 | REPERTOIRE Return to the Strange Land |
Choreography: Jirí Kylián
Music: Leos Janácek (Sonata 1st October 1905, Overgrown Path, In the Mist)
Costumes: Jirí Kylián
Light Design: Joop Caboort
Restaging: Arlette van Boven y Jim Vincent
On the sudden death of the choreographer
and director John Cranko, in the
summer of 1973, the former director
of the Stuttgart Ballet asked
me to create a ballet in his memory.
I made a pas de trois on the music
of Leos Janàcek, namely
the last part of his sonata for
piano October the 1st, 1905. In
1975, I used this as the final
piece of Return to the Strange
Land. The title is a contradiction.
How can you return to a land where
you have never been before? This
ballet is about death and reincarnation:
desappearance, reappearance, death
and rebirth were its main sources
of inspiration. Although the physical
existence endes, the particles
reappear in a different shape.
These particles "know" the "unknown
land" . They are part of
you until they return to the strange
land. This is one of my first
works. The role of classical elements
and patterns is more pronounced
than in my later works. A highly
important starting point was the
emotion existing inside the body.
Dresses are reduced to a minimum.
This ballet is made upof a pas
de trois. They imply slow reincarnation
processes. At the end , the sensation
is created that something abstract
has taken life from inside the
bodies. The return, full of yearning
for the past, takes us to an apparently
well-known place, to an unknown
presence. Can it be the premonition
of death?. For a long time I had
felt the urge to do something
with Janácek's piano music.
It seemed to me that this assignment
was the ideal opportunity. As
a rule, I work the other way round.
Normally, the idea springs forth
from the music. The ballet starts
with the first part of the sonata
for piano October the 1st, 1905
. This is followed by the mazurka
from Overgrown Path and the first
part of In the Mist, to end with
the last part of the piano sonata.
His music is at all times rooted
in people and their emotions,
which explains its close resemblance
to popular songs.
Jirí Kylián
