Before the choreographic show Faith, love, hope (“Faith – Love – Hope) which premiered on Saturday evening at the Hanover opera house, the establishment had issued a warning as it usually does when performances may contain unusual stimuli or sensitive subjects: presence of “unusually loud music”, of “human sounds (whispers, gasps) diverted and unusually amplified” and D’“strong odors (popcorn)”. On the other hand, the theater had not foreseen the violent eruption of feces which marked this evening.
Bag containing the droppings of his dachshund
Especially since it is to its director and chief choreographer, Marco Goecke, that we owe this pestilential package. During the intermission, last year’s winner of the prestigious Deutscher Tanzpreis took journalist Wiebke Hüster to task in the foyer of the opera. Verbally first, by making her way through a small round of journalists with the aim of shouting at her and making her understand in unkind terms that she was not welcome here. In question, a criticism published the day before in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung by this dance specialist. The text vehemently attacked another show staged by the choreographer for the Nederlands Dans Theater, In the Dutch Mountains, and who is currently filming in the Netherlands. While acknowledging some meager qualities, the columnist felt that the show “drives you mad and bores you”, that he is like “a radio that never finds the right frequency” – in short: “a shame”.
The HE DOES reports that Goecke would have first threatened the journalist to ban her access to the establishment, accusing her of being responsible for the drop in the number of subscribers to the theater. The culmination of this tense exchange, the choreographer took a bag containing the droppings of his dachshund (present at the time of the tragedy), opened it and spread the contents on the face of the unfortunate .
“Climate of contempt or even hatred”
Wiebke Hüster raconte : “When I felt what he was doing, I screamed.” The journalist filed a complaint. The opera announced that it had suspended Marco Goecke and publicly apologized via a press release on its site and assures that the necessary steps will be examined, with “calme” et “care”. The HE DOES for its part is deeply concerned about a “climate of contempt or even hatred” towards journalists, citing among other examples the steward of Hamburg’s Schauspielhaus, Karin Beier, who said two years ago when asked about her feelings about reviews in general: “It’s shit that sticks to the sleeve of art.” The Association of German Journalists deplores a serious attack on the freedom of the press.
Questioned by the local television channel NDR, the choreographer declared Monday afternoon, moderately repentant: “I think the way I used was not great, that’s for sure. It’s not recognized or socially accepted when you resort to such means, and I had never done anything like this before. In that sense, I scare myself a bit. But when I see my job, my work, my business soiled for years by such a journalist, and the answer is limited to being: “It’s the price to pay when you’re a public person”… I’m not the same opinion.” He argues that Wiebke Hüster’s criticisms are “personal”, And this “Since twenty years”, and affirms that “99% of the people active in the field of dance in this country have already felt very hurt by this woman”.