Fall / Orbo Novo

In the first part of the evening - Fall - Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui was inspired by the power of the autumn season and the body's constant struggle against gravity. The meditative music by Arvo Pärt is intended to emphasise the cycle of falling and rising again. Driven by the strength and interactions of the dancers, Fall unfolds a visual game that references nature. (Chris Van Camp)

The second part - Orbo Novo - The New World, explores a construction of the mind. Inspired by Jill Bolte Taylor's book My Stroke of Insight, in which she describes her experience of having a stroke, Orbo Novo creates a world in which the experiences of two lives collide. 14 years after the world premiere, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui explores some of the boundaries in Orbo Novo anew, including musically in a collaboration with the Polish composer Szymon Brzóska.

Born in Antwerp and of Flemish-Moroccan descent, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui draws inspiration for his hybrid Gesamtkunstwerk from people with different cultural backgrounds. His choreographies for the outstanding Eastman company, which have also been shown in Austria, have received numerous awards. The collaboration with TANZ LINZ is the star choreographer's first work with an Austrian dance company.

He has choreographed for the Dutch National Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, the GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, the Stuttgart Ballet and the Los Angeles Dance Project, among others. Since 2014, he has also staged major opera productions at the Paris Philharmonie, the Bavarian State Opera and La Monnaie in Brussels, among others. In 2012, he was also responsible for the choreography of Joe Wright's film adaptation of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and for the Alanis Morissette musical Jagged Little Pill directed by Diane Paulus on Broadway.

He has been Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders since 2015 and moved to the helm of the ballet company of the Grand Théâtre de Genève in 2022.