Modern Masters

Modern Masters honours the work of three of the most influential and creative choreographers of the 20th Century, and brings two new works to English National Ballet’s repertoire.

PETITE MORT
Created in 1991, Jiří Kylián’s poetic piece, features six men, six women, and six fencing foils, symbolising energy, silence and sexuality. Performed to the slow movements of two Mozart Piano Concerti, the foils slowly become dancing partners, as the brutality of everyday life is revealed. Petite Mort is a quintessential Kylián masterwork, loved by our audience and our dancers when we performed it last year.

SPRING AND FALL
In the same year that Petite Mort was premiered, Hamburg Ballet’s John Neumeier, a new master of narrative and dramatic ballet, created Spring and Fall. Set to the Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings in E Major, it is a work for two couples and corps de ballet and takes its narrative from the tension in the music. Spring and Fall is not in the repertoire of any other UK company.

IN THE MIDDLE, SOMEWHAT ELEVATED
With In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, William Forsythe started a completely new school of choreography, deconstructing classical ballet and liberating a new generation of classical dancers to show off their abilities. Set against a bare stage it is danced by nine individuals culminating in a fierce display of technical and physical wizardry.

A shot of pure adrenalin.

★★★★ The Daily Express

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Main image: In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, English National Ballet’s Modern Masters © Photography by ASH