20.11.2013
Diaghilev P.S. Festival ballet evenings
Two renowned European companies, the Bavarian State Ballet and the Norwegian National Ballet, will be performing in the Diaghilev P.S. Festival at the Mikhailovsky Theatre.
Both companies have included in their programmes works by Jiří Kylián, the eminent choreographer who in many respects has defined contemporary dance. The Bavarian company will perform Gods and Dogs on 25 November and on 27 and 28 November, the artists from Norway will present two of the great choreographer’s other ballets: Wings of Wax and Soldatenmis.
Gods and Dogs is set to the music of Beethoven’s String Quartet in F minor, fantastically combined with the avant-garde sounds of Dirk Haubrich. The ballet has no plot; it consists of four expressive duets exploring the boundary between conventional ’normal’ behaviour and insanity. „Surely no positive developments can ever be accomplished without the help of a healthy portion of madness“, said Jiří Kylián, explaining his concept in an interview.
Gods and Dogs will be staged on the same evening as Nacho Duato’s Invisible and Na Floresta, performed by the artists of the Mikhailovsky Theatre. It was at the theatre in The Hague where Kylián was artistic director that Duato’s first choreographic work was staged. The audience will be able to observe the similarities and differences in the work of these two masters of contemporary choreography.
The Norwegian National Ballet will present their interpretation of Kylián’s works, with a programme including Soldatenmis, to music by Bohuslav Martinů, dedicated to the battalion of young Czech soldiers who died in France during the First World War; and Wings of Wax, to the music of John Cage, Philip Glass, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Heinrich von Biber. These two performances will give the audience a chance to appreciate the unique lexicon and subtle expression of the greatest choreographer of our time from a new perspective.
The Norwegian artists will also include the one-act ballet Suite by fellow Norwegian Jo Strømgren in their programme. Strømgren represents a new generation of choreographers who combine elements of movement, theatrical playfulness, and even comedy in their pieces. In Suite, however, the emphasis is very much on dance.
Both companies have included in their programmes works by Jiří Kylián, the eminent choreographer who in many respects has defined contemporary dance. The Bavarian company will perform Gods and Dogs on 25 November and on 27 and 28 November, the artists from Norway will present two of the great choreographer’s other ballets: Wings of Wax and Soldatenmis.
Gods and Dogs is set to the music of Beethoven’s String Quartet in F minor, fantastically combined with the avant-garde sounds of Dirk Haubrich. The ballet has no plot; it consists of four expressive duets exploring the boundary between conventional ’normal’ behaviour and insanity. „Surely no positive developments can ever be accomplished without the help of a healthy portion of madness“, said Jiří Kylián, explaining his concept in an interview.
Gods and Dogs will be staged on the same evening as Nacho Duato’s Invisible and Na Floresta, performed by the artists of the Mikhailovsky Theatre. It was at the theatre in The Hague where Kylián was artistic director that Duato’s first choreographic work was staged. The audience will be able to observe the similarities and differences in the work of these two masters of contemporary choreography.
The Norwegian National Ballet will present their interpretation of Kylián’s works, with a programme including Soldatenmis, to music by Bohuslav Martinů, dedicated to the battalion of young Czech soldiers who died in France during the First World War; and Wings of Wax, to the music of John Cage, Philip Glass, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Heinrich von Biber. These two performances will give the audience a chance to appreciate the unique lexicon and subtle expression of the greatest choreographer of our time from a new perspective.
The Norwegian artists will also include the one-act ballet Suite by fellow Norwegian Jo Strømgren in their programme. Strømgren represents a new generation of choreographers who combine elements of movement, theatrical playfulness, and even comedy in their pieces. In Suite, however, the emphasis is very much on dance.
