As autumn approaches, Pacific Northwest Ballet prepares for Petite Mort, a triple-bill featuring works by Jiří Kylián and Alexander Ekman.
Along with the work that grants this program its title, audiences at McCaw Hall in Seattle will see another Kylián piece – Sechs Tänze (Six Dances) – and Alexander Ekman’s Cacti.
Pacific Northwest Ballet Prepares for Petite Mort
Petite Mort, the first of Kylián’s work to ever be acquired by the company, PNB explains:
Jiří Kylián choreographed Petite Mort for the Salzburg Festival in commemoration of the second centenary of Mozart’s death. He chose as his music the slow movements of two of Mozart’s most beautiful and popular piano concertos.
The choreography includes twelve dancers and six fencing foils. The foils serve as dancing partners and sometimes turn out to be more stubborn and willful than a human partner.
Kylián also plays with black baroque dresses, which at times appear to exist separately from the dancers and at others to be molded to their bodies.
Sechs Tänze (Six Dances), also set to Mozart’s music, is best summarized by the choreographer himself: “Two centuries separate us from the time Mozart wrote his German Dances—an historical period shaped considerably by wars, revolutions, and all sorts of upheavals. With this in mind, I found it impossible to simply create different dance numbers reflecting merely the humor and musical brilliance of the composer.
Although the entertaining quality of Sechs Tänze enjoys great general popularity, it shouldn’t only be regarded as a burlesque. Its humor ought to serve as a vehicle to point towards our relative values.
Mozart’s ability to react upon difficult circumstances with a self-preserving outburst of nonsensical poetry is well known.”
Sandwiched between the two ballets is a musical interlude courtesy of the PNB Orchestra who will play, none other than, a composition by Mozart – Divertimento in D, No. 1 Allegro, K.136/125a, Mvt. 1.
Closing out the program is Ekman’s Cacti, originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater 2. Set to classical music masters Haydn, Beethoven, and Shubert, and mixed with audio recordings, in this contemporary work, more than a dozen dancers endeavor to obtain their very own cactus.
“This work is about how we observe art and how we often feel the need to analyze and ‘understand’ it. I believe that there is no right way and that everyone can interpret and experience art the way they want. Perhaps it’s just a feeling that you can’t explain or perhaps it’s very obvious what the message is.” – Alexander Ekman
As Pacific Northwest Ballet prepares for Petit Mort, ballet fans can also look forward to other events that compliment the performances. These include:
- conversation between PNB’s Artistic Director Peter Boal and Cacti stager Ana Maria Lucaciu
- viewing of a Petit Mort dress rehearsal
- lecture by dance historian Doug Fullington
- Q&A with Boal and some of the company’s dancers
Featured Photo for Pacific Northwest Ballet Prepares for Petite Mort of the company dancers in Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort. Photo © Angela Sterling.
