Furious German Ballet Director Over Harsh Criticism... Rubs Dog Poop on Critic's Face

Critic Left Harsh Review Through Media the Day Before
Foreign Media: "Gaeddong Terror, a Threat to Art Appreciation"

Marco Goecke, director of the Hanover State Opera Ballet in Germany, verbally abused ballet critic Vibke Wister and threw dog feces at her face. Subsequently, Goecke was suspended from his position as director of the Hanover State Ballet.
[Photo by BBC website capture]

The director of a famous ballet company in Germany threw dog feces at the face of a critic who harshly reviewed his work.

On the 13th (local time), The Guardian of the UK reported that the incident occurred on the 12th in Germany. Marco Goecke, the director of the Hanover State Opera Ballet, reportedly verbally abused and smeared dog feces on the face of Wiebke H?lster, a ballet critic for the influential German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), during the intermission of a performance on the 12th.

Goecke, originally from Wuppertal, Germany, was educated at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Netherlands, and works as a collaborative choreographer with the Dutch contemporary dance company 'Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT)'. He has been the director of the Hanover State Opera Ballet since 2019.

The feces were said to be from a dachshund dog owned by Goecke. H?lster stated, "Goecke suddenly took a bag out of his pocket, pressed the open part of the bag against my face, rubbed dog excrement on it, and I screamed."

At the time, the theater was packed with people, and Goecke reportedly threatened H?lster not to enter the venue until she completely cleaned the feces off her face. With the help of ballet company staff, H?lster washed her face in a nearby restroom and then went to the police station to report him.

Local media speculate that Goecke was angered by H?lster's harsh criticism, which led to this incident. The day before the incident, H?lster had harshly reviewed Goecke's new work, "In the Dutch Mountains," saying she felt "crazy and bored to death" in an interview with a media outlet.

Laura Berman, the artistic director of the Hanover State Opera, apologized to H?lster and suspended Goecke from his duties on the following day, the 13th. FAZ also criticized the incident in an editorial, calling it "a terrible event and a threat to free and critical artistic appreciation," The Guardian reported.