Petite Mort
Universal Ballet Premiere | Universal Arts Center on June 9, 2011 |
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Libretto | Technical Adaptation(Light/set) Kees Tjebbes |
Choreography | Jiří Kylián |
Music | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Piano Concerto in A Major (KV 488), Adagio│Piano Concerto in C Major (KV 467), Andante |
Staging | Roslyn Anderson, Urtzi Aranburu |
Set Design | Jiří Kylián |
Costume Design | Joke Visser |
Lighting Design | Joop Caboort |
Running Time | 25 minutes |
Six men, six women, and six fencing foils -aggression, sexuality, energy, silence, cultivated senselessness, and vulnerability.
Jiří Kylián created this ballet especially for the Salzburg Festival on the second centenary of Mozart’s death. He describes his reasons for choosing the slow parts of two of Mozart’s most beautiful and popular piano concertos. “This deliberate choice should not be seen as a provocation or thoughtlessness - rather as my way to acknowledge the fact that I am living and working as part of a world where nothing is sacred, where brutality and arbitrariness are common places. It should convey the idea of two antique torsos, heads and limbs cut off - evidence of intended mutilation - without being able to destroy their beauty reflecting the spiritual power of their creator.”
The choreography includes six men, six women, and six fencing foils. The foils sometimes function as actual dance partners, and at times seem more unruly and obstinate than a partner of flesh and blood.
They represent a symbolism which is more present than a story line. Aggression, sexuality, energy, silence, cultivated senselessness, and vulnerability - they all play a significant part. Petite Mort, literally meaning ‘small death’, serves as a paraphrase for orgasm in French and Arabic.