Svadebka | KYLIAN

Svadebka is the Russian word for ‘wedding’. In Stavinsky’s version it is the ritual of a marriage which is traditionally arranged by the parents of the bride and groom. The harsh austerity of Stravinsky’s score scans the structure – with its rigid ties of customs – enclosing the life of a narrow in-growing community.
The dance, lead by the music, is responsive to the various stages and of the enactment of the ceremony. In these wedding rites the bride and groom, still strangers, feel like two victims, about to be sacrificed. But, as the celebrations proceed, the rites become wilder, passion is freed and the gap between man and woman becomes smaller and smaller, until their hands rest in each other in peace. With fear and doubt slowly resolving, they turn their backs to the past and walk ceremoniously towards the door which is now open to their new life.

Christian Harvey

"Svadebka" | KYLIAN
Choreography: Jiri Kylian
Music: Igor Stravinsky Les Noces
Scenography and costumes: John MacFarlane
Lighting: Jennifer Tipton
Duration: 26 min

World premiere by The Nederlands Dans Theatre on June 11st 1982, Circustheater Scheveningen
Premiere by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo on December 31st 2009, Grimaldi Forum Monaco