<<  -- 5 --  Sissy von Kotzebue and Tess Crebbin    DANCE, BERNSTEIN!

The dancers were a delight. Russian-born principal dancer, Anna Polikarpova, was a feast for the eyes, with her ethereal beauty and perfectionist approach to dance. Award-winning principal Heather Jurgensen, an American who studied with Marcia Dale Weary and has been a principal at Hamburg State Ballet since 1994, impressed with her posture and routine. The highlights were the Bubenicek twins, Jiri and Otto. Born in Poland, the Czech twin dancers have been principals at the Hamburg State Ballet since 1997. Indistinguishable from his twin brother when on stage, it is Jiri who is making the most prolific headlines. He is currently one of the hottest young dancers in the world and shot to international fame when he danced the part of Nijinski. His magnificent dancing caused The Independent (London) to write of it as 'the most tremendous performance I have seen at a theatre in a year or more'. Jiri has won awards too numerous to mention, among them the coveted Benois de la Danse in 2002. He has also choreographed many ballets himself and he may, one day, follow in the footsteps of John Neumeier. For next year's Hamburg Ballet Days, Jiri will contribute several choreographies of his own. The twins were born in 1974 and they have their own website, www.bubenicek.net .

The encores were a feast for the eyes: the ensemble, in their Armani-costumes, came out dancing highlights of the individual sections. Endless applause caused encore after encore and climaxed in a deafening fortissimo when Neumeier himself appeared on stage. His presence is almost superhuman and the man is unarguably a genius, yet he is unpretentious, almost shy, and the best friend of his dancers. And herein lies the real secret leading to his huge success: friendship. This performance is like a kiss a friend still living sends to a friend in eternity.

'Sometimes I think that my profession, choreography, would have been exactly right for Bernstein,' Neumeier muses. 'By its nature it must involve precisely his favorite combination: music and people.'

Watching Bernstein Dances, one could witness the extraordinary bond between the two men, which lives on beyond death. Neumeier touched the audience so deeply that, aroused by Bernstein's music and spirit, everybody left as a 'Bernstein Dancer'.

The music for Bernstein Dances was not live, but came from tape, from the like-named, now discontinued, CD by Deutsche Grammophon.

An upcoming Bernstein feature will showcase Bernstein's Mahler.