To explain his actions
There’s no such thing as misogyny.
On Saturday night, Wiebke Hüster, a German dance critic, was taking a break from watching a ballet program at Hanover’s main opera house when the choreographer Marco Goecke appeared in front of her.
That morning, Ms. Hüster, 57, had published a review of Mr. Goecke’s latest work, and it wasn’t positive. Watching his new dance, “In the Dutch Mountains,” audiences would feel like they’re either “going insane” or “being killed by boredom,” she wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a major German newspaper.
So it was perhaps unsurprising when Mr. Goecke, 50, the ballet director at the Hanover State Opera, confronted her, asking why she wrote so negatively about him.
Oh I don’t know, I think it’s a little surprising for an artist to confront a critic, especially in person. Bad reviews are part of the life of an artist.
What was a surprise was that Mr. Goecke — who is known for his pet dachshund, Gustav, as well as for his work — then pulled a bag filled with dog excrement out of his pocket and rubbed the feces on Ms. Hüster’s face.
As one does.
Would he have done that to a male critic? Not unless he wanted his nose broken.
The Hanover State Opera said in a statement posted on its website that it had suspended Mr. Goecke from his position as ballet director, a role he has held since 2019. His “impulsive” action had not only offended Ms. Hüster, but “massively damaged” the ballet company, it added.
It wasn’t “impulsive.” People don’t carry dog shit in their pockets. It was planned, which is the opposite of impulsive.
The opera house has asked Mr. Goecke to explain his actions and said it would wait to hear from him before deciding on further steps, the statement said.
There is no “explain.”
I’m going to play devil’s advocate and say that Goecke’s behavior was so unhinged, so far beyond the pale that he might have done the same thing to a male critic who panned his show. Of course, many men find criticism from a woman particularly enraging, and many men will subject women to abuse that they would never dare to inflict on a member of their own sex. But once you’ve gotten to the point that you’re rubbing literal shit in people’s faces—not in the context of particularly foul domestic abuse, but in public, where you have no hope of getting away with it—you may just be so nuts that all bets are off.
Yikes, that’s horrible!
That happens to be a criminal action, at least here in Australia.
It may well be unhinged, but it sure as hell was not impulsive or spur of the moment. Also criminal.
I find it highly unlikely (not impossible, but HIGHLY unlikely) that he would have done that to a male critic. Because of physical cowardice and because he probably does have an inherent animosity towards women. So a woman trashing his latest work infuriated him.
A woman trashes his latest work, so he assaults her in a disgusting way, trashing any remaining career he may have had. That’s proportionate!
I agree that it’s criminal assault, probably aggravated criminal assault.