Bella Figura

The basic idea, as well as all the building material, with 
which “BELLA FIGURA” was made, is not very complicated, 
but, maybe not so simple either, whenever viewed through 
the perspective of our experience. It is a “Parable” on the 
relativity of sensuality, beauty and aesthetics in general, 
and on the question, how we face the phenomenon in our 
everyday life. It is a journey through time and space, 
illuminating our dignity, as well as our doubt. Finding beauty 
in a grimace - in a knot of the mind - or in a physical 
contortion. It is like trying to perform a balancing act on 
the string of your umbilical cord.

For the dancers, it is not only a manifestation of their 
competence, aesthetic qualities or technical accomplish-
ment, but equally, it represents their acceptance of their 
deficiencies, doubts and vulnerability.

The words “Bella Figura” in Italian don’t only stand for 
“Beautiful body”, they also represent a philosophical 
resilience of people facing a difficult situation - conse-
quently it also means "Putting on a brave face"….

With other words: The people in the audience will not 
know, whether the actor ,who is performing for them 
tonight, is in a difficult situation or not, they will not 
know anything about his personal problems, but the 
actor also knows, that they don’t know! All he knows 
is, that they bought tickets to see him, and that they 
want to be “entertained”. So he puts on his “Bella Figura”. 
He puts on his “Brave face”, no matter what....

	

For a long time, I have asked myself the questions: 
“.... What is a performance, and who are actually the 
performers?”  And.... “When does the performance actually 
begin? Does it begin when the curtain raises, or at the 
moment of our birth - or does it all only start when the 
choreographer asks the dancers to learn their first steps? 
Does the performance start when the dancers start putting 
on their make-up?”   And....” Does the show finish whenever 
they leave the stage, or does it carry on until the end of our 
lives?”   Or....” What is the difference between the clothes, 
we wear in the street, and the stage costume? Where lies 
the border between art and artificiality, and where should 
we draw the line between fantasy and reality?”….And finally: 
"….Where is the border between the truth and a lie…."

In any case - all these things, which I have just tried to 
describe to you, can be explained in a much easier way: 
Imagine that you had a dream, in which you fell out of your 
bed, and as you wake up next morning, you realize, that 
you have a broken rib.

                    Jiří Kylián - The Hague, September 23, 2007