in the narrative is the creative process itself in and there's nothing better than entering a space and feeling extremely nervous and uncertain. your dancers looking to you with huge expectations on to the sound of music that moves you hear it and

creating something that hadn't existed before us that's not meet our. and. one of his main focuses has always been melding dance with music. mine attends zent di di my kind of dances are ones who give it their all even in rehearsal a nice little knot i believe because i'm a slave driver and they're afraid they'll be fired if they don't. last me because it gives them joy this is huge to go and this joy infects me to him it's a great source of inspiration for me which is for me and of course in spirit. is a choreographer who's loved and appreciated by character dancers. that

that magic that happens in the studio that it's nothing that i can tell but i guess as a choreographer and dancer you create. really a fine line when you're in the studio working where that is not really boundaries between one and another it requires these unity to be able to create something really from deep inside tension has. an amazing way off transforming dancers into different drills that sometimes you don't. expect to become the person that or to find that person in you and i think you have an amazing way of finding that in you to project it on stage it's just incredible yeah it's incredible experience to be with him in the studio and. to see how how. how to he's as he sees

evil and that they're all the a dual and that piece he creates so it's really special there was the. death. am. the world famous dance company as a many headed entity accompanying johnno in my own on his artistic quest down a long and winding road. it's right for him at fs i know and i always have doubts tate nothing has any worth from less you question it and question yourself and father stared at a string i'm forever as a crossroads conflicted wondering if i'm going in the right direction or not confuse you one up there fake it it's late to court and here why do you do it here

self i ask myself that too much man. he's never taken the easy route when he was 62 dance the part of the lion man in his ballet production affronts schubert's into highs and our winter journey. the characters that interest him are the downers the losers and dreamers. one that as long intrigued temp is vats let me just see the russian ballet dancer and choreographer often referred to as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century new meyers ballet explores his descent into madness. john the baptist and jesus and a power to do it in a choreographic exploration of george frederick handel's messiah the broken heroes in classic noir my us style. symbiotic for better and for worse john the baptist makes jesus a teacher finding him disciples. noting the expectations of the crowds and doubting

his mission. a ballet steeped in soul and sure manatee. i am the leader that can be a huge accord of a bit of myself and every piece of mine every choreography and every production and mission growing up she and i can't choreograph a stage something with complete honesty if i don't understand it these need for stiff i don't understand it deeply from a very specific angle my own personal angle in that 1st year. johno i meyer was born in milwaukee on lake michigan in 1039 his father was a ship's captain. his mother loved arts and culture. supported his ambition to dance and ambition born when the family went together to see a musical in the cinema. he started taking tap dancing classes then in a walkie city library he stumbled across

a biography of. and fell in love with ballet. he studied in london and copenhagen and in 1963 went to germany to join the stuttgart ballet led by choreographer john crank oh. johnno and my aunt was a talented dancer and was soon making a name for himself as a choreographer too. in 1969 he was appointed director of the frankfurt ballet his adaptation of romeo and juliet in 1984 was a milestone his juliet was no hottie prima donna but an irrepressible young girl who learns to dance only when she falls in love she breathed new life into the classics. she reinterpreted swan lake as a vision dreamed up by luke the 2nd during his imprisonment. was.

but not meyer doesn't seek to revolutionize ballet so much as to renew it gently and thoughtfully. up they've considered us for art can make a difference here i'm not sure he's but i'm not sure that's its task. i should help people understand themselves better as he said a fresh d n. a l m m m i can. download it on. the majestic pal a gun is located in the heart of the congo do that in paris it's the home of the famous ballet due to pathing and associated ballet school. it is the creative type created a lot of it yet what i create is not a complete sort as very far ballet company wants to stage one of my works i don't

see it as a picture hanging on a wall that i can take down and send over along with a bill or give it district is he in on chicken national or that's all i have to go and meet them with stand out and see who these people are wanting to bring new life to my work even disses faire noir leaves. in muncie in chided this man interested in when you decide to work in different places or what then you learn that each place has its own set of rules that. in part he said is especially true of the paris opera which has a very long ballet tradition and in ahmedabad 22 not sure but it. the pentagon year opened its doors in 875 for years it was the biggest theater in the world a meeting place for high society. john nolan meyer loves the venue and frequently

works here as a guest choreographer. he's a company a d.c. leader is i love this company very much it's big it's not too big because it will often have 2 big productions going on in its 2 different venues mind i really do interest my. i'd like to have lots of time to work with my group these are groups who are by so they cross but each row through its movements is an important color in this mosaic of emotions at 1st and fall by east indies a mosaic fun one is there. together with ballet masters kevin hagen and. both former dancers with a hammer ballet johnno meyer is on his way to rehearsals his adaptation of la demo coming out yeah the 19th century novel by alexandre dumas is being staged in the city in which it was set. with

a. retailer no really i want to sell i think when you figure out if things are excellent. with its many stairwells corridors and rooms the historic building is something of a labyrinth. you know if an i.c.b.m. . i mean if there were souls are taking place in one of 5 studios what's interesting with our job and john makes that very very clear is that is the journey the process of always learning and always searching because everything doesn't have to be successful but everything has to go for it it's not about success it's about it's not about the just a ship it's about the journey and that john has always made very clear. and that's why it will continue to create. johnno in my r.

originally created lot damo coming idea set to music by frederick actual power for the stood guard ballet in 1978 it was internationally acclaimed the production in paris is now the 6th version he has staged in the city in mind at 1st and show it in my head and beard when you consider some aspect or opera and have an earlier dancer in mind. and are looking to reproduce what she or he did and it doesn't work . van man could only works when you love and respect this incredibly precious resource you're working with mainly people fobbed not colors not words not computers or typewriters countrified machine bleep and perspective yet. each rehearsal and each role takes on a life of its own. if it deep to mend i'm always falling in love in you with the dances i work with is

trying to create something fresh trying to awaken something new both in the dancers and in myself but i think this in and is erica ok yes but we're. a little bit very good for what a very good. the author is a legendary institution to perform on its stage is a unique privilege and when a world famous choreographer is staging a production of his own work it's a special thrill for the $154.00 dancers with the paris opera ballet. or you're going. to rehearsals for productions are tightly scheduled here the condom of opera houses makes no exceptions. the venue's sumptuous velvet upholstery and lavish gold detail is dance like making the pentagon a premier tourist attraction. it

still looks much the same as it did in the late 19th century when it was the beating heart of fashionable paris. i spoke energy out and i think the problem is that there are 6 different causes and there's also a major production of the op ed by steve and the easier stroke in investing. it's an unfamiliar situation for johnno mire the hamburg ballet is a much smaller company and the dancers are entirely at his disposal. he staged the story of the ill fated lovers many times but always managed to reinterpret it and find a new way of telling their tragic tale. there's

interest and it is this month in merida a snow it's what's interesting is that you can always discover something new because humans are such a tunnel in the cameras into a it's always an adventure said some as like this is the great year for the ascent emitted a row might be the same but it's always performed by someone different to toward the dict is to tie beat is fun for you is driven by faith in new ways of being an i know an i know and that mukesh kite to xining for one perspective on humankind. on a different angle on emotionality more tonight 88 on and does this test for that's what makes a story endlessly fascinating for me as

a choreographer i'll spot from mission as quick off. the terminally ill magazine it will ultimately. leave her lover and forfeit her happiness. after the rehearsal johnno meyer gives all of the dancers in depth individual feedback. because that change our spatial to the definitely set up to push him to center which is. the 1st time.

he never tires of explaining his ideas and demonstrating what he's looking for the look. he throws himself into his work with body and song you. have the same fate with. the record so it's good to have all this in the kitchen for fraud and so you know it gives you so much image of circa recta it tells you why you have to do it like that why it's more. credible for the audience wait what is the sense of doing it is just like i want you to do it it's always there is a little while. stretch after yet but yet it. even after a career spanning 50 years he's only satisfied when he can get to grips with every last detail of his productions with. johnno and meyer has been director of the hamburg ballet since 1973 and put the city on the map of international dance he

also made it his home and it was here that he found his longtime partner. or 2 professionally he's a genius but he's always remained unbelievably grounded as a down to earth as the americans say and he has a great sense of humor but if you didn't we wouldn't be together i missed calls home was once with villagers arms aria. discomfort i meant think there comes a moment of woman vice when you just know that you've made someone at their. best still better than anyone you've ever imagined that's money that's the same one who could show it all would exist

tom and kinda sorta at a. point dan is this all this money that you want together with this person is that man say it was easy to talk about everything man. see half a human understand to see you find your deeply interested in the other person and. i suspect or at it and you learn what it's like to be more concern for them than you are feel self or human under so how i'm a physician. it's 10 o'clock on a sunday morning in an hour at the ballet workshop will begin on the stage of the hamburg state opera no meyer will expand on how the roles developed and offer unique insights into the creative process. just a few months seat fs so get the feeling of seeing who these people are in private

this is to me the 3 dimensionality of the characters is always very important and for the audience to see the performers without their costumes is something special . and it's showing the elite this outfit is. the 1st ballet workshop took place in 1973 and was an instant hit with the audience tickets are always snapped up immediately. i think it's now time to i thank you. thank you and good morning ladies and gentlemen it's right about it that i'm delighted to welcome you to our 224th ballet what shops that say begin audits citing courses are down thank you for ballet workshops per year and the event is always sold out. today and i'm loud and edin show the audience what they've been

trying out in rehearsals for a live dam to come yet. they concentrate on pure dance. then johnno meyer talks the audience through the company's work. a successful documentary series was made about the ballet workshops. i could as agnes by letting him give us and in one respect ballet is a consumer product compared to a restaurant i have sit down and i order a steak and steak and asked if the steaks good i'll come back then if it's not good

it won't make it any better if the restaurant owner takes me into the kitchen and shows me how cramped it is and how hard it is to work that share it's that i haven't problems getting good stuff and that he's depressed at the moment and can't cook and what it is fair it's a hoax a cough and that's something i might feel sorry for him on a personal level but i still won't enjoy my steak and i still won't come back this is i guess the same with ballet if you watch a performance and you don't like it and then like be interested in finding out anything more about it man nothing i can say oh we can show you will change that but what a deficit site to go to come up your john norma in 1978 no myra one a german t.v. a white for the 4 part john on my respond at action at which he developed and hosted off to the just for const neumeier sees ballet as an art form by people for people he was 1st inspired by classic american musicals and their influence often

shines through his work. bernstein dances pays homage to the music and spirits of latter bernstein. acts. good. arrow. and see the sense of these abilities once you've seen the dancers on stage then you leather dancing isn't just a job for them job dancing for all dancers is a vocation i can for either tenser and it. is the most intensive part of our lives and that's wonderful. but as a stall it. can come a time when it's no longer possible and to me what's most important is not a moment when dancers a dancing or tense a dance encourage the moment when they no longer can send their moment was is that

scott we need to focus on a ha that's where we need to help miss the concert that's your own get down there because she had front. row seats from the event to go to the dance foundation which helps professional dancers make the transition to other jobs. johnno in my are dedicated his choreography to mama's leads where the beautiful trumpets blow to soloist geoffrey kirk who died of aids. the ballet workshop benefits traditionally end with a performance. for neumeier compassion and commemoration are intertwined with the ephemeral nature of dance.

i'm going home and i think that was my approach when i became a ballet director nearly 50 years ago. that i missed by that direct us i'm going home and hobbit the size it's been nice to not only responsible for mahler's 5th symphony or the boys magic horn i'm responsible for everything or this was done so who are glad to be part of something for those who are a bit sad because that part of it but on dressing enough and i doubt if one of them haven't kind of those that are completely unhappy because they're not a part of it at all gus most i need to have answers for all of them and i need to be able to give direction because call myself

a director. so it's come on say he needs to defect on any. exactly because he started his job also includes this sort of thing today he selecting images for the program for orpheus and your idiocy together with photographer kieron west a former dancer. john nolan meyer tends to keep a professional distance from his dancers but nothing escapes west's all seeing photographers gaze. so as tense of it as. when i was a dancer we had a completely different relationship yet some day and for them it's something else now. for being in front of me he's not afraid and you had a kind of. thank you call it. came as a diverse aside from dr under so i know the best sides of john were just and that's what i always want to show and he knows that. so he trusts me completely.

we did this a portrait together not just said john do your thing you've got the special movie things and he was like fine what move on your movie john neumeier so he does it. so i just have to photograph him and show the world or give it side and. john mara . i. hit. a group photo to mark the company's 40th anniversary in 2013 including a few dancers from the very early days. with his 1988 piece hamburger impromptu french choreographer a movie space paid tribute to his friend john longmire and his company.

among the masterpieces created by noir meyer and the hamburg ballet is simply number 3 by good stuff mama which premiered in 1975 the music itself is the theme of the choreography. is a recurring inspiration. to many of new myra's choreographies have a dream like nerd merging elements that make for strange and unsettling bedfellows . in a midsummer night's dream he just opposes the romantic strains of felix meant a zone with georgi legatees mechanical music i say matthew passion was johnno meyers 1st choreographic exploration of

a sacred oratorial it premiered at the santa mission as church in hamburg in 1980. 9 meyer has devised 160 choreographies. in the course of his career his young students marked his 60th birthday with a celebration of his. working with the young students in the school of the hamburg ballet is a cornerstone of norm myers mission. the majority of the dancers in his company are graduates of the school he also founded the national youth ballet which has become a pillar of the german dance world his works are classics with cross generational appeal as illustrated by this short version of la damo coming performed on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

under the watchful eye of the city's patron goddess imo nia in 2018 at hamburg city hall he renewed his contract as ballet director. in 2023 he will have held the position for 50 years a saturday says and he that i always say it's a welcome but as i decided to carry this burden for another 4 years it's does it. every autumn the hamburg ballet gives the guest performance in baton bodden even after all these years he still feels nervous and had a premiere. this is production is bernstein dances. it's the same piece that launched the cooperation between the hamburg ballet and

the bottom batton festival hall 20 years ago. this is fia and it's a place where you can experiment with interactive art and i want to open up the packard fly is here escape because there's always time here to reconsider the works that's what i see them in a completely different space model and somehow i find that very inspiring and spectate me shooting. the serene setting helps focus the body and mind here in boston bodden there's a deep appreciation for the dance company from hamburg at the press conference it's obvious that the local media is familiar with his work here and it is and by that victor i feel was a ballet is truly good when it doesn't just tell an old story but my story. is seen as a. it saved my negotiator that's the most important thing is that it's still alive

the worst thing that could happen would be to have works of mine staged in a way that's all fine and good but like a museum object behind glass into it that's mustn't happen that's the dance ballet is a living art form that is it's to do with the here and now and if it has nothing to do with now then it shouldn't be done at all it needs to not so much. as always the choreographer attends the performance accompanied by his ballet master. i think the last 2 decades the company has built up of loyal fan base here in the south many members of the audience have come from france and switzerland. i then who has a capacity of $2500.00 seats and every single one is taken the anniversary guest

performances are sold out. a standing ovation for bernstein dances the company and the choreography of. the hoof from the door to me this profession means constantly learning and experiencing new things and then after. when does it get duncan my love of his art and learning about him he has never gone away and is not. a love that's plain to see and his home. is this is a place of tranquility and ought to work i should concentrate here very well it's a good country and. an entire floor is given over to new gene skis drawings and sketches. vicinity you know we don't know exactly how many of the rock but we have

the largest existing collection 98 of the sketches skits in. the collection belongs to the foundation john neumeier which brings together his collections that portray the history of ballet through art and words. design no east for me the collection isn't about value rather it's important for my work via it is for might have items dicky's mind. is it one pieces together mosaic stones. owns the place that one will keep going forward ticket this man used for one can't go back is skipped i thought i know and it's a way to build on the past and on fun deaf accounting night. paris. is premiering in the pan a gallon. 30 dancers are getting ready for the

performance. the company has purchased the entire production an important source of income for the 9 story building. it's marble staircases and lavish decor demand a costly upkeep. legendary dancers of days gone by look down from the ceiling it was here that day god painted his famous ballet dancers and here that dancers would rendezvous with their well heeled admires. ballet he steered the ago is the paris opera as one of the main centers of ballet contests of history and tradition of any type it's your own hands on and. i feel very honored to be in such a place i'd like to contribute to visit venerable company as was i and at 1st to a decent touchstones i could see one of the companies i've worked with most often

is the dame is i need the company in me to me she's a fast i'm eisen gal by to power. the performance isn't just taking place on stage the audience is engaged in its own performance while the dancers wait in the wings. damn or come here is a study of high society and fast morality but the production draws its emotional intensity from the power to do between alma and maggie heat it captures the very essence of their relationship.

40 years after it 1st premiered the tragedy has lost none of its power to move the audience. up cause for the paris after a ballet and john on my ass. backstage he congratulates the company. noone. have this badly it is your reality so please. take care let it grow that it grow in new let yourself grow as artists when you do it ok i will be thinking of you and it can be any moment i may come back and see what you're doing this survey careful ok i could be there any moment.

if he sees dance as a form of human expression its purpose above all is to convey a feeling. i don't care if you miss one step plan i don't kick you fall down but eat because you have a fantastic technique so it's not over name moment when there's a bit of blame is to is to project this is incredible pays the thought is that you have this is a good at the create hearing about this year. thank you michel thank you very much to thank you also. new meyer's life is a whirlwind of premieres revivals and rehearsals his calendar is packed with engagements. today he's presenting his latest piece all feel really deals to the press ahead of its premiere in hamburg it's a co-production with us operas. for no mire the challenge was to put the ballet and

the opera on an equal footing. he's in charge not only of the choreography but also the staging sets the costumes and the lighting concept. that assange escaped in every stick of the shites say it's heading in the right direction for send a submission chicago bear in mind i did this in chicago after 8 weeks of rehearsals . for 4 but set down how l.a. after 3 weeks of rehearsals and all that side out 5 weeks here and get snooty that was found for one here so i'd say it's coming along. in hamburg a new meyer premier is always an event especially when a ballet director is trying his hand at an opera this isn't the 1st time he's tackled the myth of orpheus the audience has high expectations of his latest

treatment of looks opera. i. was not meyers concept this time is that orpheus is a choreographer and you already see a prima ballerina the production demonstrates the power of art to render even death meaningless era to see isn't left in the underworld but gets to live. in man and profession langham when you. a profession for a long time and people ask as the germans do when you're going to stop and hit out how so they expect you to deliver one last masterpiece botton dollars after all you're a master of your craft and i stood there by my niece and my stuff but i don't feel that's what i am at all he says sure and meister to sign when i start choreographing i don't know how i'll do what i do i see this much.

what he does is interweave dance and music so that the respective art forms merge together organically. 2 as usual he's in the audience interested to see how his work comes across. when he takes to the stage a few boos mingled with the applause he's used to let john know i'm ira has his vision he's confident and has pursued us.

and yet i still think in the premiere is only the start of something. if i wasn't enjoying what i do my career wouldn't have lasted 50 years and patti to shit my sound melodramatic but i believe i'm doing what i'm destined to do it's the show i think that's what's called a vocation it's got us to go to the. if you're a turtle in cambodia you might want to tuck your head in. the turtles are in demand for soup was good luck charms. an animal welfare center is a breeding more turtles to save endangered species. but it's a long road before they can be released into the wild.

global 3090 minutes on d w. and i'm getting close to the brand new w from the bottom is pulled it's personal it's device it's about topics that affect the whole water pollution of climate change and turned. slowly brings us closer to. the fall of the berlin wall began long before november 989. we visit the heroes of eastern europe. we talked to those who began the struggle for freedom and those who showed personal courage. the museum of the fall of the wall didn't surprise me you should come 1st what does it take to change the course of history.

raising the iron curtain starts september 30th on t w. this is the wu is coming to you live from berlin more than half a 1000000 travelers are on the wild are stranded after thomas cook collapses with the travel fun grounded holidays are turning into a nightmare for tourists and left interest what is britain doing to help its citizens get back home also coming up iran offers a new security plan for the gulf region that does not include the united states

president hassan rouhani takes his vision to the not.