Ballet director suspended after dog poo attack on critic

The head of Hanover State Opera’s ballet company has been suspended after allegedly smearing dog excrement into the face of a dance critic who slated one of his shows.

Marco Goecke allegedly confronted and verbally abused reviewer Wiebke Hüster on Saturday during the premiere of another ballet that he choreographed, Glaube-Liebe-Hoffnung (Faith-Love-Hope). He then “pulled out a paper bag with animal faeces and mauled the face of our dance critic with the contents”, according to Hüster’s employer, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).

“After that, he was able to go his own way unhindered through the crowded foyer,” the paper said.

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Goecke is “one of Germany's best-known choreographers”, said The Telegraph, and was awarded the prestigious German Dance Prize last year. He “appears to have taken umbrage”, however, over a “withering” review of his production In the Dutch Mountain with the Nederlands Dans Theater in The Hague. Hüster wrote that watching the show “will both drive you mad and make you die of boredom”.

Goecke reportedly told Hüster that her critique would cost the Hanover Opera House subscriptions and threatened to ban her, before launching his alleged poo attack.

Following what she described as the “brutal” assault, Hüster told the BBC that “when I felt what he had done, I screamed”. she added: “I can assure you that it was not an impulsive act – he had planned this.”

German media reported that the poo was believed to have been produced by Goecke’s pet dachshund and constant companion, Gustav, “just minutes before”, said The Guardian. Gustav “is famous in his own right”, the paper continued, and “once dined in Paris with Prince Caroline of Monaco, who is known to be a fan of the breed”.

In a statement on its website, the Hanover State Opera said the theatre’s management had suspended and banned Goecke from the premises until further notice, “to protect the ballet ensemble and the state theatre from further damage”.

“We are appalled by what has happened,” said the opera company, which added that it had apologised to Hüster after her “personal integrity was violated in an unspeakable way”.

FAZ said that police were investigating “this humiliating incident”, which “is not only an act of bodily harm but also an attempt to intimidate our free, critical view of art”.