Kylián's most successful works Forgotten Land, No More Play, Petite Mort, Symphony of Psalms, Bella Figura, Wings of Wax and Gods and Dogs can be seen at Amare, The Hague, in June 2025. With dedication and great skill, the dancers of Norwegian National Ballet will portray the vision of master choreographer Jiří Kylián.
From land swallowed by the sea to the forgotten language of an undiscovered game. From the transience of life to a survival kit for human existence. In this first part of the special Jiří Kylián retrospective (Wed 18 and Thu 19 June), Norwegian National Ballet takes us on a journey along the roots of humanity as well as those of the choreographer.
Day after Yesterday: 1978-1991 by Jiří Kylián
Forgotten Land | No More Play | Petite Mort | Symphony of Psalms
The melancholic Forgotten Land is inspired by land slowly being taken over by water and Edvard Munch's painting The Dance of Life, which depicts a woman on the waterfront in three stages of her life. The piece symbolises the coming and going in life and relationships, brought to life in the movements of six couples to the music of Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem. With No More Play, we are drawn into a choreographic game of body, mind, sound and light in time and space. It is a game whose rules are unknown and must be learnt along the way - a metaphor for the essence and inevitability of life.
Created on Mozart's two most popular sonatas, Petite Mort poetically describes the ecstasy of sexual intercourse. It is an experience described in several languages as the ‘little death’, the moment when we realise that our lives are only short. In tantalising and impressive duels between dancer and floret, Kylián pays tribute to the finiteness of our existence. Closing Symphony of Psalms connects the human with the divine. In a continuous swelling and retreat, the dancers accompanied by choir and orchestra are completely absorbed in Stravinsky's symphony.
Balancing between extremes, the field of tension between art and artificiality, reason and emotion, health and illness is explored. The choreography in the second part (on Sat 21 and Sun 22 June) of this unique Jiří Kylián retrospective shows us the complexity of the borderland. The dancers of the Norwegian National Ballet passionately portray the choreographer's vision: the struggle as well as the splendour of life on earth.
Day before Tomorrow: 1995-2008 by Jiří Kylián
Bella Figura | Wings of Wax | Gods and Dogs
Bella Figura highlights the relativity of sensuality, beauty and aesthetics. Where is the line between art and artificiality, between truth and a lie? Where does performance begin and reality end? Fascinated by this twilight zone, Kylián explores both meanings of ‘bella figura’: the beauty of the figure versus human resilience in difficult times.
Battling the laws of nature, the classically trained dancer defies gravity time and again. With Wings of Wax, the choreographer refers not only to Icarus' pride, but to man's boundless ambition to reach ever higher to escape the heavy and reach the light. The expressive piece is a swirling set of complex movements in perfect synergy with the music.
Finally, the mysterious Gods and Dogs focuses on the thin dividing line between sanity and madness and the norms that determine who falls under what. Dirk Haubrich's music composition based on Beethoven's string quartet set ballet opens with an exciting play of shadows and takes the audience on a dynamic and ominous journey.
This performance is shown thanks to Fonds Internationale Dans (FIND). Amare, Holland Dance Festival and Nederlands Dans Theater join forces in this fund with the aim of bringing high-profile international dance productions to the Netherlands and presenting them in Amare to profile The Hague as the dance city of the Netherlands.
