Rehearsal 'Tar and Feathers' - Jiří Kylián (NDT 1 | Celebrating an evening with Jiří Kylián!)

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Video by Harmen Straatman

On the occasion of Jiří Kylián’s 75th birthday, we celebrate this inspired maker with an evening of three significant works that speak to his artistic vision over time. Tar and Feathers (2006), Gods and Dogs (2008), and Bella Figura (1995) were originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) and are exemplary of Kylián’s extraordinary craft and contribution to dance and the development of NDT.

Pianist: Tomoko Mukaiyama

One of the choreographer’s initial sources of inspiration for Tar and Feathers (2006) was found in the medieval ritual of punishment by pouring black tar on a person and covering them with feathers. For Kylián, the black, sticky tar bound by gravity offset by delicate feathers as objects associated with lightness and elevation, forms a metaphor for the ‘unbearable lightness’ and the ‘unbearable weight’ of our human existence. At a grand piano perching on metre-high legs, pianist Tomoko Mukaiyama improvises around Mozart’s Piano concert Nr. 9. Against this stunning musical backdrop, six dancers perform intriguing, mysterious movement in a surreal black and white world. Throughout the work, we hear Kylián recite What is the word by Samuel Beckett, the last poem the Irish author wrote on his deathbed, that grapples with an inability to find words to express oneself.

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