SECHS TÄNZE
By Jiří Kylián
PROGRAM DETAILS:
First performed by Nederlands Dans Theater I on October 24, 1986 at Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam
Company Premiere: March 2025 at COCA’s Catherine B. Berges Theatre, St. Louis, MO
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sechs Deutsche Tänze, KV 571
Scenery and Costumes: Jiří Kylián
Lighting Design: Jiří Kylián (concept), Joost Biegelaar (realization)
Performance Photos: Kelly Pratt
A NOTE FROM THE CHOREOGRAPHER:
“Two centuries separate us from the time, Mozart wrote his German Dances. A historical period shaped considerably by wars, revolutions, and all sorts of social upheavals.
With this in 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. A fragment of a letter to his cousin is the finest example of this.”
