A Space for Becoming

by Natalia Cimpeanu

With a sold-out premiere at Kurtheater Baden, “Mind the Gap – Edition II” brings together ten emerging dancers. Heinz Spoerli’s “Goldberg Variations” are presented alongside new creations by Caroline Finn and Filipe Portugal. Arman Grigoryan, former first soloist of Ballet Zürich, rehearses Spoerli’s work, while Portugal, himself a former first soloist under Spoerli, now stands on the other side of this exchange as choreographer. The premiere played to 560 spectators and culminated in standing ovations; dance prizes went to Clément Mastroianni and Ana-Emilia Zapata.

Heinz Spoerli – “Goldberg Variations”

Life begins softly. The first chords of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations”, played live by Alexey Botvinov beside the stage, accompany dancers in silver unitards emerging under soft light. Fluid port de bras unfold calmly, while those standing at the sides frame the movement.

Spoerli associated “Goldberg Variations” with life passing by, reflected in constantly evolving bodies and relationships. Couples meet and separate, trios emerge and dissolve, while circular patterns and canons carry movement through the ensemble. As Bach’s score gathers momentum, calm gives way to virtuosity: diagonals, turns, pointe work, saut de basques and tours en l’air sweep across the stage. Yet the classical vocabulary retains a playful freedom. In the male trio, eye contact and pointing gestures suggest a private game, weaving explosive elevation with sculptural precision.

The colourful unitards from the original Opernhaus Zürich production reinforce the changing formations before the ensemble returns to silver and the energy subsides. Through Botvinov’s live interpretation, Grigoryan’s transmission and the individuality of these dancers, “Goldberg Variations” carries its history into the present.

Caroline Finn – “The Gathering”

“The Gathering” opens into a darker, earthier world. Church bells, distant chatter and a whispered voice precede the movement as white spotlights reveal fragments of a hazy stage. Warm light shifts the atmosphere from everyday life to ritual.

Finn’s movement is grounded and visceral. Bodies contract, release and shift off balance; dancers pull, resist and drag one another across the stage. Silent screams suggest inner struggle. Bent knees and passages on demi-pointe alternate with flattened frontal shapes and fuller three-dimensional movement.

Dynamism repeatedly meets stillness. Couples form in partnering reminiscent of a distorted tango, leaning into one another before separating again. Dancers are briefly singled out and then reabsorbed into the group, continually renegotiating individuality and belonging.

At the end, the dancers gather within a central pool of light. The whispered voice returns in a synchronised, ritualistic sequence. As the sound becomes more urgent, the movements grow slower and heavier before the light disappears. Finn presents gathering as the repeated act of finding, losing and finding one another again.

Filipe Portugal – “Wer.den No. 2”

“Wer.den No. 2” begins in silence with a duet before Shostakovich’s “Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102” draws the ensemble into motion. In grey trousers and black sleeveless tops, the dancers move between classical and contemporary vocabularies: multiple turns dissolve into floorwork, while bodies carry one another and negotiate weight with ease.

Couples and trios continually form and change. As the score grows busier, the choreography accelerates; a playful male duet stands out for its youthful energy. With the Andante, the atmosphere softens into melancholy. Two women are gradually joined by others until duets unfold simultaneously at opposite ends of the stage, linked through coordinated gestures. Bodies meet, exchange weight and move onwards, before the ending recalls the simplicity of the beginning.

The title, evoking werden — “to become” — resonates beyond the choreography. These dancers, too, are in a process of becoming, moving from training towards professional artistic lives.

With this triple bill, “Mind the Gap – Edition II” makes transition visible: Spoerli asks the dancers to carry an existing legacy, Finn explores the vulnerability of forming connections, and Portugal turns towards becoming itself. After five intensive weeks, the dancers appear not simply as students preparing to enter the profession, but as individual artists. Encouragingly, most already have professional contracts following their time with “Mind the Gap”.

Perhaps this is the programme’s greatest value: the “gap” becomes not simply something to overcome, but a space for experimentation and artistic growth. Ten dancers arrived from different backgrounds, gathered and will now continue in different directions. “Mind the Gap” allows us, briefly, to watch these young artists become.