The American ‘Pope’ of German Ballet Steps Down After a Long Reign

It’s among the longest tenures of any director of an arts organization. The choreographer John Neumeier has been running the Hamburg Ballet for 51 years, transforming it from a provincial opera house troupe into an international vehicle for his work — a prolific mix of abstract and storytelling ballets that draws fervent audiences at home and abroad.

On Sunday, Neumeier will take his final bow as director, at the company’s annual end-of-season Nijinsky Gala, at which extracts from 13 of his works will be performed. After that the Argentine choreographer Demis Volpi will step into the role of artistic director.

Neumeier is 85, which might seem like a decent age to retire. But choosing to go was difficult for him.

“It was a rational decision, not an emotional one,” he said hesitantly in an interview in April at his home, a light-filled, early 20th-century villa in a quiet suburb of Hamburg. Trim and dapper in sneakers and a plaid shirt, Neumeier speaks with quiet focus and still moves with a dancer’s ease.

“If I asked myself, are the dancers unhappy, are they bored, I have to say I didn’t feel any of that,” he said. “But when I started approaching 50 years here, I thought, I don’t want a downward slide.” He looked momentarily tearful. “The hardest part is looking at the young people coming up, that’s the most beautiful part of your work, feeling that you are contributing to them.”

Neumeier is American, born in Milwaukee, and strongly influenced by his early training with the experimental modern dance choreographer Sybil Shearer in Illinois. But his career has been in Europe, where he is counted as a major figure in ballet who has created over 170 works, many in company repertories around the world.