Present/s Poster

The Dutch National Ballet celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the founding with a programme of brand-new productions by a diverse group of choreographers. Resident choreographer at the Het Nationale Ballet, Krzysztof Pastor, presents a work set to Polish composer Witold Lutosławski's Fourth Symphony

The Present/s programme in Amsterdam gives the stage over to nine world premieres of top-rate dance productions from leading international choreographers. The Dutch National Ballet has invited its three resident choreographers Hans van Manen, Krzysztof Pastor and artistic director Ted Brandsen to join seasoned greats Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon and David Dawson, as well as three new additions to the roster Paul Lightfoot, Sol León of the Dutch Dance Theatre and Ton Simons, former artistic director of Dance Works Rotterdam. Soloist Juanjo Arqués also presents an original work. The event is dedicated to the memory of Dutch choreographer and author Rudi van Dantzig, who passed away earlier this year.

Polish dancer and choreographer Krzysztof Pastor has created Chapters as part of Present/s 1 - the first main section of the programme, which also includes works by Ted Brandsen, Hans van Manen, Krzysztof Pastor, Christopher Wheeldon and Juanjo Arqués. Each performance is accompanied by Holland Symfonia, conducted by Matthew Rowe. Pastor turned to his roots to find a piece of music that would inspire a brand-new choreography, finally deciding up on the Fourth Symphony composed by Witold Lutosławski. As Pastor explains, "his work, controlled through chance techniques that were a precursor to improvisation, has always fascinated me. As a choreographer just starting out, I listened to a lot of Lutosławski's compositions, although they were not typically used in dance".

Pastor describes the composer's Fourth Symphony as widely varying in mood, from lyrical to dramatic, from calm to dynamic. Pastor likens the work to a novel, with each part a new chapter, with its own atmosphere, its own mystery. The choreography is performed by twelve dancers, with a male lead, two female leads and two male soloists, all of whom are meant to embody the various 'chapters' and stages of life. While Pastor does not quite refer to the ballet as 'autobiographical', however he does admit that it revolves around questions that many people have about life. Most importantly, the choreography is about the dancers interaction with the music and one another, explaining "it is not about technique, fantastic dancers bodies. It is important that the dancers interact, through sincere contact, that they are the human side of Lutoslawski's Symphony. Pastor has made use of Lutosławski's music before, such as with Visions at Dusk for the Het Nationale Ballet in 2007.

Rehearsal Video

Przygotowania do "Present/s (1)":

Krzysztof Pastor (1956, Gdańsk) is a resident choreographer at the Dutch National Ballet and director of the Polish National Ballet, as well as artistic director/advisor for the National Ballet of Lituania. He was trained at the National Ballet School in Gdańsk and later performed with two Polish companies. He began choreographing for the Ballet de l'Opera de Lyon, where he remained between 1985 to 1995. All in all, Pastor has fifty ballets to his credit, working for the ballet companies of Latvia and Lithuania, the Bolshoi Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, Washington Ballet, Australian Ballet and the Royal Ballet of Flanders. For his work he received several awards and nominations, including the Gloria Artis Award from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Among his most famous ballets are Tristan, choreographed for the Royal Ballet of Sweden and later adapted for the Warsaw stage,Kurt Weill, In Light and Shadow and I przejdą deszcze… / And the Rains Will Pass, inspired by Polish history and the contemporary ballet movement. The title of the new production is taken from the poetry of Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński and based on music by Polish composer Mikołaj Górecki.

Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994) is among the most significant composers in Polish music after Chopin. He wrote his first compositions when he was nine. After private studies, he studied composition at the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, and also followed a study of mathematics. During World War II he went into hiding. The postwar Communist regime remarked to his work as a formalist, and only after Stalin's death was Lutosławski rehabilitated. His music was influenced by the style of Bela Bartok and Igor Stravinsky at first, later continuing in the direction of French impressionism.

Although Lutosławski spent two intensive years - 1988 to 1990 - working on Symphony No. 4, the score bears the completion date of the 22nd of August 1992 for it took the composer another two years to finish the work. Commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony No. 4 was first performed by the same ensemble, under Lutosławski, on the occasion of the composer's 80th birthday, at the Los Angeles Music Center Pavilion on 5th February 1993.

Chapters premieres as part of Present/s on the 15th of February, 2012 at 20:15, with repeat performances on the 18th, 22nd and 25th of February and the 2nd of March. 

Idea and composition: Ted Brandsen 
Concept design and image: Keso Dekker
Choreography: Krzysztof Pastor 
Music: Witold Lutoslawski - Symphony No. 4 
Decor and costumes: Keso Dekker 
Lighting design: Bert Dalhuysen 
Ballet master: Judy Maelor-Thomas 
Duration: 20 minutes 

For more information on Present/s at the Dutch National Ballet, see: www.het-ballet.nl