The last premiere of this season from the National Theatre ballet ensemble repertoire was a compilation of 3 choreographies performed in one evening. Two of them carry the movement phraseology of the artistic director Petr Zuska, the third one belongs among less known jewels of Jiří Kylián. All three pieces combine the heaviness and lightness of the postmodern thinking, which extremely allow everything and purposely destroy conventions as it is after all advertised even in the text of the program card.
A Little Extreme is a choreography of Petr Zuska and it was originally created for the composed evening Black Influence which had its premiere in Düsseldorf in 2006. The dancers from the National Theatre know this piece since 2007, when they had worked it up for the tour abroad. The Czech audience didn’t have the chance to see them just until now though. We may see certain concept of the world’s toughness which is being performed while more or less popular r’n’b music, hip hop and rap music (2Pac, 50 Cent, Cypress Hill, Akon, Eminem etc.) is playing. At the same time a suggestive female (German speaking) voice mediates the possibility of therapy. Two contrasts which complement each other so much though that the overall feeling evokes a view from the psychiatrist’s office on the street. The choreography works with standard tools of today’s authors as collage, clip pictures, minimalistic scenography that uses the cube motive. There is some kind of mascot among all that: little pink and orange bear, an infantile toy which might be the trigger of emotions and the story mover because of that. The dancers let themselves be provoked into action by this teddy bear looking disinterested, and thanks to him they seek within themselves the deep inner conflicts which they later on develop in the solos, duets and other formations. The seriousness of the topic is in such way disburdened as well as the used movement phraseology. The performers dance lightly, the choreography doesn’t offer them many great performance pieces. They rather descriptively remake the musical artwork, or let say that the texts and individual dance creations do not exceed the movement forms which Petr Zuska uses lately without burning any outstanding inspirational influence of the musical style into it. The choreography still has huge reserves in this sense.
Last Touch is the 66th choreography of Jiří Kylián with its premiere in Hague in 2003. The premiere dancers Václav Kuneš and Nataša Novotná had worked it up with the NT ballet ensemble. Last Touch exceeds absolutely everything what an ordinary spectator had considered to be a ballet performance. The dance minimalism is not exactly something we may see in the conventional environment of a great theatre, and yet the Kylián’s choreography is absolutely stunning. It doesn’t handle the traditional narration, but focuses on the intimacy of a detail in the behavior of the characters and on keeping the atmosphere which is set in the beginning. It cradles with a seeming slowness, which is relative though. The dynamics of the steps transfers into the gestures and grimaces and diffuses the whole personalities of the characters on the stage, not only the face of theirs. The lively photography of Čechov’s drama shows further possibilities which the true dance-theatre offers. It’s another innovation, not a dogma though, even though that it surely becomes part of the repertoire choreographies’ golden fund. It’s an outstanding chance for the performers to show that they can handle the extraordinary tension of the minimalistic movements. It suits to evaluate both premiere casts very positively. The first one succeeded to keep the tension perfectly and to gradate the opened situations. The performances of Zuzana Susová, Marta Drastíková and Tomáš Rychetský are burned in the memory for their characters had drawn the attention magnetically. The second premiere offers the opportunity to Jiří Waňka, who managed to time the peak of the whole picture without hesitation. Adéla Pollertová made an outstanding and unexpectedly interesting impression.
The whole evening was closed by the only really “world” premiere piece in the choreography of Petr Zuska. The title let us have a hunch that it originated somehow as a reaction or inspiration of the both previous pieces: A Little Touch Of The Last Extreme. The program card warns that everything is possible and that that is the “extreme” truth. One action comes after another, serious scenes contrast with funny intermezzos, but the perfect sting often absents. We find all kinds of things, there are cards, cubes, a rocking chair, the motive of life and death, but the motivation of their use stays unrevealed. The whole choreography makes rather the impression of a sticky marble that next to the links with the previous pieces of the evening also bundles up neutral musical style (Arvö Pärt, Gavin Bryans, James Brovn, Ondráš, Nikos Grapsas, Michael Jackson etc.), glittering pomposity of the costumes (Lucie Loosová), a bit archaic projection and the not very creative movement phraseology. The energy coming out of the stage is weary. We again watch the clip collages, this time without leading content though. We may only hope that the future of dance will not further develop in this way, that we are encountering really only “a little touch of last extreme”.
The last premiere of the National Theatre ballet ensemble is obviously rather controversial, however it strikes a wide spectrum of spectators. Those who won’t be impressed by the Kylián’s intellectuality may find themselves in the Zuska’s own conception of popular music. It’s obvious that the dramaturgy of the ensemble is still looking for new alternatives for its audience including further production space. The “ultra-postmodern” facility of Laterna magika was chosen for the “ultra-postmodern” evening. We may only claim that this choice was one of the luckier ones in connection with this evening, this kind of performance might seem glaring in the historical buildings. Moreover, the design of Laterna magika unexpectedly corresponds with the specifics of the performance which Petr Zuska uses in these choreographies.
Premiere: 17th and 18th June 2009
National Theatre, New Scene (Laterna magika)
Josef Bartos
Thank you for your thoughts. One got stuck in my mind – that passion makes us different from AI. Just yesterday I read…I am a dance critic. I am a member of an endangered species