38. International Choreography Competition Hanover, by Ballettgesellschaft Hannover

You can also a snail make dance
Chinese choreographer Juezhi Tang proved this with ‘The Snail’, winning the Tanja LiedtkeAward Choreography Hannover (€25,000 in cooperation with Ballettgesellschaft Hannover).The competition is the world’s oldest and most highly endowed competition for youngchoreographers.
So it was a snail that convinced the jury, with over 500 choreographies from more than 60countries in the running. 19 made it to the semi-finals at the Theater am Aegi, and nine finallyshowed in the final just how diverse and surprising young dance can be today. Thechoreographies ranged from sweat-inducing hip-hop to scary scenes and sensitive couplerelationships, from deeply personal confrontations on the edge of pain to jazz-driven femalepower.
At nine minutes, the winning piece about the somewhat clumsy little animal is one of thecomparatively shorter works. In the solo, dancer Derui Gao rolls onto the stage in a white drumlike a small rhönrad. He then frees himself from his shell and celebrates his newfound freedomto the sounds of film music with some breathtaking acrobatics – but in the end he has to carrythe heavy burden again.

Dancer Derui Gao. Photo: Ralf Mohr

Left: Rica Schwieger, Derui Gao, Gerlinde Liedtke, translator, Kurt Liedtke. Photo: M.Schwieger