For them, the unifying element is, in addition to the contemporary movement vocabulary or the search for a unique aesthetic, the vibrations of the instruments, which are not only stringed instruments, but also the bodies of the dancers. Kateřina Hanáčková, spokeswoman for the ND Ballet, told journalists during today’s dress rehearsal.
The production will feature music by Alfred Schnittke, Henryk Górecký, Benjamin Britten and Gustav Mahler. Fifty-one-year-old Goecke, sixty-six-year-old Pastor and ninety-one-year-old Manen come from three different countries, but they are united by the Dutch experience; The Netherlands is often referred to as the cradle of contemporary ballet. In addition to vibrations, according to Hanáčková, individual creators are united by a love of sobriety, a moderate precise harmony. Choreographies can be dramatic but never melodramatic. Purity of expression and aesthetic moderation are the hallmarks of the Dutch dance school, which the Czech audience knows primarily through the personality of Jiří Kylián.
According to the organizers, Hans van Manen is the best-known and most recognized dance artist ever born in the Netherlands – his oeuvre of 150 ballets belongs to the classics of the European theater repertoire. The National Theater will perform his work Frank Bridge Variations as part of a composed evening. He created the choreography for the Dutch National Ballet in 2005. “Van Manen evokes a captivating universe of harmony and beauty that is typical for him. The figures on the stage draw curves, circles and spirals… Five pairs of dancers oscillate between the grace of smooth movement and dynamics. Benjamin Britten’s music is both soothing and unsettling and will not leave the viewer alone,” said the spokeswoman.
Krzysztof Pastor, artistic director of the Polish National Ballet Teatr Wielki, danced with the Dutch National Ballet for ten years and created major full-length productions as a choreographer in Amsterdam. He came to Prague with the ND ensemble to stage his piece Moving Rooms, which he created for the Dutch National Ballet in 2008.
The last piece of the new ballet triptych is Fly Paper Bird, an opus by renowned German composer Marc Goecke, to Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony. The choreography was created in 2021 for the Vienna State Ballet. Goecke comes from Wuppertal, Germany, studied dance at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and for many years created choreography for Scapino Ballet Rotterdam and Nederlands Dans Theater, where he has been a guest choreographer since 2013.
