Jiří Kylián facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jiří Kylián
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Jiří Kylián (2020)
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| Born | 21 March 1947 Prague, Czechoslovakia
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| Nationality | Czech |
| Occupation | contemporary dance choreographer |
Jiří Kylián, born on March 21, 1947, is a famous Czech dancer and choreographer. He is known for creating amazing contemporary dance pieces. Many people think he is one of the best contemporary dance choreographers ever from the Czech Republic.
Contents
Early Life and Training
Jiří Kylián was born in 1947 in Prague, which was then part of Czechoslovakia. His father, Václav, was a banker, and his mother, Markéta, had been a talented young dancer.
When he was a child, Jiří was inspired by the amazing acrobatic shows at the Circus Busch. After seeing a ballet for the first time, he decided he wanted to become a professional dancer. At just nine years old, he started training at the School of the National Ballet Prague.
In 1962, Kylián was accepted into the Prague Conservatory. There, he met a very important teacher and former dancer named Zora Šemberová. She greatly helped him become a professional dancer. While at the conservatory, Kylián created his first dance pieces. These included Nine Eighth's, set to jazz music, and Quartet, using music by Béla Bartók. In 1967, Kylián received a special scholarship to study at the Royal Ballet School in London. In London, he met the choreographer John Cranko, who invited him to join the Stuttgart Ballet.
Starting His Career
Jiří Kylián joined the Stuttgart Ballet in 1968. He worked under John Cranko and began to create his own dances there. Some of his early works at Stuttgart Ballet included Paradox (1970) and Kommen und Gehen (1970). He also created Incantations (1971), Einzelgänger (1972), and Blaue Haut (1974) for the Stuttgart Ballet's Noverre Kompanie.
Three years after John Cranko passed away in 1973, Kylián became the Artistic Director of Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) in 1976. This was a big step in his career.
Kylián's Dance Style
Kylián's dance style was unique. He loved to explore how dancers could use space, different body parts, and how they entered and left the stage. He also used strong contrasts and humor in his works.
Some of his most famous dances for NDT include Symphony of Psalms (1978), Stamping Ground (1983), Dream Time (1983), and Silent Cries (1986).
Two of his works from 1983, Stamping Ground and Dream Time, were inspired by his trips to Aboriginal Australia. A documentary called Road to the Stamping Ground shows how Aboriginal ceremonial dances influenced his work Stamping Ground. Famous dancers like Nacho Duato and Jim Vincent were part of the original cast for this piece.
While Kylián was in charge of NDT, he helped create a second company for younger dancers, called Nederlands Dans Theater 2 (NDT II). Later, in 1992, he started a special company for dancers over 40, called Nederlands Dans Theater 3 (NDT III).
Famous Dance Works
Jiří Kylián created many important dance pieces. Here are some of his most well-known works:
Forgotten Land (1981)
Forgotten Land (1981) explores memories, events, and people that we lose or forget over time. It shows how people sometimes try hard to get back a feeling of what was lost. This dance was inspired by a painting by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch that showed women on a beach.
The dance mainly features duets, where two dancers move together. They stretch their arms in many ways, as if reaching for something. The dancers arch their backs and move with strong feelings, matching the music and the haunting painting that inspired the work. Kylián's dance talks about lost homes, lost loved ones, and times gone by. Some duets show strong, even violent, feelings. The dance ends with a large group of dancers, and then the women are left on the stage, stretching their arms again like birds that cannot fly.
Falling Angels (1989)
Falling Angels is part of a series of dances called the Black and White ballets. It was created in 1989 and features eight female dancers dressed in black leotards. The music for this ballet uses drumming and percussion sounds, based on ceremonial music from Ghana in West Africa. These rhythms are mixed using a synthesizer to create layers of sound. This makes the music energetic and sometimes wild, which the dancers match with very physical movements.
Falling Angels shows female dancers trying to be perfect. However, they are also influenced by human feelings and experiences like ambition, attraction, pregnancy, birth, motherhood, and understanding themselves. It's about the things that can pull a dancer away from the "pure" art of dance. Kylián was influenced by surrealism and minimalism when he created this work. In this ballet, you can see a mix of classic dance moves and sharp, sudden movements, which makes the piece exciting and unpredictable.
... Mort (1991)
... Mort was created for the 1991 Salzburg Festival. It was made to celebrate 200 years since the death of the famous composer Mozart. The dance features six men, six women, and six foils (like fencing swords). The costumes were designed by Joke Visser, and the music was by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It included parts from his Piano Concerto in A major and Piano Concerto in C major.
Awards and Recognition
Jiří Kylián has received many important awards for his work:
- 1994 Dance Magazine Award in New York
- 1995 Decoration of the Royal Dutch order of Oranje-Nassau
- 1997 Golden Medal for Outstanding Merit from President Václav Havel, Prague
- 2000 Sir Laurence Olivier Award, London
- 2000 Honorary Doctorate from the Music Academy of Prague
- 2000 Three "Nijinsky award", Monte Carlo, for his choreography and for the unique structure of NDT (NDT I, NDT II, NDT III)
- 2001 Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Paris
- 2006 Thalia Award – College Special Award (Czech Republic)
- 2008 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, Biennale Venezia
- 2011 Award for exceptional achievement in the field of Dance and Choreography, Czech Ministry of Culture, Prague
- 2018 Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, Member of Institute Français, Académie des Beaux Arts, Paris
- 2024 Commanders of the Order of the White Lion
Images for kids
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Jiří Kylián in 2020
See also
In Spanish: Jiří Kylián para niños
