When the Junior Company was founded in 2010, the aim was to build a repertoire that would promote the artistic development of the dancers through a broad spectrum of choreographic styles. At that time, Richard Siegal emerged as an exciting new choreographic voice.

The American choreographer and former dancer with William Forsythe at the Frankfurt Ballet created «The New 45» for the Athens International Dance Festival in 2008, which, as Siegal himself says, was “an act of rebellion, of liberation.” After years of intellectual engagement with dance, he wanted to “create something light.” Siegal created «The New 45» to the music of old jazz records spinning at 45 rotations per minute. Although the piece is light, funny, and charming, it demands the utmost in physical control and musicality from the dancers.

When he made his piece «The New 45» available to the young ensemble, a fruitful collaboration began. «The New 45» was staged again and again for five years, quickly becoming a crowd favorite wherever the company performed. The piece gave several generations of dancers the opportunity to fill the playful nuances of movement with their own individuality as dancers.

ABOUT RICHARD SIEGAL
The work of dancer and choreographer Richard Siegal focuses on the interdisciplinary exploration of new forms of contemporary dance. After years of close collaboration with William Forsythe, Siegal founded the interdisciplinary art and media platform The Bakery in 2002. In 2016, Richard Siegal founded the Ballet of Difference (BoD) in Munich, which deals with the question of difference. Together with his heterogeneous group of artists from a wide variety of cultural and aesthetic backgrounds, Richard Siegal attempts to demonstrate the relevance of ballet as an art form for the present day. From 2019 to 2024, the BoD was based at the Schauspiel Köln. Starting in the 2025/26 season, Richard Siegal assumed the role of ballet director at the Staatstheater Nürnberg.

World premiere in 2008 at the Athens International Dance Festival

First performance on April 29, 2012, as part of a Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung Matinee at the Munich's National Theater