Sleepless

It could be an interesting exercise, to trace and to document
all the sleepless nights and hours, which we, creators, inter-
preters, assistants and all involved, have to endure in the 
course of making a new product, or a so called "Work of Art". 
These hours and nights will probably be countless…. Imagine,
that we all would assign someone to accompany us at any 
time while we are creating, someone who will precisely
measure the time in which we are awake or asleep. 

Probably, this exercise would not be very revealing or practical,
as I can imagine, that it must be very difficult to determine, to 
which degree a human beings are conscious or subconscious,
awake or asleep, or to which degree they are aware of their 
activities, or how accountable they are for their actions….

”Sleepless” is a work for the young dancers of NDT II. And 
creating this work was equally challenging and rewarding,
(For them as well as for myself). Basically it comes down to 
the simple fact, that teaching and learning are just the two
sides of the same coin. The dialog between generations is
always fascinating.…. It brings a certain feeling of "Maturity"
to the young ones , and a feeling of ‘’Rejuvenation’’ to the
older ones....

The Work of Lucio Fontana, the Argentinean artist, had 
an indirect influence on my creation of “Sleepless” - His 
“Incisions” which he inflicted on his paintings have created 
a “New Dimension” in the “Two Dimensional” world of painting:

His action of cutting through the canvas, thus declaring, 
that the canvas is not necessarily the only thing to behold 
but that there might be something more important lying 
behind or beyond it, was a revelation and an achievement 
which left a deep scar in my mind…. Dance is an art form, 
which totally relies on our physical, emotional, mental and 
spiritual awareness. 

It is totally dependent of the three dimensions which are 
available to us (until now), and which determine the entire 
space in which we move, live and exist…. 

Lucio Fontana took a knife, with which he destroyed the 
monochrome surface of his paintings. 

But his "Kill" gave his paintings a new life…. He gave the 
two dimensionality of painting a third dimension. He opened 
the secret door to the "Unknown".... But this was just the 
beginning…. We will look for other "Dimensions", physical, 
emotional, philosophical or spiritual, as long as we possess 
the energy to do so…. 

                    Jiří Kylián - The Hague, April 2, 2010