Trust

Since 2016 the French dancer Carl van Godtsenhoven is part of the Leipziger Ballett under  the direction of Mario Schröder. As part of our series #marioschroeder10 in celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the Artistic Director and Chief Choreographer at the Leipziger Ballett, the dancer tells us, why he came here and what it feels like to work with Mario Schröder.

»I didn't know Mario when I auditioned for the Leipziger Balett, but I had seen some of his works and liked them. I danced in a gala once and there were two dancers from the Leipziger Ballett. They were performing a pas de deux from ›Mozart Requiem‹ and I thought it was really beautiful. When I came back home from the gala, I sent my CV and applied. I met Mario at the audition for the first time. Later that year I met him again, when I danced in another gala and I was really nervous to dance in front of my future director.«

»Mario is a very talented choreographer and has a strong personality. When he enters the studio, the whole energy of the dancers changes. Everybody wants to do their best. You can definately tell the difference. He makes me push every move to the limit and shows me how to add more power and dynamic to it. Before the coronavirus crisis Mario often used me, when he was creating a pas de deux, to try some lifts. He always encouraged us to fully go for it and trusted us to catch him.«

»Mario is a very productive choreographer and has a lot of premieres every season. That is quite impressive. He has a good feeling for the staging and the light, but also for the dramaturgy of a piece. Over the years his style evolved, because he is sensitive to the time he is living in. It is very hard to pick one favorite piece by Mario, but I think my favorites are ›Carmina Burana‹, ›Johannes Passion‹ and ›Rachmaninow‹, which was the first of Mario's pieces I danced in.«