"Rap on Ballet" on tour through four prisons Nothing similar has ever happened in German prisons: professional ballet dancers and former imprisoned rappers touring through various prisons of the Federal Republic with a joint programme of hard beats and gentle movements. "Rap on Ballet" is a project by National Youth Ballet and the JVA Rottenburg, which will be presented in four closed performances and for one public show. The tour starts on April 16th in the JVA Hamburg Fuhlsbüttel, continuing on to Würzburg (April 18th ) and Adelsheim (April 19th) and lastly to Rottenburg on April 21st. The evening performance is open to the public, but already sold out.

The National Youth Ballet on tour through four prisons:

• April 16: JVA Hamburg Fuhlsbüttel (not public)
• April 18: JVA Würzburg (not public)
• April 19: JVA Adelsheim (not public)
• April 21: JVA Rottenburg (not public in the afternoon, public in the evening)

Beginning of the public performance is at 7.00 PM, admission is at 6.00 PM. The performance is sold out.

A firework of premieres is expecting the audience in Heidelberg and Esslingen in March and April! With two festivals in these two cities in southern Germany, the BUNDESJUGENDBALLETT has two projects scheduled giving high priority to the presentation of new creations.

And not just one new piece is going to have its premiere: Seven new choreographies will premiere only in Heidelberg. For the project titled "Folk Songs", choreographers of different nationalities will create new works to folk songs of the 19th and 20th century, by Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland and Heitor Villa-Lobos among others.

In December 2012, Kenneth Tindall – the winner of the "BUNDESJUGENDBALLETT production prize" of the last "International Competition for Choreographers in Hanover" –, guested at the Ballet Center in Hamburg to create with the ensemble.

In January, first Thiago Bordin and after him John Neumeier created with the company, also for the Heidelberg event.

Currently, the Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer from Kiel, Yaroslav Ivanenko, is in Hamburg to work with the BUNDESJUGENDBALLETT on his contribution to the young classical music festival "Podium", which will take place from April 25 to May 5 in Esslingen.

And also the next few weeks are dedicated to the creation of new choreographies. We're getting all excited!

"Folk Songs" at the festival "Heidelberger Frühling"
on March 20, 21 and 24
Tickets for 25 euros here

Young European Music Festival "Podium" on April 28 and 29
Tickets here

Photo © Silvano Ballone

The NATIONAL YOUTH BALLET (Bundesjugendballett) has launched its first international tour. From October 6th to 16th the company is taking part in guest performances at the LANXESS Young Euro Classic Concerts 2012 in China with shows in Beijing (October 11th), Changzhou (October 13th) und Shanghai (October 15th). On their tour through China, the young company will present three highlights of their repertoire with works by John Neumeier, Wang Sizheng and Patrick Eberts. Furthermore, Iris Tenge’s new ballet “But a beautiful ballroom soul”, a piece commissioned for Young Euro Classic, will be premiered to the music of Bernhard Weidner.

The LANXESS Young Euro Classic 2012 China Concerts have already reached their sixth year of bringing the best young artists from China and Germany together for joint rehearsals and a concert tour. This year, musicians of the Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz, the Berlin University of the Arts and the Beijing Conservatory are participating. The participation of the NATIONAL YOUTH BALLET marks the first appearance of a ballet company. The programme draws an arc from Germany to China, from the traditional to the modern.

The music piece “Les yeux verts cheveux noirs” by the young Chinese composer Guo Yanwa has been interpreted by Patrick Eberts, a German choreographer and ensemble member of the NATIONAL YOUTH BALLET. In return, the Chinese choreographer Wang Sizheng has brought movement to Marko Zdralek's piece “Ich flamme - Tänze im Sonnenwind” arranged for marimba and woodwind-quintet. John Neumeier, General Director and Artistic Supervisorof the NATIONAL YOUTH BALLET,  has created a choreography to excerpts from Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13 B flat major op. 130. The three ballets were premiered on August 9th at the Konzerthaus Berlin, which hosted the Young Euro Classic festival.

This exciting cross-cultural exchange will provide a musical framework for the official ceremony marking “40 years of diplomatic relations between The People’s Republic China and the Federal Republic of Germany in Beijing”.