About the work
"Wunderkammer" ("Cabinet of Curiosities") is a full-length ballet by the Spanish choreographer Marcos Morau, Artist in Residence at the Staatsballett Berlin, premiered on 31 October 2025 (Schiller-Theater). The title refers to the Renaissance cabinets of curiosities; yet the evening is equally inspired by Berlin's nightlife and the cabarets of the Weimar Republic. Morau, head of the company La Veronal (Barcelona), conceives the stage as a "chamber" full of surprises, where reality and dream blur.
Plot
Without a continuous narrative, "Wunderkammer" strings together suggestive images and group formations in which reality and dream, beauty and the uncanny intermingle. Morau, known for his fragmented, marionette-like movement language and his visually powerful mass choreographies, explores questions of belonging and identity. The music by Clara Aguilar and Ben Meerwein – droning soundscapes, hammering chords, with harp, organ and eight song texts – heightens the hypnotic atmosphere, oscillating between fascination and threat (set: Max Glaenzel, costumes: Silvia Delagneau).
Cultural significance
Marcos Morau is among the most sought-after choreographers in the world today; his unmistakable signature, drawing on the pictorial and on estrangement, has had a lasting impact on contemporary dance. With "Wunderkammer" he created a full-length work for the Staatsballett Berlin that transforms the history and mythology of the city – its nightlife, its Weimar era – into a dreamlike sequence of images. The evening exemplifies the Staatsballett's programmatic opening toward defining international contemporary choreographers.