The Stage:
'A new ecology for dance'
 

Gioconda Barbuto
Toronto born Gioconda Barbuto initially trained with Gladys Forrester and continued her training on full scholarships at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Professional Program of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She has danced with the Minnesota Dance Theatre and was a soloist with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens until 1996. Over the course of her long career, Gioconda distinguished herself in an impressive number of works by choreographers such as George Balanchine, John Butler, Nacho Duato, Michel Fokine, Jir Kylin, James Kudelka, Ginette Laurin, Jos Limon, Hans van Manen, Brian MacDonald, Mark Morris, Ohad Naharin, Fernand Nault and Antony Tudor. After sixteen years with Les Grand Ballets Canadiens, Gioconda is now an independent dancer/choreographer. She has performed with Danse Thtre de Montral, Fortier Danse-Cration and Margie Gillis. With the grants awarded to her by the Canada Council, Gioconda went on to create and perform projects with Danse-Cit. In recognition of her talent as a choreographer, Gioconda won the Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award in 1996. Her works can be seen in the repertoire of Les Grand Ballets de Montreal (formerly known as Les Grand Ballets Canadiens), Alberta Ballet, Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal, Ballet Jrgen, The Kiss Project, and on the television network BRAVO. Gioconda joined Nederlands Dans Theater III in June 1998.

Sabine Kupferberg
Sabine Kupferberg (Wiesbaden, Germany, 1951) joined John Cranko's Stuttgart Ballet before she came, in 1975, to Nederlands Dans Theater. For many years she was one of the most versatile dancers of the company. During that period Sabine not only danced almost every Jir Kylin- work - she worked and created with a great number of other choreographers - including Hans van Manen, William Forsythe, Mats Ek, Christopher Bruce - to name only a few. With the founding of NDT III in 1991 she is one of the original members of this group. 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 tv) broadcasted a documentary about her: Sabine Kupferberg, dancer with thousand faces, made by the German company Reiner & Moritz. In October 1998 she received the Dutch Golden theatre dance prize, awarded by the VSCD (Dutch association of theatres and concert halls).

David Krgel
Born in 1959 David Krgel trained at the Keith Anderson Circus School and the University of Cape Town Ballet School in his native South Africa. He also studied at the David Howard Ballet School, New York, on a two year scholarship. He began dancing professionally in 1980 with P.A.C.T. Ballet ad hoc, and has also perforNDTmed with Bjart Ballet (Brussels), Ballet van Vlaanderen (Antwerp) and many other companies. Krgel was artistic directorof the Bophuthatswana Dance Company and in 1991 he founded the Batho Dance Company. In 1997 Krgel choreographed Two New Yorks for the Cape Town City Ballet, and in 1998 restaged Black Slate with the Ballet Pretoria. He has won the FNB Vita Award for Dancer of the Year in 1995 and 1997, and the South African National Choreographic competition in 1989 and 1997.

Grard Lemaitre
Grard Lemaitre born on December 8, 1936, began his dance study atthe age of 11 with the Ecole du Chtelet in Paris. He was engaged by Roland Petit for two years when he was only 15 years old, and participated in the making of the movie Les Collants Noirs (Black Tights). He was then offered contracts with the Marquis de Guevas Company and Marigny Ballet. Returning from the military service, he joined Roland Petit again for the show Patron and met Franoise Adret and Hans van Manen. In 1960 Hans van Manen invited him to join Nederlands Dans Theater. Until 1982 Grard Lemaitre danced 120 ballets amongst which 60 were created especially for him by Hans van Manen, Jir Kylin, William Forsythe, Benjamin Harkarvy, John Butler, Glen Tetley, Jennifer Muller and Anna Sokolov. In 1983 he worked as ballet master and teacher with Scapino Ballet in Amsterdam and in 1985 with Introdans in Arnhem. Franoise Adret invited him in 1986 to join the Lyon Opera Ballet as ballet master. Grard Lemaitre left the stage in 1982 and was honored by the Queen of the Netherlands with the Order of Orange Nassau. For his work in the past decades he received in 1994 the Prize of Merit from Stichting Dansersfonds '79. Grard Lemaitre returned to Nederlands Dans Theater in September 1991 to join the then newly established NDT III-ensemble. On February 6, 1998, the French ambassador in the Netherlands decorated him as Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Egon Madsen
Born in Denmark, Egon Madsen had his first engagement at the Pantomimenteatret in Kopenhagen and came to Stuttgart in 1961 where John Cranko developed his artistic potential and created numerous roles on him, as the Joker in "Jeu de cartes", the Prince in "Swanlake", Don Jos in "Carmen" and Gremio in "Taming of the Shrew". He also inspired other choreographers for the creation of great roles: he danced the Eternal in Kenneth MacMillan's "Song of the Earth" and John Neumeier's Armand in "Lady of the Camelias". His capacities as a dancer, as well as an actor have earned him international recognition. He guested in London at the Royal Ballet and the Sadler's Wells Ballet, at the Royal Ballet in Kopenhagen, at Frankfurt Ballet, in New York, Toronto and other cities. In 1981 he left Stuttgart and became ballet director in Frankfurt, later in Stockholm and Florence. In autumn 1990 Egon Madsen came back to Stuttgart as ballet master and rehearsal director. Marcia Hayde appointed him Assistant Director. He choreographed various pieces and pas de deux' for his own ballet evenings, ballet gala performances and ballets for the Noverre Society, and Santiago de Chile. Since 1992 he is regularly working as a guest teacher at Nacho Duato's Compaia Nacional de Danza in Madrid, and also at the Balletto di Toscana, Ballet de Santiago de Chile and at Nederlands Dans Theater. In 1997 he accepted Uwe Scholz' offer as first balletmaster of the Leipziger Ballet. From January 1999 he joined NDT III as dancer, teacher and rehearsal director.