At the invitation of Artistic Director Ivan Liška, Simon Adamson-De Luca (a member of the Junior Company from 2023 to 2025) created a new work, which was presented at the Herbst-Matinee of the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung at the National Theatre in Munich. This work represented not only the foundation’s commitment to supporting the development of the next generation of choreographic voices but also Adamson-De Luca’s first commission as a professional choreographer.

For this work, Adamson-De Luca drew inspiration from his own life experiences, particularly the recent loss of a loved one. While it is inevitable that we will all face our own mortality at some point in life, the process of grief, with all its facets, was a deeply personal experience. Adamson-De Luca believed that dance “can give a person the feeling of being seen, both from the perspective of the dancer and the observer.” The transformation of such significant life events could touch something that we all experience universally. In this sense, the creative process itself could perhaps serve as an act of creation.

Adamson-De Luca selected two songs by the Portuguese music group Madredeus (“O Pastor,” “Ao Longo O Mar”) and the sixth movement from Thomas Adès’ Arcadiana. Madredeus were known for blending traditional and folk music into a New-Age Fado style. In 1997, the New York Times described Madredeus as what Enya is to traditional Irish music: “In many ways, Madredeus is closer to an international movement of ethereal pop, akin to the Cocteau Twins and Kate Bush, than to Fado.” Thomas Adès’ Arcadiana portrayed paradise as a place of complexity rather than simple charm. Here, the idyllic and the terrifying were closely intertwined, as the Los Angeles Times noted: “The music feels modern, the old world as a contemporary dream.”

ABOUT SIMON ADAMSON-DE LUCA
Simon Adamson-De Luca began working on his first choreographic pieces while still studying at the National Ballet School of Canada. In 2018 and 2019, he had the opportunity to present his early works on stage as part of the school’s Stephen Godfrey Choreographic Workshop. His piece Infinite Ache, created in 2023 for the school’s Company Life Program, was performed both at the Betty Oliphant Theatre and later at Fall for Dance North at Union Station. From 2023 to 2025, Simon Adamson-De Luca was a member of the Bayerisches Junior Ballett München as a scholarship holder of the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung. During this time, he created a work for the BJBM at the invitation of Artistic Director Ivan Liška, which was presented as part of the Herbst-Matinee 2024 of the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung at the National Theatre in Munich. In autumn 2025, Simon Adamson-De Luca was awarded the Heinz-Bosl-Preis for his choreographic work «Return to Innocence».

World premiere on 24 November 2024 as part of a Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung Matinee at Munich's National Theatre