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Ballet of (Dis)Obedience

For an aesthetic of (dis)obedience. The dance evening that Richard Siegal created with his company at Schauspiel Köln after a joint trip to Japan serves as the basis for this choreographically and visually powerful film production. Staged for the camera, this creates a completely new experience of the successful dance production. The geometry of human bodies and their synchronized movements in space - this is how you could describe Richard Siegal's everyday artistic practice. The choreographer finds inspiration in the swarm intelligence of animals, in the movements of the stock market or in observations of human behavior between individuality and collectivism. A largely unknown practice that seems to unite all of this can be found in so-called "Shuudan Koudou", also known as "Japanese Precision Walking". The discipline has existed in Japan since 1966 as a kind of hybrid form of dance, sport and military marching, which focuses on strictly synchronized movement sequences of groups of people - similar to the dance movements of a classical corps de ballet that strive for synchronicity.

  • Benedict Mirow
    Director
    Draw a Line, Hilary Hahn - Evolution of an Artist
  • Benedict Mirow
    Producer
  • Richard Siegal
    Key Cast
    "Choreographer"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Television
  • Genres:
    Dance Performance, Dance Film, Perfermance & Arts
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 13 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 1, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    150,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    German
  • Shooting Format:
    UHD
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Benedict Mirow

Mirow studied theater directing at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and ethnology at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. He directs and co-produces concert recordings and documentaries about famous personalities from the classical music scene, such as Friedrich Gulda, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Lang Lang, Hilary Hahn, Hélène Grimaud and Plácido Domingo. He also made a film portrait of Paulo Coelho.

In 1999, Mirow founded the production company "Nightfrog", which specializes in the production of music films, documentaries and reports with a focus on culture and Africa. In 2001, he supervised the production of Nowhere in Africa (Caroline Link) as an ethnological consultant. The film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2003. In 2005, Mirow was awarded the Echo Klassik (Best Music DVD Production) for the direction and executive production of Lang Lang - Live at Carnegie Hall.

The film Terezín - Refuge in Music, produced by Benedict Mirow on behalf of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts (directed by Benedict Mirow & Dorothee Binding) and starring Coco Schumann, Alice Herz-Sommer, Daniel Hope and Anne Sofie von Otter, was awarded the Diapason d'or in 2013 and the International Classical Music Award (Best Music Documentary) in 2014. The film also won a Raven Award for Best Feature Music at the Docutah Festival 2014.

"Draw A Line" (2019), a production directed by Benedict Mirow about the American choreographer Richard Siegal and his "Ballet of Difference", premiered at the 2019 Munich DokFest and won several international awards, including the "Best Dance Documentary Feature 2019" at the Divulge Dance Film Festival in Hollywood, CA.

"Hilary Hahn - Evolution of an Artist" (2020), a long-term documentary from 2003-2019 (director and producer: Benedict Mirow, writer: Dorothee Binding) about the American violinist Hilary Hahn, also premiered at the Munich DokFest 2020 in May 2020, where the production was nominated for the festival's Audience Award.

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Director Statement

It was a conscious decision to involve choreographer Richard Siegal as much as possible in the directing process. This was the only way we could achieve such a dense and intense cinematic realization of his stage production.

Richard Siegal is the founding artistic director of The Bakery (2006) and Ballet of Difference (2016). Recognized by a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie”Award, The German National Theater “Faust” Award, Munich Dance Prize, Richard Siegal has generated international attention for a body of work that includes performances, new media projects, workshops and publications. He has been commissioned by arts institutions including Bayerisches Staatsballett, Berlin Staatsballett, Ballet National de Marseille, Ruhrtriennale, GöteborgOperans Danskompani, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Sao Paulo Dance Company, Bodytraffic, Festival d'Automne, Munich DANCE Biennial, The Forsythe Company, Ircam, Centre Pompidou, Tanz im August, Ballett Frankfurt, Théâtre National de Chaillot, and Kolumba Museum Köln
His work with live musicians has led him to collaborate with Lorenzo Bianchi Hosch, Alva Noto, Alberto Posadas, L’Ensemble Intercontemporain, Diane Labrosse, Arto Lindsay and Hubert Machnik, a.o.
Collaborations with visual artists, architects and industrial designers include Anish Kapoor, Konstantin Grcic, François Roche, and Didier Faustino. Collaboration with costume and fashion designers include Alexandra Bertaut, Flora Miranda, Bernhard Wilhelm, Becca McCharen/Chromat, and Marta Jakubowski, together wth stylist, Edda Guddmundottir.
Richard Siegal has been Artist-in-Residence at Ruhrtriennale, The Baryshnikov Arts Center, ZKM/Karlsruhe, Bennington College, Festspielhaus St. Pölten, and Muffatwerk/Munich. From 2005 - 2015 he was an Associated Artist of The Forsythe Company. He is a MacDowell fellow and honorary member of The Bolshoi Ballet's "Benoit de la Danse."
In 2016 Richard Siegal founded Ballet of Difference in the city of Munich. From the beginning of the 2019/2020 season, Schauspiel Köln is the home of BoD.