In mid-March, the ballet company of Prague’s National Theatre presented its second premiere of the season to its audience: the triptych Avant-Garde, featuring two world premieres by Robert Bondara and Marc Goecke, complemented by work of Jiří Kylián.
The ballet company of the Moravian-Silesian National Theatre in Ostrava premiered a programmed evening titled More Than Mozart!, subtitled The spell of music – the grace of dance – the joy of laughter.
We met with world-renowned choreographer and versatile artist Jiří Kylián, whom I know personally, to talk about the upcoming unique event Kylián Festival: Wings of Time, which is being prepared in Oslo, Norway (May 29–June 14). We also discussed the perception of the passage of time, life, and death.
It might come as a surprise how few “classics” were represented among the premieres, or rather works with their origins in the nine-teenth century. The National Theatre presented a new version of Coppélia, and as has become custom during Barankiewicz’s lead-ership, it was another example of a conservative interpretation of a classic, which might have appealed to ballet purists, but would struggle to interest audiences looking for more vibrant theatre.
Petr Pavel, President of the Czech Republic, bestowed the highest state decoration, the Order of the White Lion, on choreographer Jiří Kylián in the Vladislav Hall of Prague Castle on the occasion of the national holiday on 28 October.
![Figure in Extinction [1.0]. Photo: Rahi Rezvani.](http://www.dancecontextwebzine.com/en/file/09595ef0e58f5e9f2b3f478432af05dc/69564/perex/image.jpg "Figure in Extinction [1.0]. Photo: Rahi Rezvani.")
Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT 1), one of Europe’s most prominent dance companies, paid a visit to London last April. Sadler’s Wells theatre hosted their triple bill, featuring two newer works, premiered in The Hague last year, and one “classic” by the former longstanding director of the company Jiří Kylián.
Jiří Kylián, one of the most important choreographers of his generation, has become patron of the Prague Chamber Ballet this year.
At the beginning of October, the Teatro Real in Madrid hosted a premiere called Pura Danza (Pure Dance) put together by Spain's leading ensemble Compañía Nacional de Danza and its director Joaquín de Luz.
This autumn, the Czech National Ballet will offer an exclusive series of dance events celebrating Jiří Kylián’s masterpieces, For the first time, the mixed bill entitled Kylián – Bridges of Time will include Kylián’s choreography...
On 13 March 2019, Jiří Kylián, a world-renowned choreographer, was inaugurated in the Académie des Beaux-Arts in the Coupole of the Palais de l’Institut de France in Paris...
