Echa Czasu (Echoes of Time) is a new series of dance performances that explores the language of contemporary ballet. The Polish National Ballet stages a triptych of pieces with choreography from William Forsythe, Ashley Page and Krzysztof Pastor
In Artifact Suite, Forsythe experitments with theatre convention to music composed by J.S. Bach and Eva Crossman-Hecht. Forsythe is the world famous choreographer from the U.S. who directed the Ballet Frankfurt into international prominence, bringing revolutionary change to classical ballet, introducing a contemporary relationship of dialogue between the dancer and the audience. Artifact Suite presents a huge challenge for performers and is known for transformative effects it can have on companies that perform it. Krzysztof Pastor, director of the Polish National Ballet, believes the piece will be a breakthrough for his dancers, saying:
Although Forsythe requires the dances to present an incredible physical capacity, we don’t show any gymnastics, but a movement saturated with beauty and emotion. (...) It will be a new quality charged with energy. I have seen my group in rehearsal, and I must say I am proud of them (...)
Pastor also invited Ashley Page, the Scottish ballet revolutionary, and his piece entitled Century Rolls. It is another challenge in terms of its score, with the choreographer describing his work on the piece as "research of the boundaries between dance and music and a constant attempt at broadening the language of art, of testing its flexibility".
The third piece on the Echoes of Time programme is Moving Rooms, choreographed by Krzysztof Pastor to the music of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. It was created by Pastor in 2008. The "rooms" of the titled are strongly marked with light and become places of exploring various meanings that space can carry in terms of relations between human beings.
The triptych of Echoes of Time premiered in Warsaw on the 17th of November 2012
Editor: SRS
Source: press release