On February 11, the head of the ballet troupe of the Hannover Opera House, Marco Goecke, during the premiere of his performance “Faith – Hope – Love”, smeared dog feces on the face of a journalist from the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Wiebke Hüster, who in her publication criticized his production of “In the Dutch Mountains”. This was reported on the website of the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The conflict occurred when Höcke met Hüster in the theater foyer during the intermission. Accusing the journalist of bias, he took out a bag of feces from his pocket and publicly stained his interlocutor’s face with them, according to the publication.
After the incident, the police opened a criminal case against the choreographer. The editors of the newspaper called the actions of Gecke “an attempt to intimidate a free critical view of art” and stressed that “takes deliberate humiliation seriously by means of a prepared excrement attack.”
The Guardian notes that On February 13, the choreographer was suspended from work in the theater.
February 14 in a comment to the publication NDR.de Goecke stated that Huster’s criticism was always personal and continued for about 20 years. Explaining his act, the choreographer emphasized that “Hüster also threw shit at him for many years.”
According to Gecke, on that day he was just going to throw away the bag of feces, which he collected minutes before the conflict after his dog, but suddenly saw Hüster.
He emphasized that this was their first meeting, and also mentioned that many dancers were offended by the journalist’s publications, in which she became personal.
The choreographer admitted that he could not restrain himself when the journalist reacted “arrogantly and aggressively” to his request to discuss the publication.
