Birth-Day Birth-Day

Photo: Joris-Jan Bos
On this photo: David Krügel, Sabine Kupferberg, Egon Madsen, Gérard Lemaître, Gioconda Barbuto

Choreographer: Jiří Kylián

'Birth-Day' is a co-production by Hebbel Theater (Berlin), Saitama Arts Theater (Japan) and Nederlands Dans Theater.

“We all were born, and we all celebrate this event every 365 days…

This is the cycle of time in which nature is born, dies and is re-born again – regardless of our existence. Since I was very young, I have felt very deeply that our birth certificate is actually our death sentence (as Francis Bacon put it: ‘After all, we are here to die’).

Mozart, whose music I have chosen for this production, is the greatest example of someone whose time between day ‘A’ and day ‘Z’ was painfully limited, but who nevertheless has understood life in all its richness, fantasy, clownery, and madness. It is his spirit, and his acceptance of the fact that our life is not more than a masquerade or a dress rehearsal for something deeper and more meaningful, which has inspired me to make this work.”

Jiří Kylián
25 June 2001