Timeless Contemporary

The Timeless Contemporary ballet show is composed of works by choreographers András Lukács from Hungary, Hans van Manen from the Netherlands, and Jiří Kylián from the Czechia, where the dancers’ technical virtuosity intertwines with the music of Mozart, Erik Satie, and Philip Glass. Contemporary yet classical, chamber-like yet varied and breathtaking – such is the programme awaiting those who come to see the four productions: Whirling, Trois Gnossiennes, Petite Mort, and Six Dances. The pieces are typically plotless, yet many aspects of life appear within them, such as the dynamics of human relationships – sometimes in a more serious, sometimes in a more humorous form.

Jiří Kylián / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Six Dances
"I've decided that I cannot simply create a dance series reflecting the composer's sense of humour and music genious. Instead, I've choreographed six visibly confusing scenes..." (Jiří Kylián)
In Kylián's ballet, Mozartian playfulness and absurd reality are transplanted into the language of movement. It was not a story that he set out to create, but rather a dance piece constructed out of the absurd situations encountered by heroes in powdered wigs who sometimes act irrationally and awkwardly: the very dictionary definition of the word "burlesque". From the first moment, the eight dancers take the stage like they are stepping out of a wax museum from Mozart's own era, and then the innovative freshness and dizzying dynamic of the choreography makes them ever more modern: timeless heroes of Kylián's absurd creative world.

András Lukács / Philip Glass
Whirling
Whirling, a pas de deux by András Lukács, a former soloist with the Hungarian National Ballet is set to the music of Philip Glass, one of the greatest masters of repetitive music. The nearly fluid movement, the infinite harmony among the dancers and the unique style of choreography make the scene both quite exhausting and complicated. In 2010, the Hungarian National Ballet commissioned Lukács to create an expanded version for nine pairs.  Tastefully and thrillingly combining elements based on classical techniques with modern devices, Lukács primarily creates plotless choreographies that are highly expressive. In Whirling, along with the music, the spiralling movements of the dancing superbly illustrate a vortex of water: the water into which the suicidal Virginia Woolf casts herself to the music of Philip Glass in the film The Hours.

Jiří Kylián / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Petite Mort
Jiří Kylián has always admired Mozart; over the course of his career, he has created a number of choreographed to the composer's music, including one from 1991 that paid homage to the genius of the 200th anniversary of his death.
Featured in this uniquely atmospheric ballet are six women, six men and six swords. In addition to the weapons, other props include black, baroque-style clothing and bizarre crinolines. The symbolic image in the dance piece presents a world where aggression, sexuality, silence, music, vulnerability, interdependence and eternal human beauty exist together in their own sense of poetry. This ballet from the choreographer's mature period is characterised by daring visuals, superb dance performances, elegance and style and has featured in the Hungarian National Ballet's repertoire since May 2013.

The performance is not recommended for children under 16 years of age.