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Photo: Joris-Jan Bos

Choreographer: Jiří Kylián

“A COMPASS provides a circle
- in order to encircle, to contain, to mark the pivotal point,
to indicate what is within and what is without.
The compass creates a limitless limited space
ruled by physical and mathematical laws, by science which always prevails a space, disregarding any immeasurable facts of life
like aging, illness, insanity, deterioration...
It fascinates me to work with these limitations
or rather - it excites me to maneuver myself into a precarious situation,
which will consequently force me to accept
uncompromising solutions.

This is a way of working, which demands
an incredible loyalty, trust, and discipline from the dancers involved.
Their bodies, as all human bodies, are a very complicated system
of hinges or compasses
- all our movements are created through circular motions relating to points in space -
all in search of a physical and spiritual center - a pivotal point of our existence.
Balancing on the edge
between past and future,
we search for that place of peace and quietness.

So what is the pivotal point (the navle) of our small world?
- Maybe Galapagos - a remote place,
a refuge for barely surviving, endangered species
- dancing around - sun up, sun down - in their solitary confinement.
Bones and skins and eyes - lives upon lives - their footfalls remembered
- and forgotten - as if never been.
Footfalls crossing borders,
not knowing if really crossed, making signs
which only they can read,
only marking the time spent.”

Jiří Kylián

Details

  • Title: Compass
  • Date Created: 1996
  • Rights: © Joris-Jan Bos Photography
  • Choreographer: Jiří Kylián
  • Music: Karlheinz Stockhausen - Musik im Bauch (1975)
  • Light: Tom Bevoort, Jirí Kylián (concept)
  • Decor: Jirí Kylián
  • Costumes: Joke Visser, Jirí Kylián (concept)
  • World Premiere: October 10, 1996, Lucent Danstheater, The Hague

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