Jiří Kylián

A globally celebrated choreographer. Yet Jiří Kylián is a person like everyone else. And just like everyone else, he thinks about life and love, and the necessity of art.

Moving Still.
A still moment with eternity continually pulsating.

“I was artistic director of the Nederlands Dans Theater for 24 years. People often ask me what such a boss actually does. It is very simple – and very complicated. You must take each and every dancer seriously, try to discover their talents and afford them every possible opportunity to develop such talents. Only then can they blossom like the most beautiful sunflower.”

“Not long ago, I worked with a gifted dancer from China, born near the border with Mongolia, somewhere in the Gobi desert. All of a sudden, she found herself in Amsterdam and was to dance Kylián. How to deal with this? I told her: You are the one dancing. It is your moment and you are the one to share this with the audience. The moment will never come back. There is no yesterday nor tomorrow, just now, and here. Dance as though it were you last day. And one more thing: You started a movement and then finished it – and grew older meanwhile. And the whole Earth, the whole universe, grew older. So don’t waste time! It’s not about Kylián, it’s about you. Every moment of your life must have this intensity and depth and generosity.”

“What is love? It’s a fabulously deep and high concept. Without love there is nothing. Love is the primeval essence of absolutely everything and it has an infinite number of faces.”

Kylián Productions

In 2008, the Kylián Foundation set up Kylián Productions BV which now forms the commercial entity to the Foundation. Under the auspices of the Foundation, Kylián Productions BV ensures the highest possible quality whenever a work by Jiří Kylián is reproduced by different ballet companies around the world. All components of these collaborations are given the same importance and are protected with equal care by ensuring excellent artistic and technical integrity. Kylián Productions BV monitors all commercial activities related to Jiří Kylián’s oeuvre as a whole and is the main producer of his new works (dance, film, photo and installations).

Carmen Thomas is the director of Kylián Productions BV since 2008. Carmen was born in 1966 in Brussels, Belgium. She was educated in the Netherlands, France, Germany and graduated summa cum laude from Bowdoin College in Maine, USA majoring in French and German language and literature. She completed her Russian minor at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. After her studies she moved to The Hague and started her work as tour and company manager international affairs for the Nederlands Dans Theater in 1988. She held a variety of functions for NDT 1, 2 and 3 and worked and travelled around the world with them for 20 years. In 2008, Carmen became Jiří Kylián’s manager and still to this day runs Kylian Productions BV as Director with the main purpose to sell, protect and produce his choreographies, films, photography and installations around the world.

Kylián Productions

Jiří Kylián’s “firsts”

There are not many “firsts” in people’s lives. And even though Jiří Kylián has created one hundred choreographic works in his lifetime – there are still more ‘’firsts’’ to be noted.

For instance, his first appearance as a dancer at Prague’s National Theatre and then abroad. His involuntary emigration and his first setting foot beyond the border which during the era of Communism in Czechoslovakia could not be crossed without punishment. Joining the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) at the age of 27 and soon to be named the company’s artistic director. Seeing his creations being performed by companies worldwide – at the Paris Opera, the Met, La Scala and many other large (and small) stages. Humbled each time by the success and the enthusiasm of the audiences from far and wide. Witnessing how in 2002 at Prague Castle some 41 heads of state applauded one of his pieces thus paying tribute to the celebrated Czech artist himself. And in 2019 becoming the very first choreographer to be inaugurated and named a member of the French Académie des beaux-arts.

Besides dance, Jiří Kylián has also devoted his focus to other art forms. He recalls making his first film and now he can talk about creating the statues for his first conceptual work Moving Still. Yet another one of Kylián’s “firsts”. This installation will have its world première and we are honored and delighted that it will take place in Prague at the National Theatre where he, as a boy, gave his very first dance performance and where it all began.

Václav Havel and Michal Pavlíček, shooting of the film Leaving.

Terschelling island, the Netherlands (2022). Sabine Kupferberg and Jiří’ Kylián´s very first appearance together in the film: Sehnsucht (working title)

Jiří Kylián and the celebrated South African choreographer John Cranko and artistic director of the Stuttgarter Ballett (1970). During the curtain-calls after the premiere of Cranko’s Green and Kylián’s first professional ballet, Kommen und gehen (Coming and Going).

Jiří Kylián and his mentor František Pokorný, director and choreographer of the University Artistic Company. Pokorný inspired Kylián, encouraging him to become a choreographer. He was the manager of Pavel Šmok and the administrative director of the Prague Chamber Ballet for many years. He invited the Nederlands Dans Theater to Prague many times.

Jiří Kylián and Kateřina Hanáčková, Scheveningen (2022). Kateřina instigated the printing of the sculptures and the realisation of Moving Still.

Jiří Kylián and Czech actor Jiří Lábus are close friends.

Jiří Kylián with Princess Caroline of Monaco, on the occasion of his induction into the Académie des beaux-arts in Paris. Kylián was the third Czech to be granted membership to the prestigious institution and with his inauguration, the Academy changed its statutes and added a chair for choreography. During the ceremony, Princess Caroline delivered a commendatory speech.

Jiří Kylián and his Czech friends during his inauguration into the Académie des beaux-arts in Paris (2019).

Valentina Scaglia at Jiří Kylián’s studio behind the model of the installation Moving Still (2023). A former NDT dancer, Valentina is one of the artists depicted within the
exhibition.

Markéta Kyliánová, Jiří’s mother (at age 102) on Týnská street, Prague.

Princess Beatrix (former Queen of The Netherlands), Sabine Kupferberg and Jiří Kylián during a performance by Stuttgart Ballett of his One of a Kind in the Netherlands.

Sabine Kupferberg and Jiří Kylián “at home“ in The Hague, 2014. The photo was taken by the distinguished Czech cinematographer Jan Malíř, a friend of theirs.

Jiří Kylián in front of Covent Garden, London (1968).

Marcia Haydée and Jiří Kylián during the premiere of her choreography of Sleeping Beauty in Prague by the Czech National Ballet. Márcia was a prima ballerina with Stuttgart Ballet and Jiří created his first choreography for her: Kommen und Gehen.

Sabine Kupferberg and Jiří Kylián in the unfinished film Sehnsucht (filmed on Terschelling island in 2022 and 2023, with Jan Malíř and his wife, Olga Malířová Špátová).

Podcast

Dance connects the elemental with the spiritual

This is exactly how choreographer Jiří Kylián describes the magic of dance in our podcast, in which you will also hear how important the word MA is to him as it relates to space in time, in art, music and life. What is it like to work with a master like Jiří Kylián? Where does he create today and how does he remember the beginnings of his career? Find out in this episode of the National Theatre Podcast, hosted by National Theatre Ballet PR Kateřina Hanáčková and principal dancer Patrik Holeček. This podcast is only available in the Czech language.