Jiří Kylián (Born in 1947)

Major partners of the Paris Opera’s 350th anniversary

Major partners of
the Paris Opera’s 350th anniversary

A suivre:

Abbé Perrin (Director of...

Directors, ballet masters, stage directors, choreographers, architects... Octave discovers the personalities that have marked the history of the Opera which continues to attract the great names of music and dance.

Jiří Kylián trained at the National Ballet School in Prague and the Prague Conservatory, and then at the Royal Ballet School in London, He began his career as a dancer as a member of the Stuttgart Ballet. He presented his first choreographic works during the special evenings organised by the Noverre Kompanie of Stuttgart. Invited to create several works for the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT), he became the director of that company from 1975 to 1999. In 1978, the creation of Sinfonietta (which entered the Paris Opera Ballet’s repertoire in 1989) earned him international acclaim. After the inauguration of the Nederlands Dans Theater 2 (NDT2) in 1978 which was intended to complete the the training of dancers at the beginning of their careers, he created the NDT3 in 1991 to provide a career path for dancers over the age of 40. Jiří Kylián stepped down as director of the NDT in 1999, but remained associate choreographer until 2009. He has choreographed over a hundred works, which have been performed the world over. Some of these were created for different international companies. Many of his pieces can be found in the repertoires of the Paris Opera Ballet and its Ballet School: Tanz-Schul (1989), Nuages (1991), Suite Kylian (1998), Doux mensonges (world premiere, 1999), Bella Figura (world premiere, 2001), Stepping Stones (2001), Il faut qu’une porte… (world premiere, 2004), One of a kind (2004), Petite mort (2004), Kaguyahime (2010), Symphony of Psalms (2016), and Tar and Feathers (2016).