German ballet chief attacks critic with dog poop, "furious" over bad review

Berlin: Award-winning German ballet director Marco Goecke allegedly confronted a journalist for writing a bad review for his show and smeared dog poop on her face.

Prominent journalist Wiebke Huester was at the Hanover State Opera on Saturday when the incident took place. She was watching the premiere of a new show and was in the foyer during the intermission. The ballet chief "pulled a paper bag full of animal excrement out and smeared the contents on the face of our dance critic," reported the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).

Huester's employer said Goecke was furious that the dance critic wrote a poor review of his show In the Dutch Mountains performed in The Hague. She had written that watching the show was like being "alternately driven mad and killed by boredom". The ballet director also threatened to bar the journalist from the Hanover State Opera and blamed her for cancelled subscriptions at the theatre.

Huester reported the incident to the police and said public humiliation and an attempt to intimidate critical review of art was Goecke's intention. The police said they are investigating the alleged assault, reported AFP.

The Hanover State Opera issued a statement saying it "very much regrets" the incident on Saturday. Opera director Laura Berman said: "We immediately contacted the journalist and apologised personally. The institution would examine the disciplinary steps it could take against Goecke and then act in this internal personnel matter. The institute deeply regretted that the audience was disturbed by the incident."

Goecke has been the ballet director at the Hanover theatre since 2019 and was the recipient of the German Dance Prize in 2022. The next performance of his new ballet in Hanover is scheduled for February 24.