Blast a universe

Jiří Kylián’s Sleepless (2004) grew out of his fascination with sleepless nights during the creative process. “It would be an interesting study to calculate and add up all the sleepless nights and hours,” Kylián says. Inspired by the work of Lucio Fontana, he explores the conscious and unconscious in this piece. In refined duets and musical precision, he celebrates the poetry of the body.

After his NDT debut About Now (2023), Noé Soulier returns with a world premiere in which movement itself takes centre stage. He explores how gestures are born, develop, and are perceived. “I investigate how a single gesture can grow into a large physical structure,” he explains. Combined with experimental techno and soundscapes by Sa Pa, this creates a physical, stimulating experience in which the body becomes more important than narrative.

Marco Goecke created The Big Crying (2021) shortly after the death of his father, as one of his most personal works. “It is a creation about saying goodbye and about everything we have to burn,” Goecke says. Set to music by Tori Amos, the dancers move like broken machines within his signature intense movement style. The work reveals the tension between loss and the will to keep living, and forms a powerful closing of the programme.