Premiere of the Germany tour:

"Night of the Sultans"
celebrated a brilliant premiere on 20th April in Schleyer Hall in Stuttgart. Kathrin Haasis reported for Associated Press - here's the translation of what she had to say:
A Happy End for Prometheus
Dance spectacular "Night of the Sultans" on tour in Germany - prelude in Stuttgart

Stuttgart (AP) This is how the Occident likes to see the Orient: belly-dancing women, sword-fighting men, glittering clothing and seductive rhythms. "Night of the Sultans" is the name of the latest large dance theatre production, which will be touring Germany until 8th May. According to the organizers, there was an audience of just under 3,000 at Wednesday's prelude in the Hanns-Martin Schleyer Hall in Stuttgart. The 70-member ensemble offered the audience a mixture of modern dance, ballet, oriental folklore and acrobatics for one and a half hours. In 10 chapters and 34 choreographies, "Night of the Sultans", sub-titled "Performing Pandora's Legend", presents a new version of the saga of Prometheus.

Instead of being chained to the cliff in the Caucasus for thousands of years, with an eagle attacking the liver of the son of the gods each day, this show has a happy end in the Hollywood style: a wedding in white and a magnificent finale, including fireworks. After Prometheus (danced by Musa Gökhan Ayatar) creates humans and gives them fire, in spite of a divine ban. Hephaistos (Osman Karpat Deviren) creates the beautiful Pandora (Iryna Hlushuak) and sends her to Earth with her box of evil. There she seduces Prometheus, evil emerges from her pack and places the son of the gods in chains, until the humans rebel and release him..., in other words, a spectacular that can match predecessors such as "Lord of the Dance." The writers count on already proven elements, on the rapid change between sensual solos by the male and female leads and the superb group appearances, jazzed up with athletic extras such as somersaults, split leaps and untiring spins, enrapturing the audience who cry "ah" and "oh". ... a boundless mixture of styles from eastern flute and sitar melodies and western pop tunes accompany the dancers.
And the performance is always at the most impressive when at least three dozen artists fill the stage at once, when their movements are perfectly synchronized, when they form symmetrical figures and colorful patterns, and then return to monochrome positions. An absolute highlight is how the leading belly dancer (Nazan Özen) shakes her hips, which seem to be made of rubber, for seconds at a time, how she bends and contorts like a snake. The men's can-can looks just as breathtaking as it must be for the artists, who keep pace, casually smiling, going faster and faster.

Extravagant costumes
Between the scenes, digital inserts keep the public in the picture. A text glides in on the screen; "Hope is the last to die", or "Prometheus is freed and looses his divinity". At other times, grey cloud monsters, blazing flames, a starry night sky, paintings from the Orient and Zeus carved in stone, with glaring eyes, are shown, in keeping with the action. The rest of the stage set left and right comprises a colonnade and a gallery in the background. On their return, the costumes are all the more extravagant: Prometheus wears a gold-white Sultan's gown and his Pandora bewitches him in a shimmering two-piece outfit, which leaves room for plenty of naked skin. The belly dancers appear alternately in black lace and in fluttering bustiers, while the Prince of Darkness shows off his muscular upper body.
The piece is a European creation through and through; it comes from the German author, director and actor Rufus Beck, the Turkish composer and musician Kader Kesek and the French art director and choreographer Manuel Joel Mandon. It was produced by Marcel Avram, who has made a name for himself as a tour organizer for Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson and the Rolling Stones. The dance troop is mostly Turkish, but its members also come from Russia, Ossett, Ingush and other nations of the East, which is, after all, where the action is placed. The world premiere took place in Istanbul last October. But the Oriental influence in the "Night of the Sultans" ends where the Occidental taste starts ...