Beethoven 7 – Sasha Waltz

Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, was described by Richard Wagner as a true "apotheosis of the dance," highlighting the predominance of rhythm and bodily momentum in the very architecture of the work.

As part of its European tour, the GöteborgsOperans Danskompani presents Hammer at the Théâtre du Châtelet. Performed for the very first time in France, Hammer is the third creation by choreographer Alexander Ekman for this Swedish contemporary dance company under the artistic direction of Katrín Hall. Capable of working as much on the work of his compatriot Ingmar Bergman as with Alicia Keys, and invited worldwide by the most prestigious cultural institutions, the Swedish choreographer has established himself in less than a decade as one of the most inventive creators of our time, and he was also entrusted with directing the ceremony for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. From museums to opera houses, and through theater and cinema, Alexander Ekman plays on all registers with a profound sense of wit and great humanity as his smallest common denominator.

Hammer was created in 2022 for and by the dancers of the GöteborgsOperans Danskompani. Hailing from twenty different countries, the thirty-one performers serve a monumental work, conceived as a two-act fresco that questions, with humor, the missteps of contemporary societies. From order to chaos, from the individual to the collective, from the sixties to today, Hammer questions the role of technology as much as that of ideology, around a resolutely humanist bias. Composed by Mikael Karlsson, the ballet's music blends recorded sounds from the string section of the Gothenburg Opera orchestra with synthesized sounds from several keyboards, behind which the choreographer's own hands are sometimes hidden!