Choreography by Jiří Kylián
Assistant to Choreographer: Roslyn
Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(Six German Dances, KV 571)
Scenery and costumes by Jiří Kylián
Lighting by Joop Caboort
Two centuries separate us from the time Mozart wrote his German
Dances. A historical period shaped considerably by wars, revolutions
and all sorts of upheavals. With this mind, I found it impossible to
simply create different dance numbers reflecting merely the humor and
musical brilliance of the composer. Instead, I have set six seemingly
nonsensical acts, which obviously ignore their surroundings. They are
dwarfed in face of the ever present troubled world, which most of us
for some unspecified reason carry in our souls.
Although the entertaining quality of Mozart’s 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.
Sechs Tänze received its World Premiere
by the Nederlands Dans Theatre at the Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam on
October 24, 1986.
Sechs Tänze was given its American Ballet Theatre Company
Premiere at City Center, New York on October 30, 2003.