The young man still lies in his crib bed before the stage curtain and sleeps. Then the alarm clock shrills for the festival of the summer solstice, a dancer rushes over – and helps with dressing. No, one should not be sleepy during Alexander Ekmans' "Midsummer Night's Dream". His opulent picture ballet is a delightful orgy of self-forgetting young women and men, which naturally recalls William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" from afar. The Swedish dance creator has created a lively monument to the annually celebrated "Midsommardag" of his Nordic homeland with the rural-inspired scenes.
Hay bales and grain fields as mini-stages: The wheat harvest becomes a celebration of life and love when the ensemble dances in full exuberance either on tiptoes or barefoot in the picturesque wheat field. Even the final sweep becomes a sensual pleasure, as the Ballet Dortmund, supported by the Junior Ballet NRW, sweeps the stage clean again. Ekmans' compatriot Mikael Karlsson has composed music that oscillates between mysticism and rural roughness. The solo singer Hannah Tolf also exudes a dreamily profound atmosphere with her singing reminiscent of Swedish folk songs.
While the bed of the "Dreamer" symbolically hovers above everything, dancers also rise into the air, and the backdrop transforms into an enchanting forest. In parallel to Shakespeare, the love couples can be found here. There are scenes full of high spirits, folly, and poetry, which the choreographer, known as a magician of dance, skillfully strings together with ease. But also with a sarcastic smile, for example, when he lets eerie giant fish glide through the backdrop or when his characters suddenly turn aggressive toward each other between confusion and desire.
A long table made of four tables, arranged diagonally across the stage, invites to a wet and merry feast. "The Dreamer" himself wonders about his lowered pants, as a couple enjoys themselves on the table and chair. The joyful art spectacle between celebratory dance and lust for attack was a media event at its premiere in 2015 at the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm and was celebrated worldwide.
