Gaetano Posterino

The dancer

After his first engagement with the Balletto di Toscana in Florence, he danced on an international scale for a number of well-known companies as a soloist (Ballet L'Ensemble de Micha van Hoecke, Teatro San Martin Buenos Aires, San Francisco Ballet, English National Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Lucerne Ballet) and as first soloist in the Peter Schaufuss Ballet and for many years at the Hessian State Ballet Wiesbaden.

His career lead him onto stages in more than 100 countries. He performed roles in choreographic works of e.g. Oscar Araiz, Tarek Assam, George Balanchine, Patrice Bart, Ben van Cauwenberg, John Cranko, Nils Christe, Derek Daine, Mats Ek, Antonio Gomes, Enrico C. Musmeci, Jiří Kylián, Inbal Pinto, Helgi Tómasson, Peter Schaufuss, James Sutherland, Stephan Thoss, Boris Trailine, Pablo Ventura, Richard Wherlock and Ed Wubbe. The performances included well-known classical repertoire pieces as well as modern and contemporary works.

The choreographer

He discovered his talent for choreography at an early age. "Since 1995, the Italian has been impressing audiences with works for ballet, dance theatre, film and opera" (Abendzeitung München). He choreographed for many years as in-house choreographer for the Hessian State Ballet Wiesbaden and the Augsburg Ballet as well as for the International Dance Theatre Reutlingen as artistic director and main choreographer. Engagements as a guest choreographer have taken him to numerous theatres and dance companies in Germany and abroad. He has been invited to perform his works at international festivals in Germany, Europe, Canada and the USA. Since 2002, he is also running his own Posterino Dance Company as artistic director and choreographer.

His more than 70 works to date with 19 ensembles including full-length ballets, dance theatre pieces, installations, pas de deux and solos as well as operas and films have been performed on 60 stages in 16 countries as well as in ARD productions. A complete work listing can be found on his personal webpage. He also works as a lecturer at various dance education institutions and as a juror at international dance competitions. Both his dance performances and his choreographic works have been honoured with a total of 13 international awards to date. His work is supported by state and municipal institutions and programmes, companies and foundations.

His over 70 works include full evening story ballets, dance theatre pieces, duets and solos, operas and dance films.

Choreographic signature

He has developed his versatile style over many years with the "360 degrees offered by his compass" (Augsburger Allgemeine) and interdisciplinary work based on historical influences. In his "medley of movement languages" (Süddeutsche Zeitung), "highly agile dance theatre meets modern, expressive choreography" (Schwäbische Zeitung). With his "very own contemporary movement language" (Passauer Neue Presse), the audience is offered an intensive insight into the spectrum of the modern dance theatre world, its forms, perspectives and content. "An introspective search for movement that is reflected in dance, which in its questioning of exciting forms of expression utilises a modern diction in order to open up new spaces for dance. Posterino conveys its aesthetic experience through a choreography that draws on literary, performative and sociological approaches, among others" (Aalener Kulturjournal). And which relies on perfect body control in dance as well as strong expression in gestures and facial expressions.

Artistic collaborations

In many productions Posterino collaborated with other artists:

• theatre directors like Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak (Armide), John Dew (Platée), Stefan Huber (Carmina Burana) or Axel Köhler (Švanda dudák, Das Land des Lächelns), Max Hoehn (Die Fledermaus)
• dramatic advisers like Nora Schmid (Švanda dudák)
• conductors like Mikhail Agrest (Švanda dudák), Sébastien Rouland (Armide, Platée), Toshiyuki Kamioka (Carmen) or Kevin John Edusei (Das Land des Lächelns), Daniel Geiss (Die Fledermaus)
• live musicians like Tim Raschke, Roman Rindberger and Roland Vanecek (Operalectric), Heiner Rekeszus (Stimmungen eines Fauns, The Mime – Hommage an Charlie Chaplin), Thomas Lambrecht (Einfach so) or Chamber Orchestra City Theatre Augsburg (Pulcinella, Geschichte des Soldaten, Les Noces)
• composers like Jan Paul Werge (Olymp Express, Der Soldat – Molotov Soul) or Ilse Fromm-Michels (Stimmungen eines Fauns)
• costume designers like Angelo Alberto (Pulcinella, Geschichte des Soldaten, Les Noces), Lana Lafer (Chronos), Katharina Weißenborn (Das Land des Lächelns) or Adriana Mortelliti (ViceVersa)
• actors like Kristina van Eyck (Operalectric), Galina Freund, Yvonne Lachmann and Rüdiger Götze (Einfach so, Die Zofen)
• film directors like Frank Bäumer (Chronos, Four Choreography Moods) or Naira Cavero (Entfremdung)
• stage designers like Marcel Keller (Pulcinella, Geschichte des Soldaten, Les Noces), Arne Walter (Švanda dudák) or Frank Philipp Schlößmann (Das Land des Lächelns)
• make-up artists like Olesia Pantchenko (Chronos).