Dance Sarabande Notes PDF

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HSC notes for the dance work Sarabande by the Bangarra Dance Theatre...

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CORE APPRECIATION

SARABANDE JIRI KYLIAN

CONTEXT Jiri Kylian The world-renowned choreographer Jiří Kylián has been artistic director and house choreographer for of Netherlands Dance Theatre for more than thirty years. Throughout his career Kylián created 75 choreographies for NDT. The piece "Mémoires d’Oubliettes" marked the end of his work for NDT in 2009. Since then his creative focus has shifted to more small scale projects. Kylián created various other pieces for companies worldwide such as the Stuttgart Ballet, the Paris Opera, the Munich Bayerisches Staats ballet and the Tokyo Ballet. Kylián received many prestigious, international awards and honours. Jiří Kylián was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1947 right after the end of World War II. He was raised by his mother, a former dance protégé who could sell out concerts at the age of 10. Kylian followed in his mother’s footsteps and gained acceptance into the “School of National Ballet Prague” at the age of 9. During his era, it was not common to see young boys dance, instead it was frowned upon. In his teen years Kylian was offered a scholarship at the “Prague Conservatoire”. Throughout Kylian’s training he learnt to read and write music as well as train in different styles of dance which included Classical Ballet, Modern and Contemporary ballet. Further down the path, Kylian was asked to choreograph pieces for the Netherlands Dance throatier company which at the time was regarded one of the most revolutionary companies of Europe. In 1962, he was awarded a scholarship to The Royal Ballet School of London. He later joined Germany’s Stuttgart Ballet, where his choreographic style is now fittingly named “eclectic”. This lead him to visit Australia in 1980 showing an interest in Indigenous culture, his fascination led to the incorporation of Indigenous culture movement, with his classical lines consisting of persuasive and gestural movement. By infusing modern dance, the art of ballet and Indigenous culture movement, Kylian’s unique style was created. Kylian’s style can be seen in a specific phrase where the men perform a balletic sequence together. They begin with a turning attitude on fondue followed by port de bra arms, moving through a quick pose into a sustained arabesque, then Kylian breaks the classical stream of movements y crumbling into a fondue with the dancer’s shaking and jerking their hand with a vibratory quality.

Kylian’s Choreographic Style Some features of Kylian’s choreographic style are:      

The use of symbols and metaphors Humour Allusions The abandonment of colour (Black and White Ballets) Classicism Balletic style, with subtle references to folk.

The Black and White Ballets The title of The Black and White Ballets was not created by Kylian, but rather a dance critic who has grouped these ballets together due to their obvious similarities. Kylian has not acknowledged this group of ballets as the Black and White Ballets'. Yet as they were created at a time when Kylian shifted his choreographic focus, it is imperative for your analysis of Sarabande to look at it in the context of all of the Black and White Ballets. The themes of these works generally represent Kylian’s philosophy with his work. What is life, love, existence etc.? Throughout all of these works the use of symbols, metaphors, paradoxes, questions without answers, puzzles and games are evident. The works are approximately 15 minutes each. There is almost no colour, most have no sets, there are few props/objects but when these occur they are very significant (dresses, apples, foils). There is an imaginative and effective lighting design which is often used to hide or reveal dancers and body parts. There are specific characteristics:  The edge of the stage is black and dancers emerge from and disappear into this blackness  The use of body percussion – slaps, claps, stamps  The pendulum, the arc, the clock  The concave spine  Expressive use of hands, arms and face  Use of duos, trios, quartets  Some lyrical phrases are coordinated with sharp and angular phrases in addition to twitches, spasms etc.  Lighting used purposefully to hide or reveal bodies  Themes of life, death, the quest for meaning in an irrational world, roles

Falling Angels Steve Reich's energetic and moving piece for percussion, with it highly associative title "Drumming Part 1", was inspired by percussion rituals in Ghana. Jiri Kylian shapes an energetic, tumultuous action to it. Since the rituals of the West Africans are always accompanied by dances; the choreography supplements this essential component to complete the piece of music. In Kylian's view, the drums evoke dreams, and so he gives his imagination free rein in this piece. It wanders through the changing rhythms and primitive African beat, producing an extremely exciting dance. In Falling Angels, the 8 female dancers are also influenced by lighting. long, bright stripes are drawn and held fast in the shadows of the darkened stage. Between these stripes, a series of heads appears and vanishes again, then a sequence of crossed arms. The strict beauty of the movement of arms and torsi is breathtaking. Like the music, the lighting here underscores the structure of the choreography, accentuating its construction and proceeding, a characteristic always to be found in Kylian's work. The piece is performed with a hellish brio by 8 women in grey costumes and small white shoes, which are accented by their carefully rolled-down socks. The dancers plunge into the vortex of Steve Reich's music, whose repeated minimalistic rhythms accelerate steadily, developing a highly emphatic power.

Sarabande Sarabande is one of Jiri Kylian’s Black and White Ballets performed at the Netherlands Dance Theatre. The work was created in 1990 and features six male dancers. Kylian’s intent in Sarabande was to explore the concept of the formation of one’s self, masculinity and human physicality. Through this, Kylian’s dancers exhibit various movements of masculine aggression and experimentation of an individual’s own body. Kylian also explores issues of vulnerability, respect, sexuality and frivolity in his work to overall convey dance as an art form. Sarabande is also accompanied with music composed by Johan Sebastian Bach and Dick Heuff, which contributes to the atmosphere of the opening section. The costumes are simple, skin coloured and tight singlets and black pants to draw attention to the dancers and to communicate the message of masculinity. 18th Century traditional style dresses are used on stage as props to contribute to the context in which the work is viewed. The work is not suitable for all audiences due to its inappropriate connotations but it still makes for a fascinating piece. Jiri Kylian’s intricate message makes it hard for the members of the audience to understand but leaves them with room for their own interpretation of the piece.

Inspiration and Context The first time we came across the work Sarabanda is in 1539 in a poem by Fernando Guzmán Mexia. It was then described as a frivolous and indecent dance often performed by men in women’s clothes. In fact, this dance was forbidden in Spain under the rule of the almighty King Phillip II. Kylian greatly admires the J.S. Bach but would not dare to use his music for any of his choreographies for many years. Until the 13th September 1990, wherein Kylian composed Sarabande. Kylian quotes: “But even then I didn’t dare to use Bach’s music in its original sound I felt the urge to “destroy” it in order to make it more accessible and closer to our human imperfection.” Another source of inspiration comes from the Japanese ritual called “Chado” or the “Tea Ceremony”. One side of this ceremony represents the inner, or spiritual, experiences of human lives, characterised by humility, restraint, simplicity, and profundity. The other side represents the outer, or material side of life. Originally described as worn, weathered, or decayed. But the third element the understanding of “emptiness” was considered to be the most important. It carries the key to our spiritual awakening.

Concept This choreography deals with the male element within our genetic makeup: Men with their aggressive, vulnerability, sense of respect, sexuality, importance, uselessness and outright idiocy.

Importance of viewing Sarabande in context of other Black and White Ballets “I have created Sarabande as a counterpart to my earlier choreography Falling Angels (1989), which I created for women only, and it should be seen in this context. It should be very clear that the absence of women in Sarabande makes their presence even more powerful.”

Short Analysis of Sarabande The opening moment of Jiri Kylian’s Sarabande is a mass birth. Six men fall from out of the bottom of six dresses to the floor, hovering on rounded backs like overturned turtles. After a moment, their limbs slam to the ground then lift again. Six mouths open and together issue a sustained and gutfelt yawp. Thus begins Kylian’s vision of the formation of self: playful and posturing, rigorous, but with a sense of abandon. The men in Sarabande grimace and giggle, holler and groan, pounding their bodies, creating the majority of the score themselves. The companion work for all women, “Falling Angels,” is a striking contrast: set to a drum phase piece by Steve Reich, it’s all angles and aggressive athleticism, patterned, sequential and controlled. Like much of Kylian’s work, these two dances delve into both the unexpected and the familiar: the piece about men centers on emotion, the one about women, on strength. Before Hubbard Street began acquiring works by Jiri Kylian, you could not see the prolific Czech choreographer’s work without traveling to Holland or catching Nederlands Dans Theater on tour along the coasts. No American company had rights to his work and Chicago wasn’t yet a popular destination for international touring companies. Former Hubbard Street director Jim Vincent and current director Glenn Edgerton (former director of NDT) can be thanked for bringing Kylian’s brilliant choreography to stages across the country and now, for dedicating an entire program to his work. Four pieces comprise the evening, spanning more than twenty years of dance making. Two of the works—'Petite Mort' and '27’52'’—are longstanding Hubbard Street favorites; the aforementioned other two pieces were acquired specifically for this event. Repetiteur Roslyn Anderson has been working with Kylian since 1979 and came to set Falling Angels on the Hubbard Street women. When asked about the evolution of his work, she says, “We’ve been to hell and back—styles, approach, way of working. He gained confidence as his work developed. There was a more Romantic phase in the late seventies: more décor, more costumes. Now it’s stripped away.” That reduced, focused aesthetic unifies four very different pieces on the Hubbard Street program. Sarabande and Falling Angels are part of Kylian’s Black and White Ballets: six dances with minimal costuming, where light and sound provide the context. “27’52”,” titled for the duration of the dance in minutes and seconds, employs the flooring itself as malleable set piece to stunning effect. Minimal stagecraft gives Kylian space to establish precise, yet abstract atmospheres; he is acutely honed in to the contemporary subconscious, and what he finds there is beautiful, erotic, eerie and quite often very funny. After all, the dance named after the French euphemism for orgasm opens with six men dressed in girdle-like briefs wielding foils. But what might first appear to be a wry joke evolves with the lush partnering that follows—extended classical lines spiced with unexpected shapes—into a deeper, more complex view of eroticism. When asked why these four works, Edgerton gives a very practical answer: they’re easy to pack up and take on tour. If this is the case, the resultant program is a happy accident: unified, yet diverse in technique and moods—a marvellous ode to the range of both this company and the choreographer, as well as a seductive introduction to the work of a living master.

IN SHORT… A SUMMARY Falling Angels (1989) Themes ‘A piece about our profession’. All female cast depict females and female dancers aim to achieve perfection but succumb to various stages to the human female psyche such as ambition, seduction, pregnancy, birth, death, motherhood and self-awareness. Cast of 8 women.

Costumes Plain black short unitard

Props None, lighting used to define space, hide and reveal dancers and body parts.

Music Steven Reich Drumming

Common movement features/motifs Bird, wing type movements. Gestures such as hitting hand to head, pulling at stomach, waving, hand covering mouth.

Sarabande (1990) Themes The work is for 6 six and often seen as a counterpart to Falling Angels. It depicts the ideas of masculinity in contemporary society. Males are shown as vulnerable and the baroque dresses floating above the stage appear to ‘give birth’ to the men and then hover somewhat menacingly over them.

Costumes Black pants, white T shirts

Props Baroque style dresses floating above the stage, black wings used.

Music Bach’s Sarabande and Edvard Munch’s the scream.

Common movement features/motifs The scream, open symmetrical positions, pointing gestures, feminine gestures, sensual movements...