Bayerisches Staatsballett: COMMON GROUND
Choreography: Alexander Ekman, Johan Inger, Jiří Kylián.
Music: Ludwig van Beethoven, Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert (Arr. Andy Stein), Ibrahim Maalouf, Amos Ben-Tal.
Three-part evening (“Cacti“ 2016, “IMPASSE“ 2020, “Bella Figura“ 1995)
Understanding common requirements is part of the nature of artistic work. From there on progress can be made and new work created. The three choreographers whose works form the COMMON GROUND performance share a connection with the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) in The Hague. Along with a shared artistic conviction, in which humour also has its place, their choreographies are interwoven with connections filled with subtle content – and all of them have had world premieres at the NDT. The first two are inspired by music for string quartet. And the first and third pieces are each based in their own way on the concept of seduction.
In Alexander Ekman’s 2010 choreography, “Cacti“, the mechanisms of the cultural sector are taken to the test station. The question as to whether precisely in the area of art critique the woods sometimes perhaps can no longer be seen for the trees is posed with plenty of humour and the use of a speaking voice. In “Cacti“ Ekman also turns the members of a string quartet into equal footing players on the stage alongside the dancers.
For IMPASSE (2020) Johann Inger was guided by the idea of how we can find ourselves in a very specific spatial situation of hopelessness, and that also in the figurative sense as a society. How much we should stay true to ourselves in such a situation, how much we can be seduced by different life plans – Inger negotiates it all in poetic, and sometimes even bizarre images.
Jiří Kylián's piece “Bella Figura“ (1995) sends nine dancers on a ‘journey through time, space and light,’ as the choreographer put it. Through the dance movements of nine dancers set to music from the Baroque period, concepts such as beauty and vulnerability are explored. It also raises the question of whether there can ever be a clearly defined performance, or whether we are actually ‘performing’ our entire lives.
Nationaltheater
Max-Joseph-Platz 2
80539 Munich