Two works by Stephanie Lake and Akram Khan deal with aspects of individual freedom in movement.
Two-part ballet evening
World Premiere Colossus: 2018 Arts Center Melbourne World
Premiere Vertical Road: 2010 Curve Theatre Leicester
Premiere
8. November 2025
Dates & Cast
Colossus
- Choreography Stephanie Lake
- Music Robin Fox
- Lighting Design Bosco Shaw
- Costume Design Harriet Oxley
- Staged by Sarah McCrorie, Nicole Muscat
Vertical Road
- Choreography Akram Khan
- Music Aditya Prakash, Nitin Sawhney
- Set Design Akram Khan, Jesper Kongshaug, Kimie Nakano
- Lighting Design Jesper Kongshaug
- Costume Design Kimie Nakano
- Staged by Joëlle Auspert, Anjuli Cirio, Mavin Khoo
Colossus
- Choreography Stephanie Lake
- Music Robin Fox
- Lighting Design Bosco Shaw
- Costume Design Harriet Oxley
- Staged by Sarah McCrorie, Nicole Muscat
Vertical Road
- Choreography Akram Khan
- Music Aditya Prakash, Nitin Sawhney
- Set Design Akram Khan, Jesper Kongshaug, Kimie Nakano
- Lighting Design Jesper Kongshaug
- Costume Design Kimie Nakano
- Staged by Joëlle Auspert, Anjuli Cirio, Mavin Khoo
Semperoper Ballett with pupils and students from the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden
Recorded music
Project Partners
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Sachsen
Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden
Sparkassen-Versicherung Sachsen
LBBW
Colossus
- Choreography Stephanie Lake
- Music Robin Fox
- Lighting Design Bosco Shaw
- Costume Design Harriet Oxley
- Staged by Sarah McCrorie, Nicole Muscat
Vertical Road
- Choreography Akram Khan
- Music Aditya Prakash, Nitin Sawhney
- Set Design Akram Khan, Jesper Kongshaug, Kimie Nakano
- Lighting Design Jesper Kongshaug
- Costume Design Kimie Nakano
- Staged by Joëlle Auspert, Anjuli Cirio, Mavin Khoo
Semperoper Ballett with pupils and students from the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden
Recorded music
Project Partners
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Sachsen
Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden
Sparkassen-Versicherung Sachsen
LBBW
Colossus
- Choreography Stephanie Lake
- Music Robin Fox
- Lighting Design Bosco Shaw
- Costume Design Harriet Oxley
- Staged by Sarah McCrorie, Nicole Muscat
Vertical Road
- Choreography Akram Khan
- Music Aditya Prakash, Nitin Sawhney
- Set Design Akram Khan, Jesper Kongshaug, Kimie Nakano
- Lighting Design Jesper Kongshaug
- Costume Design Kimie Nakano
- Staged by Joëlle Auspert, Anjuli Cirio, Mavin Khoo
Semperoper Ballett with pupils and students from the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden
Recorded music
Project Partners
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Sachsen
Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden
Sparkassen-Versicherung Sachsen
LBBW
Colossus
- Choreography Stephanie Lake
- Music Robin Fox
- Lighting Design Bosco Shaw
- Costume Design Harriet Oxley
- Staged by Sarah McCrorie, Nicole Muscat
Vertical Road
- Choreography Akram Khan
- Music Aditya Prakash, Nitin Sawhney
- Set Design Akram Khan, Jesper Kongshaug, Kimie Nakano
- Lighting Design Jesper Kongshaug
- Costume Design Kimie Nakano
- Staged by Joëlle Auspert, Anjuli Cirio, Mavin Khoo
Semperoper Ballett with pupils and students from the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden
Recorded music
Project Partners
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Sachsen
Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden
Sparkassen-Versicherung Sachsen
LBBW
Colossus
- Choreography Stephanie Lake
- Music Robin Fox
- Lighting Design Bosco Shaw
- Costume Design Harriet Oxley
- Staged by Sarah McCrorie, Nicole Muscat
Vertical Road
- Choreography Akram Khan
- Music Aditya Prakash, Nitin Sawhney
- Set Design Akram Khan, Jesper Kongshaug, Kimie Nakano
- Lighting Design Jesper Kongshaug
- Costume Design Kimie Nakano
- Staged by Joëlle Auspert, Anjuli Cirio, Mavin Khoo
Semperoper Ballett with pupils and students from the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden
Recorded music
Project Partners
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Sachsen
Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden
Sparkassen-Versicherung Sachsen
LBBW
Colossus
- Choreography Stephanie Lake
- Music Robin Fox
- Lighting Design Bosco Shaw
- Costume Design Harriet Oxley
- Staged by Sarah McCrorie, Nicole Muscat
Vertical Road
- Choreography Akram Khan
- Music Aditya Prakash, Nitin Sawhney
- Set Design Akram Khan, Jesper Kongshaug, Kimie Nakano
- Lighting Design Jesper Kongshaug
- Costume Design Kimie Nakano
- Staged by Joëlle Auspert, Anjuli Cirio, Mavin Khoo
Semperoper Ballett with pupils and students from the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden
Recorded music
Project Partners
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe Sachsen
Ostsächsische Sparkasse Dresden
Sparkassen-Versicherung Sachsen
LBBW
Related event
In brief
For centuries, the aim of dance has been to create an illusion of lightness, to overcome gravity. Dancers were not just seen as bird-like creatures, they also inhabited roles such as the Bluebird, the Firebird or the Dying Swan – probably the most famous ballet solo in the entire canon. Today, the ability to fly is a symbol of freedom in dance, which can be experienced in all spatial planes and types of movement regardless of genre. The two-part dance evening Wings and Feathers represents two contrasting, contemporary artistic viewpoints, thereby spotlighting diverse aspects of individual freedom in movement. Stephanie Lake, Artist-in-Residence in Dresden from the 2025/26 season, enjoyed an international smash hit with her large-scale choreography Colossus for around 65 dancers, which she will now recreate together with the ensemble and students from the Palucca University. This brings to a fitting close the 200th and 100th anniversaries of the two dance institutions. Akram Khan is one of the most influential dance creators of our time. A poem by the Persian mystic Rumi was the inspiration for Vertical Road and gives the thematically rich dance evening its name: Wings and Feathers.
