We mourn the loss of Birgit Brux

BIRGIT BRUX

January 1st 1963 - December 11th 2020

Birgit Brux belonged to the original generation of ballet in Berlin. In 1973 she began her ballet training at the State Ballet School in Berlin and remained loyal to the city throughout her life, with the exception of six months of additional studies at the State Ballet School in Kiev. Since 1980 she was a permanent ensemble member of the Ballet of the German State Opera Berlin, first as a member of the corps de ballet, from 1985 with a solo engagement. Already as a schoolgirl she appeared in SCHWANENSEE, at that time choreographed by Egon Bischoff, and in the course of her life she performed in over 170 performances of SCHWANENSEE, including more than 100 performances of Patrice Bart's production alone. But her repertoire included much more:

Emöke Pöstenyi's DOMINO, Tom Schilling's SCHLECHT BEHÜTETE TOCHTER (while still a student), as well as solo roles in his works COPPELIA and ABRAXAS. Solo roles were entrusted to her in Alberto Alonso's CARMEN SUITE and in Youri Vámos' CARMINA BURANA. Maurice Béjart also chose her for the roles of a girlfriend in LE CONCOURS or Maria in NACHT/VERKLÄRTE NACHT. Her repertoire also included George Balanchine's SINFONIE IN C, CAPRICCIO and THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS ("choleric"), also William Forsythe's LOVE SONGS, and after the fall of communism John Cranko's THE OPPOSITE TEMPERAMENT, as well as again great classic versions, e.g. Rudolf Nureyev's RAYMONDA and Patrice Bart's THE NUTCRACKER.

In 2006, she helped to establish the education program of the Staatsballett Berlin and has since been working for Tanz ist KLASSE! e.V. as a dance teacher. In the past years she has introduced thousands of children to dance, always playfully and imaginatively. Besides many partner schools, which she visited continuously, she connected a very special cooperation with the Lemgo Grundschule. The partnership has existed for 13 years, and Bruxi has been in charge of it almost without interruption. Their jointly developed choreographies have won several awards. In her tireless love for the work, she did not miss the opportunity to sometimes lead a workshop directly before a performance, already in costume and make-up, because she remained true to the stage as a character soloist in addition to her dance pedagogical work. Until recently, she could still be admired as the impressively portrayed Berthe in GISELLE as well as the nurse in ONEGIN. She interpreted her role of Aya in Alexei Ratmansky's reconstruction of LA BAYADERE so convincingly that she also received some attention in the international press, and was still on stage in this role in March of this year.

Most people knew Birgit as Bruxi. The name underlines her cheerful, cheeky, open manner. Anyone who met Bruxi, whether superiors, colleagues, audience or guests, had to love her and her manner. Despite her tireless optimism that she would soon be back, Birgit Brux passed away on December 11th after a serious illness.

We lost a special person, kind and good-hearted. We will miss her cheerfulness. Birgit Brux lived for ballet. We will not forget her.

The Staatsballett Berlin and Tanz ist KLASSE! mourn the loss of Birgit Brux, our Bruxi.