There is no such thing as perfection!

Sabrina Sadowska

She works her magic every day, says Sabrina Sadowska. And you can believe the impulsive ballet company director, who likes to refer to the dance hall as a predator's cage. Her glasses sit loosely in her hair. She herself has been on stage for twelve years. Now she manages the ballet company in Chemnitz, is the first ballet mistress and has brought many new ideas to the city from the very beginning. On 7 March, she will receive the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany from the Federal President.

The Federal President invited you to the "Deutschland tanzt" soiree in February, and in March you received the Federal Order of Merit. Is dance political?
Sabrina Sadowska: With the soiree, the Federal President honoured dance in all its diversity in Germany. Dance is wordless and connects, and therefore also works in an integrative way. Nowadays it takes on many tasks, including cultural education with schools, and deals with the urban environment as "urban dance". Dance is an important means of expression in society.

You have always associated dance with social commitment.
I am committed to dance because it is a matter close to my heart. In Greifswald, I created school dance projects for the renowned Bach Week and brought the Nordic Dance Meeting to the city. . Five years ago, I founded the Tanz - Transition Zentrum Deutschland foundation with a friend. The aim is to create a seamless and dignified transition for dancers into a second career. Some don't have the money for further training. But it's about long-term opportunities after the dance career. That's where we help.

A seven-day week is nothing unusual, says Sadowska. Working for the foundation, for a good cause, gives her strength. Everyone is very different, she emphasises. "You can still be on stage at the age of 70. It's always a question of style and your own fitness." Experience shows that dancers from the age of 35 are affected by the change. Many then feel the desire to become self-employed, devote themselves to their family or have to deal with injuries.

Do you remember your first impression of the city of Chemnitz?
The first time I was in Chemnitz was in 1991. The city centre was dominated by shell buildings. Of course, I noticed the huge empty spaces that later became building sites. I was back in the city in 2004 to meet up with Carsten Knödler for a joint play at the theatre. And apart from that, I mostly just drove through the city. Honestly? I didn't find the city attractive.

Nevertheless, you have been employed as ballet director at Chemnitz Theatre since 2013. How did you reconcile with the city?
Since 2013, I have had time to devote more time to the city itself, to discover its corners. And that's when you realise the treasures that have been preserved. When you look at the buildings on Kaßberg, you realise what a rich city Chemnitz once was.

You have also discovered the city through dance. You went to Chemnitz fountains with the dance festival "Tanz / Moderne / Tanz". What was the attraction of this project?
The festival was simply a desire to bring contemporary dance to Chemnitz. That you don't have to travel to Hellerau or Leipzig to see contemporary dance, but that we could anchor it here. We have found wonderful partners in Chemnitz's twelve partner cities, who have also brought international flair to the project.

How important is contemporary dance?
Everything is important these days. Ballet dancers have to have an understanding of classical dance, we are all classically trained, the women can dance pointe. They need to know about modern dance, i.e. dance at the turn of the century. And ballet dancers also need to keep up with the developments of the past 30 years, contemporary dance. There are so many influences, for example from Asian martial arts, hip hop or breakdance. A choreographer today naturally draws from all sources of inspiration. That's why ballet dancers have to master everything.

And how did you come up with the idea for the performance "Die Moderne geht Baden" at the Stadtbad Chemnitz?
I had already heard about the Stadtbad. We had a consultation with the Mayor of Culture, who asked us to contribute something to the Year of Modern Culture. And I came up with this title during the meeting. I love the 1920s and this was a great opportunity for me to engage with this period. The moment we go out as a ballet, we naturally draw attention to ourselves and meet people we might not otherwise have reached.

When are you satisfied with your team and a dance?
There is no such thing. It's always evolving. Of course, there are always temporary stops that you wanted to reach as a goal. But then things move on. The world turns and evolves. My work is a bit like that of a gardener, who has to keep working with the plants, replanting beds, pruning trees, planting new ones. We do the same in art.

So how does the Chemnitz ensemble differ from others?
It stands out because of its personalities. Everyone in this ballet is unique in the way they move according to Reiner Feistel's choreography, and yet, or perhaps precisely because of this, the interplay works. Compared to other major theatres, we have our own signature style, and that is very important. If you want to see high classical music, you go to Dresden. If you like the way Mario Schröder and Uwe Scholz work in Leipzig, you go there. People come to us because of our own style. Of course, we also focus a lot on the classics, we modernise classic materials in a way that not so many do anymore.

What else do you have planned for the Chemnitz Ballet?
I'm looking forward to October, when we'll be working with a Chinese choreographer. Xu Yi-Ming, one of the co-founders of the LDTX, Beijing Modern Dance Company, will co-create a two-part piece. Reiner Feistel will be responsible for the first part, which is called "Faces of the City" and takes up the motifs of the painter Edward Hopper.
In September, we will focus on dance films: whether West Side Story or the first recorded revue in 1929, Saturday Night Fever from the 70s or breakdancing. At the end of the season, there will be a Midsummer Night's Dream, which will do wonderful justice to the personalities of the dancers.
I would like to remove the inhibitions about dance in this city. People need not be afraid to go to the opera and watch dance. It should be part of everyday life.

What is special about your job?
I make sure that, like in football, a team actually becomes a team. We have twenty dancers here from different nations and with different educational backgrounds. But on stage, they have to become a team. That doesn't happen overnight, we have to work on it together.
But the ballet itself is also just one piece of a whole. For example, it is wonderful to work together with the Robert Schumann Philharmonic Orchestra.

Appreciation of the individual is important to Sadowska. She emphasises this when she talks about her protégés: "It's about supporting people. Everyone is different in the ballet hall. I want to pass on life experience and a legacy." Sadowska herself learnt under the teacher Peter Appel, who has shaped generations of dancers. Since 1998, Sabrina Sadowska has worked as a choreographer for drama and musical theatre in over 50 productions to date. "Passing on, accompanying and developing is an exciting process," she says.

To what extent does the city influence you?
I am interested in working with a choreographer whose artistic development involves creating pieces for the people who live in this city. The pieces can only be created in this way because they are created here. It always has to do with the audience and with Chemnitz. If Reiner Feistel were to go to Strasbourg or Darmstadt, the plays would also be different.

What does that mean for the Chemnitz plays that are created here?
We walk through this city. It inspires us quite automatically. Every city has its own rhythm and a certain type of people. Sometimes it's quite rough here. You have to deal with that. And the past of a city also reveals a lot about what people are like there today. That all flows into our work.

Do you have to encourage the people of Chemnitz?
I see many young people from Chemnitz who say "yes" to this city. I come from Basel and am lucky enough to have grown up in a city that has an old town centre that dates back to the Middle Ages, where you can see how the suburbs were built on in the 14th century. The streets still have this old urban structure and you can feel this honourable history. That gives me strength. There are also great roots here in Chemnitz. Even though a lot was destroyed in the Second World War and 80 per cent of the city centre disappeared, you can still feel the history here. The young people here have a great awareness of where they are and who they are. The courage is already there. There is no need to hide. There are wonderful initiatives here, many people who are doing something, currently for the refugees, for example. And it's like dance, there's no such thing as perfection. There is only togetherness: enduring conflicts, rubbing up against each other, growing - a dialectic of thesis, antithesis and synthesis.