Christian
Spuck

Benois de la Danse laureate

Benois de la Danse nominee

Resident Choreographer Christian Spuck has created choreographies for the Stuttgart Ballet since 1997 and through his work plays an important part in shaping the company's modern profile. In June 2001 Artistic Director Reid Anderson appointed him Resident Choreographer of the Stuttgart Ballet. Christian Spuck was born in Germany. He received his ballet training at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, where he completed his final exams in classical and modern dance in 1993. As a dancer Christian Spuck has worked with the Needcompany (1993) and had an engagement with ROSAS under the management of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker in 1993 and 1994. He joined the Stuttgart Ballet in 1995. Here, he has danced in ballets such as Voluntaries (Glen Tetley), Troy Game (Robert North), Opus I, Jeu de Cartes, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Onegin, Swan Lake (all by John Cranko), Kazimir's Colours (Mauro Bigonzetti), Love Songs (William Forsythe), R. A. M. (Martino Muller) and The Lady of the Camellias (John Neumeier).

From 1994-96 Christian Spuck was choreographic assistant to Marco Santi and participated, among others, in the productions Amras, The Sinking of … and The Tears of Niobe. In 1996, Christian Spuck created the Pas de deux Duo/Towards The Night for the Noverre Society's Young Choreographers, which was so successful, that it was taken into the repertoire of the Stuttgart Ballet as well as that of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 1997, he made another ballet for the Noverre Society, Songs From A Secret Garden and in March 1998, his work Passacaglia was premiered by the Stuttgart Ballet. The ballet Les Indes galantes, a co-production by Christian Spuck and Marco Santi, which was also broadcasted on TV, premiered in April 1998. Another choreography by Christian Spuck, Amores 1, was created for the Regional Arts Festival of Europe in August 1998. The magazine Ballet International — Tanz Aktuell named Christian Spuck the «best up-and-coming choreographer of the 1997-98 season».

Since then Christian Spuck has choreographed eight one-act pieces and one full length ballet for the Stuttgart Ballet: Dos amores was premiered in the Stuttgart Playhouse in February 1999 and received major critical and popular acclaim. The Stuttgart Ballet presented Dos amores during a tour to the US in January and February 2000. In April 2000 The seventh blue, was premiered in the Opera House of the State Theater Stuttgart, followed by Carlotta's Portrait and Songs in 2001. All of these works were enthusiastically acclaimed by both the audience and the press. In 2002 Christian Spuck contributed nocturne to the Stuttgart Ballets mixed bill RENDEZVOUS AVEC CHOPIN. His recent work also includes two shorter comical pieces: Le Grand Pas de deux (2000), which was taken into the repertoire of American Ballet Theatre, and Cupid's Garden (2004). In 2004 Christian Spuck created the Pas de deux Pieces from a Lost Paradise for the Stuttgart Ballet's New Year's Gala. A new work by Christian Spuck will be premiered on April 7, 2005, as part of the triple bill TANZSICHTEN III. In December 2003 Christian Spuck presented his first full length ballet Lulu. A Monstre Tragedy at the Stuttgart Opera House. Based on the play by Frank Wedekind and choreographed to the music of Dmitri Shostakovic, Alban Berg and Arnold Schonberg, Lulu was an immediate success with press and public alike.

In Stuttgart Christian Spuck has also contributed choreography to other productions of the State Theatre: In June 2000 he created the choreography for The White Wolf, a co-production with the drama company of the State Theatre Stuttgart. In 2002 he participated in the State Theatre's Young Opera production Cupid And Death.

Since 1999 Christian Spuck has created original works for a number of ballet companies in Europe and the USA. These include Morphing Games for Mauro Bigonzetti's Aterballetto in Reggio Emilia (1999), an Adagio for 6 dancers for the Choreographic Workshop of the New York City Ballet in 2000, Chaconne for the Academy of Dance in Mannheim (2001), this-for the Ballet of the State Opera Berlin (2003) and shifting portraits for the Ballett Saarbrucken (2004). In 2000 Endless Waltz was presented by Aalto ballett Essen. The piece had been comissioned by director Martin Puttke, who later asked Christian Spuck to create a full length ballet for the same company. The Children, based on the play by Edward Bond, premiered in Essen in April 2004, a few months after the premiere of Lulu. A Monstre Tragedy in Stuttgart. One of Christian Spuck's most recent projects is a 25 minute dance film, loosely based on the character of Penelope in Homer's Odyssey. Featuring Marcia Haydee and Robert Tewsley, the film is a coproduction with the European cultural channel ARTE. 

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