February 13, 2023

After the critic wrote the audience for the ballet would feel as though they're "going insane" or "being killed by boredom"...

 ... the choreographer confronted her and rubbed dog shit into her face.

I'm reading "Choreographer Smears Dog Feces on Critic After Negative Review/Marco Goecke has been suspended from his position as ballet director at Hanover’s main opera house after he smeared excrement on a critic’s face" (NYT).

We're told that Goecke is "known for his pet dachshund, Gustav." So it was, presumably, the shit of a famous dog.

We're told that Goecke is considered by some to be "the most important ballet choreographer in Germany." And: "His signature style.... involving rapid arm movements, makes dancers look 'like flying birds.'" Like this:

 

ADDED: Here's an article about Goecke from Landgraf on Dance, dating back to 2015. I found it because I was looking for photos of the famous dachshund, but it's very interesting apart from the dog and the current dog-shit incident:
Goecke’s unique style was set from his first choreography on. Crazy, fast, nervous movements, quavering, shivering, angular and abrupt, yet also smooth and elegant. One needs quicksilver legwork but no pointe shoes for the women. Splayed legs are taboo too. Goecke considers them undignified, almost vulgar. He uses them sparingly, in extreme poses, devoid of any sexual connotation. He is reticent in terms of overt erotism: “Pants are like an elongation of the space, like the socket of a sculpture.... Bare legs are something very private (…). After all I don’t create pieces about going to the beach.".... 
Goecke works quickly, dense concentration filling the air.... Gustav, the dog, observes the goings-on carefully from his pet carrier.... Suddenly the elegant, short-haired dachshund reminds me of the fluttering dancers Goecke puts on stage. 
“Sometimes,” Goecke tells, “I consider myself as strong, one who has planted both feet firmly on the ground. But small details in everyday life might also have a strong impact on me or even discomfort me. For example during school times when a bunch of fellow pupils stood around and suddenly one made his gum bubble burst. For me this always expressed aggression. Hence I have to be careful with what I expose myself to.”....

56 comments:

Yancey Ward said...

A hero to the art world, I would wager.

rhhardin said...

Dog product catalogs sometimes list a powder to sprinkle on the dog's food that "gives feces an unpleasant taste."

So long as that hasn't been used it should be been okay.

Owen said...

Thanks for the Youtube, it tells me that I really don't need to spend time or money on this frantic angry clown.

Of course, that comment not only earns me a faceful of fresh feces, but reveals how deeply unworthy of his art I am and always will be. And I think he needs people like that. As a kind of cultural contrast agent. So: win-win.

gilbar said...

there're Are times when i'm GLAD i think modern "art" is horrible crap, that i'm GLAD i don't watch
This is One of THOSE times

Jaq said...

"It stinks!" - The Critic.

Ambrose said...

Interesting how the text uses shit, feces and excrement in rapid succession.

rehajm said...

I suspect the German government has strict guidelines on Kritiker mit Hundekot beschmieren

robother said...

There's a reason it's called "Jazz Hands" not Ballet Hands. (And with all his faults, Bob Fosse was smart enough never to get in a shit-smearing fight with a critic.)

Friendo said...

Fuck Off.

Joe Smith said...

'"the most important ballet choreographer in Germany."'

I went to a Little People convention once, and at 5'10" I was the tallest person there.

Is that kind of the same thing?

Joe Smith said...

Ve haf vays of making you like zis ballet...

Stan Smith said...

"Heps, who did steps, aren't steppin' anymore they're doing choreography...."

Lindsey said...

Ballet as nightmare

re Pete said...

"And now I know you’re dissatisfied

With your position and your place

Don’t you understand

It’s not my problem"

Lilly, a dog said...

Mike Myers did it better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHZR9SA5pOg

hawkeyedjb said...

Well, Swan Lake it isn't...

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Because I was in theater, I took dance in college, trying things like this. I wish they had offered tap, frankly.

n.n said...

A sign of interesting times, where temperamental fragility underlies self-abortive intent, scalping for progress, nationwide insurrections, and art deco "critic in feces". Tick tock.

YoungHegelian said...

I haven't seen the ballet in question, so I can't side with either the artist or the critic, but, ya know, I would think that some man smearing dog shit in some defenseless woman's face would be, like, illegal. Or, are things really different in Germany?

The article mentions Goecke being investigated for possible assault charges. How about forced public service when he's found guilty, something that fits the crimes, such as having to clean up public dog parks.

Michael said...

I suppose that is ballet - in Germany.

Sydney said...

It looks like a bunch of mimes pretending to dance ballet.

Interested Bystander said...

It’s dance but is it ballet? I was around ballet for about 15 years as my daughter was growing up. It’s called classical dance for a reason.

Rory said...

Was there an American playwright known for taking his dog to rehearsals? A Dick van Dyke Show episode has that, and I was wondering if it was parody of someone. Early 60s.

RigelDog said...

Und now, vee dahnce!

Jaq said...

I think the line was "Now is the time on Sprocket when we dance!"

Wilbur said...

Rory said...
Was there an American playwright known for taking his dog to rehearsals? A Dick van Dyke Show episode has that, and I was wondering if it was parody of someone. Early 60s.
----------------------------------------------------------

Good catch. As I recall, Rob Petrie was brought in by his boss, Alan Brady, to ghostwrite or punch up a Broadway play Brady was appearing in. The comedy came from Rob's frustration that he had to pretend to be Brady's tailor whenever the playwright came around with his dog.

MacMacConnell said...

Spasitc mimes are a thing in German ballet?

Wince said...

“You mean we’re smoking dog shit, man?”

JAORE said...

Lots of face punching missing from this modern world.

Earnest Prole said...

Well that's a crappy thing to do.

Narr said...

I wasn't bothered by the modern dance, and I always cut dackel fanciers extra slack.

Gustav looks like a fine fellow, and a credit to his breed.

William said...

What's the difference between good ballet and bad ballet? The Rihanna dance number was more spectacular and gave more dancers a payday, but, as here, meh. What's that remark Samuel Johnson made about dogs dancing on their hind legs......I get the feeling I'm not the target audience for any kind of dance art, either high or low. I do like the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers numbers though. More people should dance like that.

traditionalguy said...

Amazing body movements. The poor dancers are imitating a human possessed by demons. Electric Shock Treatment power or demonic power should be needed to do that. Great acting guy.

Being Germans artists you can’t help but remember the Three Penny Opera that displayed the percolating German insanity that birthed Herr Hitler.

Will Cate said...

Nothing I saw there reminded me of flying birds

Andrew said...

I guess I'm one of the few commenters who enjoyed the video. There is something mesmerizing about the style. But I think I could maybe take ten minutes of it, if I were watching in a theatre, and then I'd be looking at my watch. Once you get the point, it loses its novelty. Also, the jarring movements may be impressive, but they don't convey any emotional impact.

As others have said, can this really be called ballet? It seems like "modern dance" would be a more accurate description.

Compare that video to this, a ballet scene that rips your heart out:
https://youtu.be/wt8Z8uQFV14

Dude1394 said...

Sounds like assault to me. Press charges, that’s a toxic weapon.

Freeman Hunt said...

That's a very violent act.

And that's a very German dance.

Dude1394 said...

Sounds like assault to me. Press charges, that’s a toxic weapon.

wendybar said...

I take it Marco Goecke is a Progressive. How very progressive of him. Typical.

RMc said...

Reminds me of the Steve Martin routine in which a fan implores him to "smoke some sh*t"...literally.

Enigma said...

Is this actually an undercover bit for the next Borat sequel?

Zoolander?

John Waters, who made the 300 pound transgender actor Divine a big thing about 50 years ago?

Big Mike said...

Doesn’t look to me as though Marco Goecke is in the same league as real choreographers like Fosse or Tharp.

Scott Patton said...

Sprockets, Saturday Night Live did this years ago.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

Those dancers look like mimes without the white-face and the red/white striped clothing. The music is frantic and the dancers look like they'd rather be anyplace but that theater.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

George Jetson worked at Spacely Space Sprockets.

Temujin said...

If there was no title to the video, at a glance I would have thought I was watching a bad SNL skit. Sometimes shit gets labeled as art, and sometimes shit is just shit. What’s bad is when we treat the manufacturers of shit as if they are special geniuses. Then they start to believe they really are special.

Tina Trent said...

And with these rapey-mimes, can't we all just agree that German performance art sucks?

JAORE said...

"during school times when a bunch of fellow pupils stood around and suddenly one made his gum bubble burst. For me this always expressed aggression."

As opposed to say smearing dog crap in someone's face.

That show would be interesting for five minutes and exhausting thereafter.

typingtalker said...

After the critic wrote the audience for the ballet would feel ...

I think there is a "that" missing. Or is it, "I think that there is a "that" missing."?

Bob Boyd said...

The coprofacial no doubt involved rapid arm movements.

Goecke works quickly, dense concentration filling the air.... Gustav, the dog, observes the goings-on carefully from his pet carrier....

PM said...

Kliban called it Ga Fa.

Iman said...

A little known helpful hint: Dogshit can be a fairly effective repellent, as well.

While in my late teens whenever I was leaving our home in my car, I had to dissuade the neighborhood girls from chasing after it. I found that a dollop of doggie doo on the passenger door handles worked more times than not.

teej said...

Danny Kaye addressed this issue 70 years ago.

https://youtu.be/r45RDFgYQsI

Phil 314 said...

You lost me at "Click for more"

Bunkypotatohead said...

Scheisskopf!

Narayanan said...

I hope his ballet audience is provided with ear plugs and blinders?