Landestheater Eisenach is thrilled to invite audiences to the world premiere of its captivating new ballet production, Next Wave – Masters of Dance – Visions of Modernity. Set to debut on Saturday, February 21, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. in the theater’s Großes Haus, this multi-part evening promises an exhilarating fusion of 20th-century avant-garde choreography and fresh, boundary-pushing perspectives on movement and gesture.
Curated as a dynamic bridge between contemporary dance aesthetics and classical ballet tradition, Next Wave features four distinct works by internationally acclaimed and emerging choreographers.
The program opens with Chairman Dances by Lucinda Childs, the grande dame of postmodern dance. The work is conceptually based on John Adams’ opera Nixon in China, whose orchestral work “The Chairman Dances” provides the choreography’s eponymous musical foundation. In Chairman Dances, the dancers mirror the subtle, repetitive movements of city pedestrians, creating a living tableau. Framed like a static picture that gradually comes alive, the ensemble’s restrained, precise gestures capture the innovative, boundary-pushing essence of the opera that inspired the work.
Next comes Concerto for 2 by Jorge Pérez Martínez, the new Ballet Director at Landestheater Eisenach starting in the 2025/26 season. A heartfelt homage to enduring lifelong love, this work is set to Ezio Bosso’s Violin Concerto No. 1 “Esoconcerto,” with choreography, scenography, stage, and costumes by Martínez himself. His background includes dancing for luminaries like Jiří Kylián, Hans van Manen, Glen Tetley, and Lucinda Childs in companies such as Introdans and Generale Oost.
The evening continues with Ephemerus by Ana Isabel Casquilho, originally created for the 2025 Next Generation program (which earned a nomination for the prestigious Deutscher Theaterpreis Der Faust). This introspective piece explores the fleeting boundaries of human experience, mortality, and bodily ephemerality, with choreography and scenery by Casquilho and costumes by Danielle Jost.
The program concludes with The Hunt by Robert Battle, former Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (2011–2023) and a celebrated figure in modern dance. Honored as a “Master of African American Choreography” by the Kennedy Center and recipient of the Princess Grace Foundation’s Statue Award, Battle infuses this primal ritual with urban edge and explosive physicality drawn from martial arts influences. Set to the percussive sounds of Les Tambours du Bronx, the choreography develops the typical character of a primal ritual, pushing the dancers to their physical limits while simultaneously demanding emotional endurance.
This innovative program showcases the theater’s commitment to blending heritage with innovation, highlighting both established masters and rising talents.
Tickets are available now. For more details, visit https://landestheater-eisenach.de/produktionen/next-wave.html.
