Creativity & Compromise

Kylian's "Petite Morte" & "Sinfonietta", Zuska's "D.M.J."
Narodni divadlo balet (Czech National Theater Ballet from Prague)
Harman Hall
Washington, DC
April 25, 2009

by George Jackson
copyright 2009 by GJ

Fusing ballet and modern dance is creativity at its utmost according to a portion of today's public. I see it as difficult to do without blunting ballet's elegance and purging modern movement of strength and grit. Jiri Kylian, currently the best known of Czech choreographers, has made yards of fused dancing. There's nothing especially Czech about it. His output resembles the compromised movement that became fashionable globally during the 1950s and '60s. Other perpetrators included America's John Butler and Glen Tetley. At its best, this type of balletomodern has a smooth, sculptural fluidity that lends itself to acrobatic duets. Often, though, these one-on-one encounters lack variety and I, at least, soon grow tired of the blend. Earlier experiments in fusion had included countercurrents to the dominant flow dynamic. Examples of interest are Leonide Massine's pair of acrobats in the 1917 "Parade" and the duets in David Lichine's 1946 "Cain and Abel", but (except for Alvin Ailey) quite a few choreographers who came to prominence after World War 2  forgot to look back and as a result we have works such as the three on this program.

 Petr Zuska's "D.M.J. 1953-1977" uses music by Dvorak, Martinu and Janacek. There is no good musical reason for putting three disparate compositions into one ballet, but there may be a dramatic justification. Zuska seems to want to come to terms with three of his country's name composers as icons. (Do the ghosts of the omitted Smetana and Suk feel snubbed? Do the dates 1953-1977 refer to a Czech political era?) There's a lead pair, Alexandre Katsapov and Adela Pollertova, and a corps of six couples. They are a good looking group but, apart from the nimble Pollertova, Zuska doesn't give them enough continuous movement to display their training. The concept of developing movement themes is singularly absent from this work. There is some, rudimentary pointe work for Pollertova. Katsapov's one big leap looked strained. Often this pair is deployed infront of the stage curtain with the rest of the cast plus some modular props behind the curtain which is raised and lowered incessantly. To my surprise, "DMJ" is said to have won a best choreography prize in 2006. 

Kylian in "Petite Mort" also adjoins music from different compositions but at least they are by the same composer - Mozart. Still, the movement doesn't substantially engage the music in dialog. Kylian uses Mozart as atmospheric background. Despite an initial  swordplay section for the men that is clever and some of the dance material being developed, too much of the motion is that slick and boring compromise between ballet and modern dance. 

The closing piece, "Sinfonietta", gratefully to a single composition, boasts passages of leaps and turns to Janacek's fanfares. These steps can be danced as unadulterated ballet but not all the cast (particularly the men) moved as surely and cleanly as the technique demands. That, though, is what happens in companies with a repertory focusing on fusion.

Only about half the roster of the Czech National Theater Ballet, one of the two big ballet groups in Prague, had come on this American visit which continues in Norfolk, Virginia.