A new look for a new era

The National Theater Ballet company is returning to the New Stage after 16 years with a significant new dance event, appropriately titled "Extreme." Though the three pieces on the program are all very different, they are all extreme in various shades of the word's meaning, interconnecting wildly divergent theater poetics and music bases.

Two of the three works (A Little Extreme and A Little Touch of the Last Extreme) were choreographed by Petr Zuska, the artistic director of the company. Zuska gained dance experience with the Prague Chamber Ballet, the National Theater Ballet in Prague and in foreign dance ensembles in Munich and Montreal. Managing the National Theater ensemble since 2002, Zuska has also found time to perform in contemporary pieces himself and do choreographic work for the company. He has created full-length dance ballets such as Ibbur, or a Prague Mystery (2005) and Brel-Vysotsky-Kryl/Solo for Three (2007), and shorter pieces such as D.M.J. 1953-1977 (2007).

A Little Extreme was created for the ballet company of Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf in 2006 at the request of its artistic director, Youri Vamos, who invited Zuska to create an unconventional piece. "It is a bizarre game with associations, feelings and situations," Zuska says of the work. The music is American hip-hop and rhythm and blues, and what is being described as "esoteric relaxing music." The choreographer's satiric view of today's young generation, expressed in smart steps blended with untraditional musical accompaniment, makes this tragicomic ballet very special. It was a big success for the Düsseldorf company.

A Little Touch of the Last Extreme is a world premiere, described as a "fight of contrasts that belong to life, birth and death." Certainly, the music offers dramatic contrasts, ranging from the minimalist work of Estonian composer Arvö Pärt to traditional Greek music, Czech folk, James Brown's soul and Michael Jackson's pop.

The middle piece on the program, Last Touch, was created for the Nederlands Dans Theater in 2003 by world-famous Czech-born choreographer Jiří Kylián. A remarkably prolific choreographer and holder of a wide range of international awards, Kylián has been living in the Netherlands for more than 30 years, creating pieces that have enhanced the repertoire of more than 80 dance companies and schools worldwide. His work focuses on human dignity, vulnerability and spirituality, and consistently impresses audiences with its sophistication.

Last Touch should offer sharp contrasts to Zuska's pieces. "It has very different poetics and energy," Zuska says. "A lot of people would not imagine Kylián's work to be like that. The spectators might be surprised; the choreography shows that he's been constantly evolving. Once we think we know his handwriting, he suddenly presents something completely new." Last Touch creates a melancholy 19th-century atmosphere with pulsing music by Dirk Haubrich and slow movements by the dancers. It seems as if time has stopped for centuries in this tableau vivant.

The National Theater Ballet's return to the New Stage is the first step in a makeover for Laterna Magika, which will come under the operational aegis of the National Theater again after a period of financial and artistic problems. Reconstruction work is scheduled that will mirror a change in programming, giving the ballet company in particular a place to perform contemporary, sometimes provocative work considered unsuitable for the dignified National Theater stage next door.

Under Zuska's leadership, the National Theater Ballet has been moving in a more contemporary direction, sometimes with entire-evening productions. Zuska is aiming for maximum variety in the company's repertoire, and Extreme fits the bill nicely. "I am sure each spectator coming with an open soul will find something for him or herself in Extreme, be it lyricism, absurdity, the mystical, humor or hyperbole," he says.

The premiere of Extreme will close the 2008-09 ballet season at the National Theater with a trio of unusual and extremely different pieces, each of them concealing its own extreme within itself.

Johana Mücková can be reached at
features@praguepost.com