Upcoming movement creation for the evening, “Startbahn” with the Hessisches Staatsballet Wiesbaden

Dancers: Yamil Ortiz [he/him], Jorge Moro Argote [he/him], Luke Watson [he/him], Daniela Castro-Hechevarria [she/her], Marie Ramet [she/her], Vanessa Shield [she/her],

Premiere: June 16th 2025, Kammerspiele Staatstheater Darmstadt

Feelings by Karl Marx

Never can I do in peace

That with which my Soul’s obsessed,

Never take things at my ease.

I must press on without rest.

Others only know elation

When things go their peaceful way,

Free with self-congratulation,

Giving thanks each time they pray.

I am caught in endless strife,

Endless ferment, endless dream.

I cannot conform to Life,

Will not travel with the stream.

Heaven I would comprehend,

I would draw the world to me.

Loving, hating, I intend

That my star shine brilliantly.

All things I would strive to win,

All the blessings’ Gods impart,

Grasp all knowledge deep within,

Plumb the depths of Song and Art.

Worlds I would destroy forever,

Since I can create no world,

Since my call they notice never,

Coursing dumb in magic whirl.

Dead and dumb, they stare away

At our deeds with scorn up yonder.

We and all our works decay --

Heedless on their ways they wander.

Yet their lot I would share never --

Swept on by the flooding tide,

Through nothing rushing ever,

Fretful in their Pomp and Pride.

Swiftly fall and are destroyed

Halls and bastions in their turn.

As they fly into the Void,

Yet another Empire’s born.

So, it rolls from year to year,

From the Nothing to the All,

From the Cradle to the Bier,

Endless Rise and endless Fall.

Therefore, let us risk our all,

Never resting, never tiring.

Not in silence dismal, dull,

Without action or desiring.

Not in brooding introspection

Bowed beneath a yoke of pain,

So that yearning, dream and action

Unfulfilled to us remain.