Mats ek giselle. Mats Ek: On Criticism ━ Interview with choreographer and director Mats Ek 2023-01-02

Mats ek giselle Rating: 9,9/10 1528 reviews

Mats Ek is a Swedish choreographer and dancer who is known for his innovative and controversial reinterpretations of classical ballet works. One of his most famous productions is "Giselle," which he first presented in 1985 at the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm, Sweden.

Ek's version of "Giselle" departs significantly from the traditional 19th-century ballet, which is based on a German Romantic story about a young peasant girl who is driven to madness and death after discovering that her lover is betrothed to another woman. In Ek's version, Giselle is portrayed as a modern woman who is struggling with mental illness and the pressure to conform to societal expectations.

Ek's interpretation of "Giselle" has been praised for its emotional depth and its portrayal of mental illness. It has also been controversial, with some critics arguing that it strays too far from the original story and that it is too dark and disturbing.

Despite the controversy, "Giselle" has been a popular and influential production, with numerous revivals and tours around the world. It has helped to establish Ek as one of the foremost choreographers of his generation and has cemented his reputation as a daring and innovative artist.

In conclusion, Mats Ek's "Giselle" is a powerful and thought-provoking reinterpretation of the classic ballet that has had a significant impact on the world of dance. It is a testament to Ek's creative vision and his ability to challenge and subvert traditional notions of ballet.

Giselle History: Mats Ek

mats ek giselle

Today's strict parental guidance laws would probably prohibit children from viewing of these ballets. Love, betrayal, madness are all there, softened at the end by a reconciliation between Albrecht and Hilarion, who both love her, but both lose her. An expert in dramatic theatre too, his knowledge of it is just as present in his mise-en-scène. After quite some years as a dancer, it was clear, at least to himself, that his creativity was as a choreographer rather than as a dancer. A complete chameleon, in each of her roles on the stage Laguna looks exactly like Carmen, Giselle, or the Nurse, cleansing her ego in the works of the master. His white suit reflects his innocence and inability to assume his love for her.

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Giselle History: Contemporary Giselle

mats ek giselle

Not just the communication of a vision but the capturing of what eludes the communal eye I? The corps de ballet, and in particular, Caroline Bance, Geraldine Wiart, Muriel Zusperreguy and Laure Muret were outstanding throughout, especially in their straightjackets as they sank into their own world of madness. For Ek, movement is a means of individual expression. Unexpectedly, the backdrop now slides away, baring brickwork, an electric counter and cables at the back of the stage. Always well danced, the ballet this time round was stupendous, with not a weak link anywhere. If you receive a refund, the cost of return shipping will be deducted from your refund. In 1982, he reinterpreted the classic ballet Giselle and presented the public with a radically different work.

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Mats Ek's Goodbye

mats ek giselle

The Swedish choreographer and stage director Mats Ek was born into artistic royalty. In his physiognomy, in the way he holds his body, in his slightly bear-like clothes, everything transpires a certain tiredness, a fatality, the submissiveness of this work, at the same time as its dignity. Widely acclaimed, «Smoke» was initially not developed for the stage, but for the film with Sylvie Guillem about contemporary choreography «Evidentia». In 1996, Ek took on the classic fairytale of Photo by Goteberg Opera. Translated into Russian, the title of the piece loses a pretty connotation since appartment in English apartment , is of course a flat but the root is apart- which, means what it means. They are equally astonishingly weak in judging acting, scenery and in seeing the difference between the concept and the directing.

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Giselle History: Context and Influences of Mats Ek's choreography

mats ek giselle

Additional non-returnable items: Gift cards Downloadable software products Some health and personal care items To complete your return, we require a receipt or proof of purchase. Ek gives Carmen many traditional male characteristics — she smokes a cigar, has wild hair, sits with her legs wide apart, and moves about with an aura of power and authority, sometimes mirroring the steps of the male dancers and banging chests with them. This dream: an existence addicted to heroin from which even the beautiful prince will not be capable of rescuing her. Act two takes place in the surrealistic setting of a mental hospital, where pieces of the human body decorate the walls. After the protagonist of all of Ek's best roles, his second muse, Sylvie Guillem, benefited from the relationship as much as Ek. The next duet between the elderly couple definitely transforms the play into a parable, into a metaphor for life: their rigid and cautious plasticity reminds us every now and then of dry wood, like the image of an elderly person «doomed to be axed», and finally to be burnt.

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Mats Ek

mats ek giselle

Guillem, having decided much earlier to expand her repertoire in contemporary choreography, transitioned from Bejart's «pretty» contemporary ballet, to the «ugly» tales of a mundane woman. Social engagement of psychological dilemmas combined with subtle humor, form the basis of his choreographies. As unusual for classical and contemporary ballet, this wonderful Spanish woman was given to Ek to bring to life his best female characters. Exploring the space, hanging onto the wall a little, climbing up the staircase with their head upside down, or even jumping behind a wall, into the unknown. The young Mats Ek did not particularly want to be a dancer. The play explores repression, conformity, passion and the impact that men have on women.

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Context: Mats Ek

mats ek giselle

Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis, admirably interpreted by the authoritative Stéphanie Romberg, has become the forbidding sister of the ward Giselle is led to after a lobotomy. They were all soloists and received equal salary. This is how without an interval, the action transitions to the next piece: «Axe». His mother was a choreographer; Birgit Cullberg and his father was an actor so Mats already had a background and a stable platform to head into the performing arts industry. The nurse serves as a defence against sexual attraction in this self-contained world where the inmates are condemned to frustration. Mats Ek's Carmen changes partners as she likes, since she works in a tobacco factory and is independent. Theatre critics are surprisingly ignorant about dance, in general terms.

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Dance Magazine Award Spotlight: Mats Ek

mats ek giselle

Ek is not here to entertain us and transport us to a magical land although he does both nonetheless. The dance was dark and full of angst. Not that his message is not always perfectly readable, or morally acceptable, but when discovering the fairy tale ballets, Mats Ek's versions should maybe not be watched first. His white suit reflects his innocence and inability to assume his love for her. This is what the danced language of the Other looks like and feels like.

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Visionaries, Innovators and Diviners: Mats Ek

mats ek giselle

Bewildered by disaster, her arms droop limply down, and her feet rub along the floor. He is not a direct descendant of Kurt Joos' dance theatre, but not recognizing Joos in Ek would be blind. Shipping To return your product, you should mail your product to: 203 WINDSOR ROAD Pottstown Pennsylvania US 19464 You will be responsible for paying for your own shipping costs for returning your item. His ballets have been adapted for television. Of course, we can understand Ek and Laguna: working for so many years so intensely is practically impossible. In case you decide to watch Ek's oeuvre again after this article, make sure to see the recordings with Laguna. Starved for information on 20 th century dance: dancers, choreographers and scholars conscientiously shared Ek's oeuvre from hand to hand.

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Mats Ek: On Criticism ━ Interview with choreographer and director Mats Ek

mats ek giselle

The rest we usually experienced in extracts and pieces. While many choreographers had revisited ballet classics, no one had yet dared to stage such a radically different interpretation, particularly of Giselle, the most famous of all Romantic ballets, created in Paris one and a half century ago. Mats Ek was born on 18th April 1945. Perishable goods such as food, flowers, newspapers or magazines cannot be returned. Although I did not agree, it made me reconsider my work to some extent. Indeed the title of the evening evokes the theme of a journey, of a destination.

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