Jiri Kilian: biography, creativity, reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Jiri Kilian is a choreographer whose biography will be presented in this article. This is a legendary person known all over the world. His ballets are original and original. Glory came to Jiri back in the 20th century.

Biography

Jiri Kilian was born in Prague in 1947. He began studying ballet at the age of 9. At first he studied at the school at the Prague National Theatre. At the age of 15, he entered the conservatory. Five years later, Jiri went to Britain (to the Royal Ballet School) for an internship. After that, he entered as a soloist in the troupe of J. Cranko in Stuttgart. He worked there for several years.

He began working as a director in 1975 at the Netherlands Dance Theater Jiri Kilian. The choreographer has created many productions with the artists of this group. He divided all the dancers into three age categories, each of them had his own repertoire.

Jiri gained international fame at the end of the 70s, when he presented his ballets in America at the festival: "Symphonietta", "On Overgrown Grass", "Pasture", "Child and Magic", "Forgotten Land", "Symphony of Psalms" and "Wedding".

In the 80sthe choreographer is increasingly turning to the avant-garde and moving away from plot productions.

Jiri has developed his own special style, thanks to which he was called a choreographer-philosopher. His performances are full of emotions.

In 1995, the director was invited to the Netherlands Dance Theater as an artistic director. He held this post for four years. After that, he collaborated with this team as a choreographer for another ten years.

Main productions from the 70s-80s

It was during these years that Jiri Kilian received international recognition.

Iconic ballets of this period:

• "Wedding";
• "Enlightened night";
• "Torso";
• "Ritual step";
• "Symphony in D";
• "Sunken Cathedral";
• "Symphonietta";
• "Return to a foreign land";
• "Child and magic";
• "The Story of a Soldier".

The ballets are set to the music of such composers as A. Schoenber, I. Stravinsky, L. Janacek, T. Takemits, C. Debussy, J. Haydn, C. Chavez, M. Ravel.

In the production of "The Wedding", the choreographer demonstrates an amazing penetration into the consciousness and rituals of the Slavs. Orthodox Christianity and paganism are mixed here.

"Soldier's Story" is a mixture of classical ballet, modern dance, pantomime and tango. The story is about a man who made a deal with the devil.

"Child andmagic" is the story of a French writer G. S. Colette about a boy who was very bad and naughty. One night, all the toys he broke, all the frogs and butterflies he tormented, came together to take revenge on this terrible child.

Best productions of the 90s

During this period, the famous choreographer changed his artistic point of view. His acting style has changed. Jiri Kilian turned to surrealism and abstraction.

Stagings of the time:

• "The Fall of Angels";
• "Black and white";
• "Six Dances";
• "Sarabande";
• "No more game";
• "Pleasant dreams";
• "Little Death";
• "Dark Temptation";
• "Kaguya";
• "Beautiful figure";
• "Birthday".

The most successful production of the 21st century

In 2004 Jiri Kilian staged the ballet "Insomnia" to the music of Dirk Hibrich. The play features six dancers. A white paper curtain crosses the stage diagonally. It creates a line between fiction and reality, conscious and unconscious. The dancers penetrate the screen and there their transformation begins. The ballet "Insomnia" is an analysis of human desires and relationships between people, told in six monologues andfour duet numbers.

I. Kilian is called the great master of nuances, he is perfectly able to find such dance moves that can express the smallest movements of the soul - an upturned shoulder, a drooping wrist, etc.

Reviews of performances

Jiri Kilian (choreographer) evokes different emotions in the audience. Reviews of his productions can be found both very positive and extremely negative. Many write that the ballets of this choreographer do not catch or impress them. The audience cannot grasp the essence of what is planned and perceive the plot as meaningless. Many believe that in Jiri's ballets, music and choreography are not one, they are independent and do not depend on each other. And the dancers just perform some movements that do not add up to anything and are more like floor exercises in gymnastics. The performances of I. Kilian, according to the public, will be of interest exclusively to those who are fans of modern ballet, and those who are closer to the classics will simply not be able to understand them. There are people who say that most of I. Kilian's ballets evoke in them a feeling of dead soullessness. Some viewers write that they did not like the avant-garde on stage until they got acquainted with the work of the world-famous Czech. Fans of contemporary art call Jiri a genius, and his performances are masterpieces.

In any case, you should definitely go to the ballets of this director in order to at least get acquainted with his work and form your own opinion about him, which will not be replaced by other people's reviews.