Culture

Hannibal Drama Plays Out on Alpen Ice

A former dancer, Hubert Lepka choreographs the movements of planes, trains and automobiles in one-off performances that combine a postmodern perspective with Las Vegas spectacle. Lepka's group just performed on top of the Rettenbach glacier in the Austrian Alps.
A Vegas Spectacle on Ice
With bright costumes and plenty of flashy displays, Lepka gives the historic narrative of Hannibal and the Second Punic War a modern twist. Hannibal led an army of men and war elephants from Iberia through the Alps into Northern Italy.

A helicopter lifts a caped Venus into the sky. Along with two helicopters, a B25 and an alpha-jet airplane make an appearance in the show as well.

With parachute and helmet in hand, one actor moves across the snowy stage. Since the summer of 1992, Lawine Torren's network of dancers, actors, media-artists and technicians has mounted more than 40 different shows.

Around 650 people were involved in putting on the show, almost half of them performers.

Photo: Peter Rigaud
Photo: Peter Rigaud
Photo: Ernst Lorenzi
Photo: Peter Rigaud/Lawine Torren
Photo: Lawine Torren
Photo: Peter Rigaud
Photo: Peter Rigaud
Photo: Lawine Torren
Photo: Bernhard Spöttel