Jiří Kylián’s Sechs Tänze to premiere in Nur-Sultan
The Czech ballet master is one of those professionals who treat their ballets with due reverence, therefore it is an honour and recognition of their high skills for any ballet company to earn the right to dance his ballets, Kazinform has learnt from the Astana Opera’s press service.
«I am very happy that the Astana Opera Ballet will perform my choreography «Sechs Tänze». It is a seemingly easy work to perform, but this idea is misleading. Not only is it technically demanding, but the musicality and the precision of timing is essential,» the choreographer Jiří Kylián explains.
«It is a comical work and I think that it is important to show it particularly in our very trying times in which we have very little to laugh about. This piece is lighthearted but there are certainly darker undertones which the public will easily detect. I have no doubt that the dancers of the Astana Opera Ballet will be able to master this choreography without problems and I hope that they and the audiences will have pleasure watching it,» Jiří Kylián noted.
The Czech ballet master is highly regarded in the professional sphere for his ability to combine classical choreography with contemporary dance, for his bold body plastique and provocations. In this ballet, Jiří Kylián presented his comedic outlook to the 18th century. It does not have a clear plot, but there is a short story of merriment of ladies, gallant gentlemen, and extravagant men in panniers. All the viewers will find something for themselves in this unbridled flow of fantasy.
For Jiří Kylián, as for any choreographer, the inspiration for the creation of the ballet was music, in this case, the music of Mozart, his Sechs Deutsche Tänze.
«Two centuries separate us from the time, Mozart wrote his German Dances. A historical period shaped considerably by wars, revolutions, and all sorts of social upheavals. With this in mind I found it impossible to simply create different dance numbers reflecting merely the humor and musical brilliance of the composer,» Jiří Kylián said before the premiere of this work.
«Instead, I have set six seemingly nonsensical acts, which obviously ignore their surroundings. They are dwarfed in face of the ever present troubled world, which most of us for some unspecified reason carry in our souls. Although the entertaining quality of Mozart’s Sechs Tänze enjoys great general popularity, it shouldn’t only be regarded as a burlesqué. Its humor ought to serve as a vehicle to point towards our relative values,» he concluded.
As a reminder, the world premiere of this ballet took place 36 years ago at the Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam. Since then, this ballet was featured in the famous venues in Switzerland, the USA, Czech Republic, New Zealand and other countries. The revival of the contemporary classic masterpiece will be staged at Astana Opera by the Dutch team, which includes Maestro’s assistants – Shirley Esseboom, a winner of prestigious dance awards, and Joost Biegelaar, the lighting designer and production manager.
It is noteworthy that the duration of the ballet Sechs Tänze is no more than 15 minutes, but the complexity of performing it makes the dancers show tremendous physical and emotional endurance. Certainly, the Astana Opera Ballet Company has yet to master the choreographer’s signature style, and this will be another professional victory in the extensive list of the company’s work with world masterpieces.
Jiří Kylián’s Sechs Tänze will be presented as part of the Gala Ballet program. The entire second part will be devoted to it. On March 25 the performance will begin at 7 pm, on March 26 at 6 pm.