Jiří Kylián has arrived at the Whittaker Library!

Jiří Kylián is one of the most acclaimed choreographers of the second half of the century. Born in Czechoslovakia, he started his career, after studying at the Royal Ballet School in London, at the Stuttgart Ballet under John Cranko where he later became choreographer. He has created more than a hundred works of which 76 of them were for the Nederlands Dans Theater. As a choreographer he has a highly personal expressive style that is characterised by extreme intensity and uses classical models as the foundation to his free modern style. To find out more about Jiří Kylián why don’t you check out his website

His creations include Kaguyahime and the Black and White Ballets. Kaguyahime is based on the Japanese fairy-tale the moon princess with music by Maki Ishii, who combines western percussion instruments with Japanese drums, woodwind instruments and the use of traditional Gagaku music. The Black and White ballets are made up of six plotless dance pieces which can be independent of each other and encompass a range of styles and moods and the more extreme techniques of contemporary modern dance.

The Whittaker library have  purchased a number of new DVDs of Kylián works including Bella Figura, Sleepless, Birth-Day, Svadebka, Symphony of Psalms, Torso, Kaguyahime and his Black and White ballets. We also now have Forgotten Memoires which is a documentary that looks at Kylián’s way of thinking and at his most significant creations. It also includes an additional performance of Wings of Wax.

To see a list of the new Kylián DVDs added to the library catalogue please click here