Slow Burn
In her world premiere "Slow Burn" for the Hamburg Ballet, Aszure Barton places two women at the center, contrasting them with large ensemble scenes. Barton sees wisdom, strength, and patience in older women as an often overlooked force in our society. The 60 minute work is set to a new composition for a large orchestra by Ambrose Akinmusire, which will particularly captivate film music fans. For the costumes of "Slow Burn," designer Michelle Jank drew inspiration from the rich opera and ballet stock costumes of the Hamburg State Opera. In line with the concept of "working with what's there," she used discarded costumes and fabrics and transformed them into new creations.
"I am inspired by older women, women that are far wiser than me. I want to honor their force, wisdom, strength and patience, that which is so often unseen. All heart, Ambrose and I create consciously together and hope to inspire people to join together, all while embracing honesty as care. By cultivating an environment of presence and deep listening, we are able to return to our bodies, accept our loneliness, and make space to celebrate the truth of what is — that our power as a collective is in our ability to connect, and that coming-together is joy (never without its challenge)!" - Aszure
Photos by Kiran West, Hamburg Ballett
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Choreography: Aszure Barton
Music: Ambrose Akinmusire
Set Design: Aszure Barton, Michelle Jank, Tanja Rühl
Costume Design: Michelle Jank
Lighting Design: Tanja Rühl
Dramaturgy: Carmen Kovacs
Assistants: Jonathan Alsberry and Taylor LaBruzzo
Conducted by: Simon Hewett
Played by: Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra
World Premiere: Hamburg Ballett, December 8, 2024 -
Coming soon
"Slow Burn is an evocative evening"
- Bachtrack
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Sure, there are many ballets that touch us, make us cry and inspire us to be a better person. But few reach us on a visceral level, aiming straight for the guts - and stay there. Choreographer Aszure Barton speaks a language of raw emotion: a punch to the gut, a tightening heart. With and without narrative elements, her works tell the never-ending story of what it means to be human, not a better human, but just a human.
“Working with what's there” has long been Barton's all-encompassing approach, i.e. with the people and their respective strengths and fragilities, with the conditions on site, the context of production, the feelings and urgencies of the moment. Dismantling and reassembling, reusing and recycling are principles that also play a role in the new creation. In terms of content, the starting point was not just a strong feeling, but almost an outcry, namely “joy”. And the other side of the coin, namely pain, without which Aszure Barton cannot imagine deep joy. A quote from Rilke never lets her go: "Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final”. The realization that these two extremes are bound together by all the nuances in between them forms the nucleus of the choreography, which celebrates life without losing sight of death. There will be a strong, warm color palette, that was clear from the start, just like the intentional emphasis on the proportion of women. We'll follow the female protagonists within a network of allies who accompany their journey and connect through powerful physical emotionality and an intergenerational dialogue.
