Sechs Tänze
- Choreographer: Jiří Kylián
- Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Costumes: Jiří Kylián
- Lighting: Jiří Kylián & Joop Caboort
- Set Design: Jiří Kylián
- World Premiere: October 24, 1986. Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam-NL. Nederlands Dans Theater
- PBT Performance Date: October 26-28, 2018, Benedum Center; Nov. 8, 2018, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Cyrus Northrop Memorial Auditorium, with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
Program Notes
Two centuries separate us from the time Mozart wrote his Sechs Tänze (German Dances)—a
historical period shaped considerably by wars, revolutions and all sorts of social upheavals.
Mozart’s ability to react upon difficult circumstances with a self-preserving outburst of
nonsensical poetry is well known. With this in mind I found it impossible to simply create
different dance numbers reflecting merely the humor and musical brilliance of the composer.
Instead, I have set six seemingly nonsensical acts, which obviously ignore their surroundings.
They are dwarfed in the face of the ever-present troubled world, which most of us for some
unspecified reason carry in our souls.
Although the entertaining quality of Mozart’s Sechs Tänze enjoys great general popularity,
it shouldn’t only be regarded as a burlesque. Its humor ought to serve as a vehicle to point
toward our relative values.
—Jiří Kylián