'QUEEN LEAR' A Holland Dance Production by Michael Schumacher and Sabine Kupferberg

Prominent duo presents characteristic performance
Michael Schumacher got the idea to make ‘Queen Lear’ after reading an article about people who only realized at the end of their lives what love is or what true love means to them.
It usually concerned something that was right in front of them all along, but they never realized it. Schumacher felt an immediate link with Shakespeare’s King Lear. In the play, the king mistrusts his youngest daughter Cordelia; she is exiled - though she has the most integrity, and has the king’s best interests at heart. In his struggle for power he becomes blind to the ‘real’, authentic, sincere being in his life.
‘Queen Lear’ is about the power struggle and the revealing of underlying thoughts, causes, and motives. The aspect of gender (King Lear/ Queen Lear) plays a role in this. Women are no longer thought less involved in matters concerning the acquisition of power, ruling over chaos, and being in control. Or are they?

In 2007, Schumacher combined his gifts with those of grand master Jiří Kylián and dancer Sabine Kupferberg. Their performance ‘Last Touch First’ became a great success, and an important reason for Schumacher and Kupferberg to continue the collaboration.

In their latest creation ‘Queen Lear’ which premiered at the 2009 Holland Dance Festival, Schumacher uses mime, expression, so-called instant composition, and aesthetics to bring elements of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ to the stage. As a laurelled NDT icon, Kupferberg knows as few do, how to convey emotion. The essence of this theatrical duet is expressed in the pressing question: “have you ever rejected the love that you knew was most true?”

“’Queen Lear’ is one of those rare performances for which one applauds with regret: it’s a shame it’s over.”
NRC Handelsblad

‘Queen Lear’ is uniquely suited to an intimate theatre setting. Two dancers, two musicians and the stage setting are done such justice and create a magic, poignant atmosphere.

Michael Schumacher
The versatile dance artist Michael Schumacher is a welcome guest at the Holland Dance Festival. He has danced with the Frankfurt Ballet, Twyla Tharp Dance, Feld Ballet, and Pretty Ugly Dance Company. He danced as a guest artist for Peter Sellars and in productions with artists such as Dana Caspersen, Anouk van Dijk, and Sylvie Guillem.
Schumacher has been active as a choreographer for some time. He also performs with the Magpie Music Dance Company, a collective of improvisation artists established in the capital, and he gives workshops in movement analysis and improvisation technique.
In 2008 Michael Schumacher received a Golden Swan - the prize for a body of work or career prize for a choreographer whose achievements during his or her career have been impressive or important - as well as the prestigious Jiří Kylián ring, presented by Jiří Kylián as a token of appreciation for Schumacher’s craftsmanship and inspiring talent.

Sabine Kupferberg
The German Sabine Kupferberg began her career with the Stuttgart Ballet. She danced the complete repertoire with John Cranko’s famous company, among which were choreographies by Cranko, Kenneth Macmillan and Glenn Tetley. It was here that she also met Jiří Kylián, who had just begun to make his first choreographies. in 1975 they both joined the Nederlands Dans Theater. In this period, Sabine not only danced in almost every new work by Kylián, she also worked with a great number of other choreographers, such as Hans van Manen, William Forsythe, Mats Ek, Christopher Bruce, Maurice Bejart, Nacho Duato, and Ohad Naharin.
With the founding of the Nederlands Dans Theater III in 1991, a company especially for dancers over the age of forty, she was one of the original members of this unique and excellent company. Here again she worked with renowned choreographers.
In 2003, Sabine Kupferberg worked with Mats Ek on his production Tulips. In 2003 and 2004, she worked closely with American director Robert Wilson on his production 2 Lips and dancers and space. In 2006 she played the lead in Car-Men, which was awarded prestigious international prizes such as the Prix d’Italia, Golden Prague and many others. She recently participated in the award-winning production ‘Last Touch First’ by Jiří Kylián and Michael Schumacher.
From this simple list of names and dates it is easy to see that Sabine is one of the most versatile and inspiring dancers and performers in the field of contemporary dance today. In 1993 she received the Prize of Merit from Stichting Dansersfonds ‘79. A year later a television documentary about her accomplishments was produced by NOS and broadcasted nationwide. In February 1998 the Dutch NPS (national television) broadcasted a documentary about her: ‘Sabine Kupferberg, dancer with thousand faces’, made by the German film producer Reiner Moritz. In October 1998 she received the Dutch Golden theatre dance prize, awarded by the VSCD (Dutch association of theatres and concert halls).

Press Quotes
“Queen Lear is one of those rare performances for which one applauds with regret: it’s a shame it’s over.” © NRC Handelsblad, Francine van der Wiel, 16 November 2009

“Yet Michael Schumacher and Sabine Kupferberg get to the heart of the matter in their ‘Queen Lear’: the relationship between parent (played by Kupferberg) and child (Schumacher). (...) In the final reconciliation there lies a poignant tenderness, an almost tangible affection that cannot be feigned."
© Het Parool, Bregtje Schudel, 12 November 2009

“That is why this partnership between Sabine Kupferberg, for years, a leading NDT dancer, and Golden Swan winner Michael Schumacher tastes like an exotic dance bonbon of intimate, intense, and honest dance enjoyment (...) Right up to the final duet where both, concentrated and totally in the moment, absorb each other’s entire being: an ode from the finest Dutch dance artists to each other, to the dance, and to life itself.”
© Trouw, Sander Hiskemuller, 16 November 2009

“In all simplicity and honesty, they show the essence of Shakespeare’s drama. The power intrigues have been stripped away, true love has remained. (...) It is touching to se how significant body language can be, how it makes redundant, the few phrases of text that Kupferberg presents on stage with little distinction.”
© Volkskrant, Mirjam van der Linden, 13 November 2009

photos by Joris Jan Bos