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May 22, 2007                                                                      CASSIE PATTERSON MCCLUNG
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The Four Seasons Features a World Premiere,
a Company Premiere, anda Twentieth Century Classic
September 20 – 30, 2007

From September 20 – 30, 2007, Houston Ballet presents The Four Seasons, a fall mixed repertory program featuring a world premiere by Stanton Welch, the company premiere of Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort, and a revival of William Forsythe’s seminal twentieth century classic, In the middle, somewhat elevated.

Choreographed to one of the most beloved works in classical music, Antonio Vivaldi’s 1723 work The Four Seasons, Mr. Welch’s new ballet describes the four seasons of a woman’s life, from the vigor of youth in spring to the compassion of old age in winter.   Mr. Welch will once again collaborate with Kandis Cook (the London-based Canadian who created the designs for his 2003 work Velocity), who will create the costumes and Thomas Boyd (Houston Ballet’s director of production and creator of the scenery for Mr. Welch’s 2006 work Brigade) who will design the scenery. 

“A large oak tree figures prominently in the scenic design – like a family tree with trunks and limbs,” said Welch.

Mr. Welch, one of the most sought after choreographers of his generation, has created ballets for such prestigious international companies as San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, The Australian Ballet, and Birmingham Royal Ballet in the United Kingdom. His new work for Houston Ballet will be his twelfth for the company.  The Four Seasons will be his fourth work to music by Vivaldi, in addition to Blue in 1995 for The Dancers Company, a touring ensemble of The Australian Ballet; Indigo for Houston Ballet in 1999; and Orange for Dance Galaxy in 2001.

Jiří Kylián created Petite Mort especially for the Salzburg Festival in 1991 on the second centenary of Mozart’s death. For his work, he chose the slow parts of two of Mozart’s most beautiful and popular piano concertos (the adagio section of Piano Concerto in A Major KV 488 and the andante section of the Piano Concerto in C Major KV 467). Petite Mort, which literally means ‘small death’, serves as a paraphrase for orgasm in French and Arabic.

 “This deliberate choice should not be seen as provocation or thoughtlessness – rather as my way to acknowledge the fact that I am living and working as part of a world where nothing is sacred, where brutality and arbitrariness are commonplace. It should convey the idea of two antique torsos, heads and limbs cut off – evidence of intended mutilation – without being able to destroy their beauty reflecting the spiritual power of their creator,” commented Mr. Kylián.

The choreography includes six men, six women and six foils. The foils function at times almost as dance partners, and, on several occasions seem more unruly and obstinate than a partner of flesh and blood. Aggression, sexuality, energy, silence, cultivated senselessness and vulnerability all play a significant part in the work.

A native of Prague, Mr. Kylián began his training at the Prague Conservatory and London’s Royal Ballet School. In 1968, he joined Stuttgart Ballet where he worked alongside the legendary English choreographer John Cranko. Mr. Kylián choreographed his first ballet in 1970 for Stuttgart Ballet. After being invited by Nederlands Dans Theater in 1973 to be a guest choreographer, Mr. Kylián joined the company and was appointed artistic director in 1978. Since that time he has created over sixty productions for the company, including such works as: Sinfonietta (1978) Forgotten Land (1981), Bella Figura (1995) and Last Touch (2003). In 1995, Mr. Kylián celebrated twenty years as artistic director of Nederlands Dans Theater with the large-scale production Arcimboldo as well as receiving the Netherlands’s highest honor, Office in de Orde van Oranje Nassau. In 1999, Mr. Kylián retired as artistic director of Nederlands Dans Theater, but still has an active role as resident choreographer and artistic advisor to the company. Houston Ballet has five works by Mr. Kylián in its repertoire: Petite Mort, Symphony in D, Sinfonietta, Svadebka, and Forgotten Land.

In the middle, somewhat elevated first entered Houston Ballet’s repertoire in September 1999. A classical tour-de-force set to electronic techno music by Mr. Forsythe’s frequent collaborator, the Dutch composer Thom Willems, the work opens on a bare, black stage with nine dancers (six women and three men) in leotards tearing through a series of fiendishly difficult classical steps with high attitude and haughty disdain. The title of the ballet refers to two golden cherries hanging “in the middle, somewhat elevated” in the Palais Garnier in Paris, where the work premiered in 1987. 

“In the middle, somewhat elevated is a theme and variations in the strictest sense.  Exploiting the vestiges of academic virtuosity that still signify ‘the Classical,’ it extends and accelerates these traditional figures of ballet,” explains Mr. Forsythe.  “By shifting the alignment and emphasis of essentially vertical transitions, the affected enchaînements receive an unexpected force and drive that makes them appear foreign to their origins.” 

Writing in The New York Times, critic John Rockwell has observed, “The way that Mr. Forsythe takes ballet technique and then twists and contorts and pushes it into seemingly impossible extensions is a marvel.”  

In a review of the company’s premiere of the work in 1999, Margaret Putnam of The Dallas Morning News wrote, “Houston Ballet went for the jugular Saturday night, ditching the tutus and unleashing a powerhouse assault on eye, ear and complacency . . . The company tore through In the middle, somewhat elevated with a heady disregard for gravity. Though created for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1987 and now in the repertory of the Royal Ballet, In the middle seems brashly American, just the ticket for Houston Ballet.”

William Forsythe was born in New York and danced briefly with The Joffrey Ballet before joining the Stuttgart Ballet in 1973, where he created his first works as a choreographer. He assumed the directorship of the Frankfurt Ballet in 1984 and led the company until 2004. Under his leadership, the Frankfurt Ballet was transformed from a capable regional troupe into one of Europe’s foremost dance ensembles. Mr. Forsythe’s ballets have entered the repertoires of the world’s leading companies, including the New York City Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, the Royal Ballet of London, the Netherlands Dance Theater, and the Royal Swedish Ballet. In March 2003, he received the prestigious Dance Magazine Award for his contribution to the field of dance.  After the closure of the Frankfurt Ballet in 2004, Mr. Forsythe established a new, more independent ensemble, The Forsythe Company.  The company was founded with the support of the German  states of Saxony and Hesse, the cities of Dresden and Frankfurt am Main, and private sponsors. Forsythe’s most recent creations are developed and performed exclusively by the new company, which tours extensively across the world.