KFM

Ballet evening in three acts

How can aggression, sexuality, silence, vulnerability, interdependence and eternal human beauty all exist side by side? How can the language of dance be both serious and zany at the same time? How is the human body capable of communicating extreme thoughts and emotions? These choreographies from Jiří Kylián, Wayne McGregor and the team of Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar will shed light on the answers. Bedroom Folk, first premiered in Amsterdam, and Six Dances and Petite Mort, both set to the music of Mozart, have been captivating audiences at the Erkel Theatre for years. Since its 2006 London premiere, Wayne McGregor’s Chroma has been adopted by major European and American ballet companies. In the 2019/20 season, it also becomes part of the Hungarian National Ballet’s repertoire.

“This piece originally choreographed for four men and four women was, in one of the HNB’s performances (…) presented for five women and three men, in that répétiteur and stager Olivia Ancona was inspired by Kristina Starostina, who danced female and male parts at the same time. (…) It is a welcome development that the company and its dancer spurred Sharon Eyal’s colleague to innovate further.” (Bedroom Folk, Krisztina Horeczky, Tánckritika.hu)

“Throughout the piece, the dancers are lighted from above, as if the choreography were taking place from a different perspective. This made for a space of light cut out from the dark background in which the figures appeared, creating a remarkable aura around the dancers.” (Bedroom Folk, Borbála Várkonyi, Kultúra és Kritika)

“Six Dances means that the Hungarian National Ballet’s repertoire has (once again) been expanded with another piece that will be enjoyable for audiences. The opulent choreographic material and quality dancing might even have been enough to convince apostates that classical ballet training is not necessarily the same thing as the simple aesthetic of the finely developed body and that beauty (whether flashing its lyrical, tragic or more upbeat face) has a place in contemporary art.” (Annamária Szoboszlai, Tánckritika.hu)

“Often in my own choreographies I have actively conspired to disrupt the spaces in which the body performs,” says Wayne McGregor, and this is true of this dance piece of his that examines the dramatic possibilities of the human body and how it is capable of communicating extreme thoughts and emotions. Fusing with and augmenting Joby Talbot’s original arrangements of music from the American rock band The White Stripes is a spare and minimalist set designed by architect John Pawson. Since its 2006 London premiere, Chroma has been adopted by major European and American ballet companies. In the 2019/20 season, it also becomes part of the Hungarian National Ballet’s repertoire.

"Minimalism and anarchy, chaos and classicism."

Jiří Kylián has always admired Mozart; over the course of his career, he has created a number of choreographed to the composer's music, including one from 1991 that paid homage to the genius of the 200th anniversary of his death.

Featured in this uniquely atmospheric ballet are six women, six men and six swords. In addition to the weapons, other props include black, baroque-style clothing and bizarre crinolines. The symbolic image in the dance piece presents a world where aggression, sexuality, silence, music, vulnerability, interdependence and eternal human beauty exist together in their own sense of poetry. This ballet from the choreographer's mature period is characterised by daring visuals, superb dance performances, elegance and style and has featured in the Hungarian National Ballet's repertoire since May 2013.

"I've decided that I cannot simply create a dance series reflecting the composer's sense of humour and music genious. Instead, I've choreographed six visibly confusing scenes..." (Jiří Kylián)

In Kylián's ballet, Mozartian playfulness and absurd reality are transplanted into the language of movement. It was not a story that he set out to create, but rather a dance piece constructed out of the absurd situations encountered by heroes in powdered wigs who sometimes act irrationally and awkwardly: the very dictionary definition of the word "burlesque". From the first moment, the eight dancers take the stage like they are stepping out of a wax museum from Mozart's own era, and then the innovative freshness and dizzying dynamic of the choreography makes them ever more modern: timeless heroes of Kylián's absurd creative world.