Jardi Tancart by Nacho Duato

- Jardi Tancart was first performed in 1983- Its name taken from the series of songs recorded by Spanish singer Maria del Bonet based on poems centred on farming life in Spain and the desperate need for rain- Jardi Tancart translated = enclosed garden - ‘Garden’ is a metaphor for life- ‘Enclosed’ is an adjective - you can’t escape from it

Stimulus

For Jardi Tancart the stimulus came from Nacho Duato’s admiration for the Catalonian peasants that work and struggle for the continued providence of food and life from their ancestral lands.

Their pride in their land, although harsh, dry and impoverished showed Duato that a persons identity, culture and a place to call ‘home’ help to give meaning to a person’s life, or in this case, to an ethnic group, no matter what comes their way, goo or bad.

Duato watched how the peasants sang as they worked, amazed at their resilience and commitment to the land with often back-breaking work. He watched them dig in hard, dry soil, sowing, weeding, ploughing, planting and harvesting corn and wheat with a resignation to their ‘fate’. This fate could be a failed crop caused by yet another drought, or a successful harvest followed by a good rainy season.

The people live for the land and their culture, their faith and joy in the face of adversity was the main stimulus or starting point for Jardi Tancart.

Intent

Duato wanted to communicate the rich and special qualities of the Catalonian culture, in a cultural bid to show to other people the diversity of Spanish culture and heritage. There is more to Spain than just bullfights, taco’s, flamenco dancing and Ole’ ole’!

Duato wanted to uncover the psychological reality of all human beings - the reality of the emotions that exist in everyone; love, hate, jealousy, greed, lust, envy, despair, fear, joy, contentment, yearning.

“When people come to see us at the theatre, they should see themselves reflected on the stage. I want them to find a way to connect our dancing to their daily lives, to the clothes they wear, to the music they listen to. I try to find a balance between what happens onstage and what happens outside the theatre.”

Skills of Analysis Components

Movement, spatial elements, dynamic elements

Section 1 - silence - unison - introduces all motifs

Intent = convey contentedness of people to the land, rural life, hardship, pride of Catalonian people. Theme/subject matter is established. Duato establishes the relationship of the people (community) to the land, the earth is one with them. Underlying religious theme shown as they pray for rain/good crop.

Movement = level to the ground = worshipping, tense, high release/arms and chest projected upward = praying for rain/good crop, contracted lines/hunched over/curved torso = hard work - weary, bent knees, angular arm lines, swinging-labouring, feet stamping, flexed hands, brushing, falling, collapse over legs, axial movement, wrapping arms, large movements = scarcity and vastness of land, body percussion, abstracted farm movements - ploughing and sowing represent had rural life and connectedness to land, turns, travelling steps, circular actions and grounded motif repeated

Space = medium to low levels with glimpses of high level - showing religious gesture, circular shapes and pathways, direction of movement in space changes constantly, facing the back, downward focus contrasted with high release, upward focus followed by downward collapse, very repetitious, moved as a tight group formation, they depend on each other, they are as one - one community/family - united by a common goal and cause

Dynamics = lots of sustained with bursts of percussion, vibratory running, swaying/swinging, collapse, dropping quality, heavy and bound, lethargy, suspension of arms, whole body and movement is moved firmly and then strongly, energy is bound, sudden and sustained rhythmic timing as they jump up and down

Time = all working together

Opening phrase = facing back left diagonal - sudden jump to feet where hands fling, are caught behind the back and then open with a pressing quality across the back of the legs - very restricted feel, open up and release body to sky then slow plies to ground and go into a bowing type position, then sitting on legs circular release of upper body - repeated again to front right diagonal and then first half to front left diagonal

Section 2 - all males (in section 2 and 3 more traditional/gestural movements, humble and simple actions convey the traditional roles of men and women sharing the hardship and suffering and in turn coping with their plight)

Intent = depict the hard labour of the men within the community

Movement = lifts but bound, aggressive (contrast to heaviness of first section), vigorous and weight bearing movements, runs, turns, folk dance (stamps and claps) - celebration of identity, large actions, incorporating whole body

Space = linear diagonal position of dancers in the space, large general space, low to medium levels with high used in lifts but you can see they are bound/restricted, travelling and facing sideways and back, circular arm pathways, linear floor patterns moving across the stage back and forth

Dynamics = collapse, direct percussive, gashing, indirect slashing, indirect swinging, whipping, vibratory (little), flicking, throwing, firm and strong, explosive, aggressive, elements of Spanish folk dance as the male dancers clap and stamp on the ground

Time = regular use of time in locomotor movement, accented movements as well, canonsMovement example = use each other to create farming elements and use the strength of each

other - work of each other

Section 3 - solo woman

Intent = women’s work shown through sweeping - sowing seeds, emotive response, portrays heartache but must go on

Movement = turns, convulsions, repetition, literal movements (weeping, crying, ploughing), reaching, twisting, fisted hands, bash hands on floor (hope is lost), wrapping, jumping, intertwining of arms, hip rotations, linear and circular shapes

Space = repetitious back and forth pathways, mainly grounded - medium level, large kinaesphere with reaching actions, uses circular pathway of hands, torso isolation (wavering pathway), diagonal pathways on floor, direction mainly back and side, when facing front she covers and then stands up in pride

Dynamics = swinging, pulsing, sudden stillness (time related), suspended, sustained, collapse

Section 4 - everyone (women = supportive role and more emotional, men = labourers doing work)

Intent = working together as a community, praying for rain, common goal - spiritual in nature - looking to God

Movement = scooping of arms, reaching, extensions of legs (kicks), fan kicks (especially in lifts), angular arms shapes, open vs close shapes, repetition, canons, bent runs, contracted, shuffling, stamps, cupped hands, turns, leaps, ploughing, flexed feet, axial movement, compressed shapes, rippling in torso represents despair and heartache as nothing has come to fruition, lifts

Space = locomotes forward and back, linear floor pathways (side to side), angular arm and leg pathways, circular body movement, diagonal formation, linear criss-crossing, circular arm pathways, large general space, linear spatial formation, partner work (dance around eachother), high levels (reaching and lifts), work as a whole group

Dynamics = collapse, sustained, percussive - heavy stamping, firm, forceful, darting within the space, weight bearing, swinging, scooping, resistance in lift, direct use of space, explosive and bound energy

Section 5 - Duo of two women

Intent = mother/daughter, comfort, passing on knowledge and traditions, emotional struggle

Movement = soft and circular, scurrying/shuffling, turns, rolls, linear leg kick, momentum built sequences, swinging/wafting sequences, reaching arms, pulling/scrunching/holding use of dress (femininity), complementary shapes/move with each other and are connected, contracted shapes, round arms, curved dominance,

Space = symmetrical, dancers close within the space (relationship), circular pathways of body, high to medium levels, arms reaching onto a high level whilst body remains down, back and forward focus, invading each other’s space (wrapping, holding, entwining)

Dynamics = collapsed, reaching, forceful, percussive runs, percussive sudden pause in shapes, contraction, swinging, vibratory, slashing, throwing, pulsing, sudden, bound, tension

Time = fast feet timing, pulling of dress slow and fast, spontaneous (unstable, frustration)

Section 6 - Duos

Intent = supporting partners. The broken spirit. Discontentedness. Symbolic of the generations within the community. Cycle is evident. Partner work symbolic of the generations within the community as each tells a story

1 = young couple - loving in nature - they flow in and out easily and are light and playful, many lifts all turning into more lifts - however still moments of despair

2 = the married couple - work, toil, struggle - look of concern at each other at start of duo, lifts seem heavier and girl doesn’t project up when lifted but keeps her head down

3 = the older generation - conventional movement, hardship evident -

Movement = shuffling, stamping, linear shapes, collapses, jumps, turns, flexed feet and hands, repetition, curved arm shape, use of skirt (holding, scrunching), arched back, reaching, lifts, small jumps, angular shapes, partner work, kicks, scurrying, throwing, flickering, unison work

Space = linear and angular, high and medium levels (lifts), angular to soft movements, partner work (in each other’s space), lifts = circular, used a lot of stage space, complimentary shapes, smaller space in unison at end, female faced away from male and male faced femal

Dynamics = contracting torso, percussive (beating and throwing of arms and legs), swinging (arms and torso), sustained (lifts and extensions), collapsing onto each other and the ground, suspension in linear/extended shapes, organic

Time = Varied. 3 duos have different time. 1st = organic/gentle/together, 2nd = accented/gentle, 3rd = weren’t moving as one/more loving/more steady

The work concludes very rapid, an exertion of energy, ends as it began, down on ground conveying contentedness to the ground = cycle, continuous.

Space in General

Relationships with dancers - turns and lifts are dominant movements in Jardi Tancat - often they happen together as couples move across the stage

- wavy lines are seen as couples lift, turn and roll around each other - pas de deux = traditional society - role of male = supporting, lifting masculine role - female = nurtutring, comforting, feminine role - partners = working together

- use of canon reinforced repetition of daily grind and couples following each other, generation to generation, regular roles, following a common goal in community, community depends on land

Direction - showed images of farm life (digging, ploughing etc) enhancing intent of work - direction of focus - downward = earth/hardship/connection to land

- upward = faith/praying for rain- repetitious use of left to right reinforces the narrative of the work, ploughing, sowing,

natural elements such as blowing breezes, the land (such as evident in aerial vies of farmed land)

Shapes - use of motifs to clearly convey narrative and reinforce the development of the narrative throughout the Work - engaging because these shapes are readily identifiable by audiences

- complimentary shapes used to represent unity and harmony within the group, may also represent exhaustion

- symmetry/asymmetry - conveys equality - same gender dance together use symmetrical shapes = equality - opposite gender use asymmetrical shapes = defines gender roles, vulnerability

- curved shapes and body lines used to represent humbleness and creates images of hardship/peasantry

- representational shapes used to convey domestic chores and religion - constricted/bound shapes directed to the ground through contractions and plies in

deep second usually followed by high release, upwards shape directed to God

Levels - contrast between them - low/mid = relationship to land - high = faith and prayer for rain

Floor Patterns - linear (side to side) when crossing space = sowing/planting/harvesting crop - diagonal floor patterns

Spatial Pathways - curved pathways are dominant, arms circle together, feet draw wide arcs in space as they travel in space and on stage

- circular/winding pathways seen throughout work convey continual movement, repetition of daily life, daily grind, mundane (never ending), continuous work, the cycle of life

Stage Space - depicts an enclosed garden as lines of sticks provides a physical as well as a visual boundary to the space

Dimension - is contrasted - large/expanded movements = scarcity of land - small/contracted movements often contorted and convey struggle

and turmoil

Designs in space - use of groups - clumping conveys sense of togetherness throughout the hardships

Dynamics in General

- are influenced by the music - narrative is enhanced by the way in which the choreographer has utilized changing

dynamics to communicate the intent of the various sections Aural elements

- Maria Del Mar Bonet has a warmth and passionate elegance in her voice.- In 1981 she recorded “Jardi Tancart”- The music forms the basis to the piece - The music reflects the Spanish identity- The song is based on poems of love and struggles of couples trying to scratch a living from a barren earth. - In the songs the Spaniards direct a supplication to God - The translation of the Catalonian lyrics include references to: time, mourning, love, passion, ocean, waves and wind

Section 1 = Silence

Section 2 = Gathering, risky, me fellows, hang on

Section 3 = Burning, love, drank

Section 4 = Moon, field, mountain, marriage

Section 5 = Beads of sweat, scalded, no bean seeds

Section 6 = ocean, colour of sea vs colour of land, symbolises the longing they don’t have, the woman in the song flourishes in the sea where the Catalonians can’t enjoy

Dancers

- Both men and women danced bare foot - Men wore simple trousers and shirts - Women wore long, plain dresses - Warm earth colours - Represent peasant clothes- Couples, trios, unison, solo- Couples keep in contact with each other as they dance around each other - depend on each other

Lift movement = the female dancer wraps her body around the male’s torso as he performs a weighted turning step that locomotes across the front of the stage. The shift from a light, fluidquality to this heavy lifting communicates the struggle and impact of hardship on the Catalonian’s personal relationships.

Setting and environment

- Desolate and irregular wooden stakes surround and define the stage space- Define the performance area and enhance the intent of the harsh land farmed by the people who belong to it- Warm lighting design, added with the costumes and set let you almost feel the heat and drought

Skills of Analysis Organising the Movement

Motif, phrase, motif into phrase

Motifs

- Reaching up, looking up - faith, praying for a good crop/rain, despair, hope - also manipulated to reach to the ground, indicating the need for rain, cupping to drink water and reaching to the audience, indicating desperation

- Hunched/slumped over back, pull of gravity, low to the ground, focus down, hands behind back, physical burden of the body, crouching over others - hardship, working on the land

- Ploughing motif - scooping/digging, showing working on the land - Consists of flexed arm bent at elbow resting on side or back of chest, other arm outstretched and flexed at wrist = varied a lot, but always shows gestures of farming activities

- Circular motion - cyclical, ongoing, continuous flow of movement, never ending. Combining all body parts, working in and out, daily life. Spatial pathways, floor patterns, circular patterns. No start and end.

The motifs are all interrelated and developed into phrases, driving the phrases. Motifs establish the narrative as the work progresses.

Skills of Analysis Organising the Dance

- The whole work is cyclical = it never stops- The cycle is the cycle of their lives - daily life cycle - Duato is trying to say that despite what they face, they will fight and survive and be rejuvenated- The Work can be identified as having a Narrative formal structure - it loosely portrays a chronological day in the life of 3 couples that are occupied with the sowing, planting and threshing of the barren Catalonian land- They grieve about the lack of rain but try to keep high spirits in spite of this - Desperately but proudly they continue their work, which is translated into dynamic and expressive, yet wonderfully naïve piece of dance

Repetition

- Repetition is used in Jardi Tancart to reinforce the concept and enhance unity e.g motifs - Use of canons to emphasise intent

Movement example = slashing aggressive movement done by men in section two repeated in last section by women - same movement with same meaning but different dynamic and emotion as women perform it

Variation and Contrast

- Variation leads to contrast - Contrast of the journey of the day - starts of strong and linear to show work, towards the end is more emotional - a reflection of their hard labour - Gender - working role and emotional role - Relationships - Motifs - Music helps to provide the variation and contrast in the performance- Dancers are driven by the music, strong dynamics in the music reflect and dictate strong movements in the dancing.- Variation comes from themes - canon, partnering, unison - Duato uses the quality of her voice and the accents of the words and notes she sings to emphasise certain movements, motifs and gestures in the dance.

Formal Structure

- Has a narrative formal structure- A story about the Catalonian people and each section of the work contributes to the narrative of their experiences as they live and work on the land. Light rises in the opening and fades at the end - a days work

Sequencing

- phrases = movement within the section - help to reveal emotion relevant to the context of the work - gradually reveal intent to audience that develops over the duration of the dance - phrases are logical as they are showing a cyclical daily structure - sections show narrative- starts and ends the same way - wake up, work, go to bed - light rises in the opening and fades at the end - a days work

Transitions

- Transitions are in silence - purpose of this is to create a significant introduction of each new theme or idea as the next phrase begins- This confronts the audience with a sense of uncertainty and anticipation in the brief moment before the accompaniment commences again, evoking genuine emotion within the viewer and sparks a sense of intrigue, drawing them deeper into the performance as they want to know what will happen next- Duato uses pedestrian movements to move the dancers around the space, displaying the efficiency and telluric nature of the Catalan people- The music is also used as a link

Movement example = at the end of movement section four. All six dancers shuffle frantically downstage and continue to sharply stand in unison to an upright position with their focus out towards the audience. The transitional movement is extremely pedestrian; the dancers simple stand, stare then turn away slowly. The straightforwardness in conjunction with the fact that this isperformed in perfect unison with no musical accompaniment reminds the audience that they are looking at simple life of an everyday family.

Unity

- music - cultural reflection always in each section- transitions - always the same as in silence - a pause and reflection - yearning for help - motifs

Skills of Analysis Interpretation

Context

- Is what is used to create intent - Context is the meaning of the work and Duato’s influences affected the context of Jardi Tancat. - It is the cultural, historical, personal and social background and gives the basis of the movement Duato uses for his idea.

Cultural = Spanish identity

- Latin and folk traditions of his home country, Spain- Work reflects Mediterranean way of seeing life and movement - Many cultures went through Spain and left an influence - Greek, Tunisian, West African, Jewish - these all influenced his culture and therefore his Work - Work created in a style that arises from his culture- His themes celebrate a Spanish identity and he seeks to reveal the diversity of that identity- Parched earth and rural landscape of Spain and the peasant way of life influenced Jardi Tancart - Peasants are attached to the land and their roots - suffer from the harshness of the climate and lack of rain- Resiliance, drive to survive, determination- Drought affected many farmers, causing them a loss of income and troubled living - this was a social factor Duato focused on

Historical = Barren land and economical crisis for farmers - Catalonian life

Religion = praying for rain

Significance

- Is always relevant to intent and what the choreographer wanted to portray - To share and educate about his experience and upbringing, uses sense of belonging and family that he knew as a child reflected - he is reflected in it- Celebration of their culture and shows their hardship and work to the broader community - To gain appreciation

Subject matter - is like concept in composition

- farming, hardships, religion, relationships

Meaning - is like intent in composition

- hardships of struggle to survive off land, how use religion to hope and pray for rain, relationships between community - support from community

Genre

- folk, contemporary - torso and strong parallel and contraction, little bit of classical

Skills of Analysis Evaluation

Concepts under which evaluation is made

- Personal response - how did I feel when I watched the Work? What emotions, images, ideas and physical feelings are stimulated by the Work?

- Your writing will be influenced by your own experience and background, and what you see and feel will be different to what others interpret

- To fully appreciate a Work we may need to look into background information on its context - the social, personal, historical and cultural events influencing the work

General values of society

- beliefs, a mission or philosophy that is meaningful

- tolerance, openness, respect, teamwork, love, beauty, goodness, selflessness, self-givingness, gratitude, freedom, equality, human rights

- values are psychological objects

- people dedicate their work or lives to pursue their values

- our values determine our decisions and guide our lives

- In society, we come to recognise that certain principles or guidelines are essential for the survival or vital growth of the individual and the community - learning by experience, essential principles are passed onto future generations as cultural guidelines for action

Specific values in the context of the work

- personal values guide people to make decisions in life - Duato was motivated by his commitment to social justice, leading to choreography related to that value

- community, common purpose, determination, unity, resourcefulness, responsibility, faith, spirituality, stability, strength, tolerance, trust, health and well-being

Worth and merit, effectiveness/appropriateness of the work, effectiveness/appropriateness of the performance

Writing and Criticism

Reading and writing reviews - newspapers magazines journals, the role of the critic in dance, placing the criticism in context

- Personal response = subjective response to work - share your point of view with others = will focus on how reader viewed the work - the emotions, images and ideas

and physical feelings stimulated by the work = your writing will be influenced by your own experience and background

- Formal analysis = unpacks a dance from a structural point of view = reveals how the choreographer used elements of creation (movement, music,

set, costume etc.) to portray meaning to an audience and how it all relates and works as a whole

- Contextual analysis = describes and interprets the history and influences of the work = requires research about the work

= may include reference to social, historical and cultural influences on the work and the choreographer’s background, experiences and intentions

- Review = includes features from above texts = gives a personal opinion (based on extensive experience and knowledge) about a

work

Prescribed Choreographer and Their Work

Era/period in which Nacho Duato worked

Religion

- Catalonia is the region northeastern Spain. - 97% of people in Spain are Roman Catholic- Because of its location in Europe, Spain was invaded again and again throughout history - Catalonia was able to resist being conquered much of the time, the rest of the country wasn’t so lucky - They had no choice but to follow the religion of their conquerors - In the 15th century when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella married, Spain was proclaimed a Catholic nation and drove out Jewish and Islamic faiths - Today most people are Catholic but there is religious freedom- Belief is portrayed in the work shown through praying gestures and references to the sky, asking their Leader for forgiveness or perhaps questioning their Leader about why they are suffering.

Movement = high releases, arm gestures, supplication to God, drinking water

Politics

- Spanish Civil War (July 1936-1939) was fought between the Second Spanish Republic and left-wing groups and right-wing nationalists led be Generalisimo Francisco Franco- He won and established a dictatorship - Republicans = support ranged from those who supported electoral democracy to advocates of

communist or anarchist revolutionary change = those from urban areas, secular and strong in Catalonia

- Nationalists = rural, wealthier, conservative, mostly Catholic, favoured centralisation of power - Following war they needed decades to recover- Latter half of the 19th century, Catalonia became centre of Spain’s industrialisation - In the first third of the 20th century, Catalonia lost and gained, several times, varying degrees of autonomy - This was crushed to an unprecedented degree after the defeat of the Second Spanish Republic- After Franco’s death in 1975 and the adoption of a democratic Spanish Constitution in 1978, Catalonia recovered cultural autonomy and some political autonomy

Movement = hardship and sorrow stuff - weighted, grounded, contraction etc

Culture

- Spain had a strong tradition of dance during the 19th century but much of it was lost during the regime of Generalissimo Francisco Franco who ran the country from 1939 until 1975 when he died.- “For years Spanish culture was reduced to bull-fights, castanets and foot-ball. It was the image given by a dictatorial regime.”- “Classical ballet has no roots in Spain. We have no tradition, and no theatre.”- “You can’t just suddenly skip 40 years of void such as we have had in this country. Culture isn’t made, you can’t buy experience.” - “But change takes time, 40 years of blindness doesn’t just clear up in one minute.” - Duato believed that the global society saw Spain as a country of just bull fighting and castanets. He wanted to show a different side of Spain to the global audience- He was fighting against the stereotype of ‘Ole Ole!’ - Drought affected many farmers, causing them a loss of income and troubled living - this was a social factor Duato focused on

Movement = Spanish and flamenco - stamping, references to the earth, foot working, triplets, locomotor movement moving across stage, line formations, side to side all = folk

Influences

Spanish Identity

- Latin and folk traditions of his home country, Spain- Work reflects Mediterranean way of seeing life and movement - Many cultures went through Spain and left an influence - Greek, Tunisian, West African, Jewish - these all influenced his culture and therefore his Work - Work created in a style that arises from his culture- His themes celebrate a Spanish identity and he seeks to reveal the diversity of that identity- Parched earth and rural landscape of Spain and the peasant way of life influenced Jardi Tancart - Peasants are attached to the land and their roots - suffer from the harshness of the climate and lack of rain- Resiliance, drive to survive, determination

Movement = Spanish and flamenco - stamping, references to the earth, foot working, triplets, locomotor movement moving across stage, line formations, side to side all = folk, religious connotations - the hope and supplication

Emotional Themes

- Much of his work deals with human hardship and sorrow - portraying intense human pain - He doesn’t want work that is humorous or decorative, but work that communicates a deeper meaning - Inspired by human relationships and everyday life- In Jardi Tancart you can see the pain, suffering and harshness of peasant life but also their support, feelings of community and tenderness

Movement = women portray emotional themes in their role, weeping gestures, use of skirt is an extension of weeping, partner work - grasping - holding - lifting = a moment of despair but being supported, reaching gestures = pleading and desire to move beyond situation

Music

- He uses a range of music from traditional Spanish songs - It could be said that Duato’s music choices reflect his work at the NDT with Kylian. - Dependent on the music, very fluid movement vocabulary “like lice going on and on”- Begins choreographing from the music- “the body expressing the emotion of the music”

Movement = cultural references and tone gives emotion, music talks about all elements needed to survive - lyrics used to inspire themes of intent, the way she sings suggests weeping and thus inspiring quality of movement

Jiri Kylian

- Major influence - Duato spent many years working with Kylian at the NDT- Kylian was Duato’s mentor through his early period as a professional dancer and an emerging choreographer

Movement = pas de deux, stamping and strong angular neo classical lines (bent and concaved contraction), folk references and close musical connections

Background and training

- Born in Valencia, Spain 1957- Grew up in Spain but left as teenager at the advice of his parents as Spain was suffering military and economic decline- 1975 = Professional ballet training with Rambert School in London at 18 - Joined Maurice Béjart’s Mudra School in Brussels to expand studies- Completed dance education at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre in New York- In 1980, aged 23 he signed his first professional contract with Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm - In 1981 he was invited by Jiri Kylian to work with the Nederlands Dans Theatre in Holland - was incorporated into the company and its repertoire - In 1987 he received ‘VSCD Gouden Dansprijs’ (Golden Dance Award) for his achievements as a dancer- Duato says, “Classical and Graham were very rigid, I preferred jazz or Horton which is what I was doing with Ailey.”

Choreographic style

- Style was eclectic and mixed stylistic techniques and his cultural background

- Folk elements - movements rooted in the earth, drawing on the flavour of the folk traditions of his country - Motifs of peasant life - reaping and sowing

- Instead of trusting to the classical tradition he drew on the theory and methods of contemporary European ballet - “It’s contemporary of course, but with a strong classical base. I don’t think a modern dancer with no classical training could work with me. You must have the turnout, the pointed feet, the graciousness that classical dance gives the dancer.”

- Inspired by human relationships and everyday life - deals with human hardship and sorrow - portray intense human pain - Emotional - in Jardi Tancart you can see the pain, suffering and harshness of peasant life but also their support, feelings of community and tenderness

- Begins choreographing from the music - dependent on the music, very fluid movement vocabulary - “the body expressing the emotion of the music”

- Pas de deux, stamping and strong angular neo classical lines, folk references and close musical connections are all influences of Jiri Kylian