The eponymous protagonist in DAMNATION DE FAUST is set on killing himself. How do you do depression in dance form?
You can’t dance depression. There’s a lot of dancing in “Damnation de Faust”, but Faust himself doesn’t dance. Then again, watching someone dance badly is guaranteed to make you depressed!

A lot of the piece revolves around tedium, boredom. What is it caused by?
In Goethe’s original, Faust is an ageing scientist who’s having trouble progressing with the study he is making of “what holds the world together at its core”. He can’t seem to expand his knowledge and as a result is losing his lust for life. Hector Berlioz presents an artist who will always find some way to fail, an autobiographical character who is sick of himself and feels lost. The French have a word for this kind of tedium: ennui. A condition where a person who has everything is unable to function or feel at home in his own skin and falls into depression. A paralysing mood.
Berlioz’s work was a total flop and it plunged the composer into crisis.

Berlioz funded the performances out of his own pocket, paying for a huge orchestra and an opulent chorus. He rented massive hangars and injected huge quantities of money into the project – and then it was a popular and critical failure. It must have hit him very hard. At the same time Berlioz’s actions reveal his drive to create, his sheer will, his artistry. When you think about it, it’s absolutely amazing.

What challenges did the material pose?
The piece is neither oratorio nor opera; it has its own, very specific form and structure. It has a non-linear narrative and the scenes do not follow on from one another. The work defies logical analysis. With Berlioz spurning the orthodox formats, DAMNATION DE FAUST is reminiscent of a large-scale revue, a fusion of opera, oratorio and choreography. It was a challenge – but obviously that’s also what’s so great about this fantastic work.

How deep into crisis are you prepared to go in the name of art?
I’m constantly in a state of crisis! (laughing) As an artist you’re always searching and despairing, rarely happy with what you find. That can produce moments of paralysis or depression. And obviously that’s also the thing that’s spurring you on to keep searching and keep making art.

Your Faust appears somewhat unapproachable. Are we Faust? Rendered blasé by crises, news, climate, Trump?
The media spoon-feed us the horrors of the world – and we feel helpless. Our horror paralyses us and we can’t relate properly to the reality unfolding before our eyes. You realise this when you listen to people discussing global warming. It’s all around us and upon us, yet still there are people who doubt. No single individual is in a position to change his or her behaviour and solve the problem we all face. An improvement can only come about if each individual changes his lifestyle. But people keep driving cars, taking cruises, flying around the globe. We know what the problem is but do nothing about it.