Jiri Kylian

This page explores the inspirations I have come to find from Jiri Kylian and Crystal Pite and their values and principles from works they have created, interviews, research and more. Their journey to where they are now influenced and guided them in their career and they both as contemporary choreographers have individual values and principles, especially when it comes to choreography and creating.

Jiri Kylian

Musicality: 

• "The music is an irregular rhythm, creating suspense and standing out as individual." ("Critical Analysis of Jiri Kylian’s Choreographic Style in His Black and White Ballets", n.d.).

• "He forms his steps and gestures is driven by expressionism but schooled in neo-classicism, and informed by a profound musicality." (Bremser, 2006)

  He frequently used "late Romantic composers, but has in fact worked with quite a wide variety of scores and soundscapes." (Bremser, 2006)

  Expression: 
  
  Exploring isolating and coordinating other body parts, in the hands to communicate through all of his dances ("Critical Analysis of Jiri Kylian’s Choreographic Style in His Black and White Ballets", n.d.).

  Jiri Kylian used very dynamic nuances and methods to exude and convey emotions throughout his work such as in 'Bella Figura' (1995) where he wanted to express not only the meaning of the piece, "It is a journey through time and space, illuminating our dignity, as well as our doubt. Finding beauty in a grimace- in a knot of the mind- or in a physical contortion." (Bothof, 2007) but the dancer's personal vulnerability, and how they are open within performing this piece.

  Belief: 

• "While not directly religious, his works often embrace the kind of duality that is a part of Christian consciousness: a sense of the double possibility of elation and despair, agony and ecstasy, heaven and hell, the sacred and profane, order and meaninglessness." (Bremser, 2006).

•   "Kylian is a great humanist; he is not concerned with abstraction; he sites his ideas firmly within the human sphere. He presents human struggles, passion and prayers, elation and despair; he is a choreographer of potent dualisms lucidly expressed through his mixture of classical sublimity and contemporary expressionism." (Bremser, 2006)

  Intentions- Importance of Clarity: 

• "Jiri Kylian’s ‘Black and White’ ballets, premiered on May 7, 1988, have a number of defining characteristics which create a unique contemporary style. Elements of movement, theatrical elements and themes are carried through all six dances which creates a number of motifs throughout the series of dance works."  ("Critical Analysis of Jiri Kylian’s Choreographic Style in His Black and White Ballets", n.d.).

•   "Kylian can uplift your spirit one minute, and set your teeth on edge the next. In watching his ballets one enters a strongly defined world; the dancers  are not characters as such but they certainly embody ideas." (Bremser, 2006).

•   "What makes his work particularly accessible is that it is dramatically expressive, lyrical, virtuosic, and profoundly musical." (Bremser, 2006).

•   "The piece taught me so much about choreography- how it is possible to tell a story through movement without pantomime or programme notes." (New York Times Staff, 2001).

  

  Technique- Style: 
  
  Kylian's style is described as "an approach to ballet that was firmly based in the classical technique and neo-classical style. In addition, however, Kylian's work teems with references to folk dance, which can add another textual level to the dance, like old dialect breaking through the sophisticated, highly evolved, and constraining balletic language he has adopted and made his own." (Bremser, 2006).

  Kylian was a pioneer within the development of the contemporary ballet style and was one of the most known choreographers for this at the time.

•   "Highly Physical fusion of ballet technique with the idiomatic freedom of modern dance."  ("Critical Analysis of Jiri Kylian’s Choreographic Style in His Black and White Ballets", n.d.)

  Creativity- Space- Authenticity: 

•  "as a contemporary choreographer uses stillness as a choreographic device in all of his dances." ("Critical Analysis of Jiri Kylian’s Choreographic Style in His Black and White Ballets", n.d.)

•  "Kylian is a master of tension, providing potent, dramatic ballet, inventive and profound." (Bremser, 2006)

  Entrances and exits- They are part of the dance looking at the space limitations and capabilities to enter and exit ("Critical Analysis of Jiri Kylian’s Choreographic Style in His Black and White Ballets", n.d.). The way he uses the stage is to consider all the surroundings, the wings, the background, foreground, up and down the stage, through lighting and the way the dancer's transition from groups, solo's and duets, entrances and exits to and from the stage. These are things that Kylian would consider during the creative process as to creating the most transportive experience for the audience.

•   "With simple leaps, runs, and turns they announce and celebrate the musical theme. When only two are left on stage they are joined by two women who, rushing across the stage, are stopped by the men and pose for a moment in a detached halted run. Although the couples are interchangeable partners, often passed from one to the other, (in Kylian's work there is very little sense of the dancers as individuals), the work is essentially romantic, sensual, and supremely lyrical. Undercurrents of folk rhythms run through the music and when they break out in the choreography they momentarily add another dimension, taking away any sense of Pre-Fall innocence from these otherwise joyous creatures." (Bremser, 2006)

  Jiri Kylian, through time and his career, has managed to continue developing what works for him, what creative styles, methods, inspirations tend to his values, and a choreographer. This shows he has built up confidence and trust in himself and his abilities to produce the work he does.



Method, The Body:  

•  "for if Kylian's has a claim to greatness, it is not so much as a starkly original formal innovator but as a master craftsman contributing to the overall evolution of his art." (Bremser, 2006).

•   "He forms his steps and gestures is driven by expressionism but schooled in neo-classicism, and informed by a profound musicality." (Bremser, 2006).

•   "Ballet's straight, sharp leg extensions coupled with the contracted body of the Graham technique has made the female body a particularly potent expressive tool from bodying dualism and conflict, and this has been powerfully exploited by Kylian." (Bremser, 2006).

•   "Kylian uses the balletically trained body as its extremes. Yet his motivation does not appear theatrical or virtuosic, or purely abstract; it comes from within, from an emotion or idea which resonates outwards." (Bremser, 2006). 

  What can I take from this that ends to my values?

From Jiri Kylian’s values and principles within his choreography, I am able to go through and analyse and evaluate which of these adhere to me and my work, what will support and influence my choreography? Can I recognise what does not tend to my values as a contemporary dancer and choreographer?

• I think one of the most important values that I can take from Kylian and his career is his ability and ambition to convey emotion, expression, and transport the viewer into the transcendent world he creates.
• The creative methods he uses highlights his experiences and what he has learned by working with methods that produce the desired outcome. His determination and commitment to his creative process is something that I value; how he trusts his process and has been considered as one of the pioneering choreographers, especially with his work with Netherlands Dans Theatre in the 1970s, 1980s (Bremser, 2006). This is something I will focus on within my own work, staying true to my exploration and trusting myself, whether the outcome is what I had envisioned or not, it takes time to grow your skills as a contemporary dancer and choreographer so I will take this and the value of his creative process.

•   I would like to explore his ideas of the balletic form with contemporary dance, using the body to express and convey an intention.

•  Choreographically I would like to try to create tasks looking at some of his own choreographic methods such as focusing on the hands, thinking of every part of the body, and how these body parts can work to express the choreography and emotion.