Bolero+

Ballet triple bill

  • Moving Rooms

    25 min.

  • Intermission

    20 min.

  • Kilar

    30 min.

  • Intermission

    20 min.

  • Bolero

    20 min.

Duration: 1 h 55 mins

Performances

MOVING ROOMS (revival)
Choreography: Krzysztof Pastor
Music: Alfred Schnittke (Concerto grosso, an excerpt), Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (Concerto for harpsichord and string orchestra)
World premiere: 19 June 2008: Dutch National Ballet, Amsterdam
Polish premiere: 17 November 2012, Polish National Ballet, Warsaw 

KILAR CONCERTO (world premiere)
Choreography: Krzysztof Pastor
Music: Wojciech Kilar (Concerto for piano and orchestra)
World premiere: 15 December 2023, Polish National Ballet, Warsaw

BOLERO (revival)
Choreography: Krzysztof Pastor
Music: Maurice Ravel
World premiere: 18 October 2012, Dutch National Ballet, Amsterdam
Polish premiere: 25 November 2016, Polish National Ballet, Warsaw

There are ballets which disappear from the stage unnoticed, while others are dearly missed when replaced by newer productions. This applies in particular to the academic classics and contemporary triple bills. Virtually all ballet companies see this happen and consequently revive the venerated canonical works or audience favourites. The Polish National Ballet also tries to follow that principle in its programming decisions. This season see the return of La Bayadère after Marius Petipa as well as Bolero+, a triple bill of Krzysztof Pastor’s choreographies: his admired Moving Rooms and Bolero and a new work, Kilar Concerto, that builds up on his earlier choreographic works set to fragments of Wojciech Kilar’s Piano Concerto.

Pastor created the expressive Moving Rooms in 2008 for the Dutch National Ballet. Danced to the exquisite Harpsichord Concerto by Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, which is preceded by a fragment of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso No. 1, the choreography is set in a crealy-drawn space that is constantly transformed by changing light. The ballet became an instant hit in Amsterdam and was subsequently performed by the company in Russia and China. It was also one of the first foreign-made pieces staged by Krzysztof Pastor with the Polish National Ballet, becoming a staple of the company’s repertoire. To date, it has been successfully presented on both stages at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, other Polish theatres, as well as in New York, Washington, Houston, the Czech Republic, Finland, and twice in Lithuania.

Thoroughly enjoyed by dancers, it enables them to showcase their technique, yet leaves room for individual expression and letting their personality shine through during the performance. As it proceeds, the ballet elicits growing emotion from the audience, eventually bringing them to their feet and ending with a long ovation.

In his choreographic work, Krzysztof Pastor likes to choose clear musical forms, which he portrays through the use of neoclassical, highly expressive dance language, inspired by his Dutch masters. His seemingly abstract ballets convey a plethora of moods, subtexts, relationships and emotions. He does not only fill the stage with dance but offers an original interpretation of the score. A good point in case is Wojciech Kilar’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The choreographer took a particular liking to the piece a few years back and subsequently used it in three of his works, bringing us choreographic settings of the Prelude and Toccata and including fragments of the Concerto in his the full-length ballet Dracula. As he had not worked with the Corale before, Pastor decided to mark the composer’s tenth death anniversary in 2023 with a ballet setting of the Concerto as a whole.

The Polish National Opera’s first all-Pastor triple bill culminates in the choreographer’s stunning take on Ravel’s Bolero. Created in 2012 for the Dutch National Ballet, the work premiered on our stage four years later. It is also danced by the national ballet companies of Lithuania and Estonia. In 2023 it becomes a part of the repertoire of the Ballet of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.  

Bolero+ celebrates the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Polish National Ballet in its current organisational and artistic formula. The jubilee is a moment of great satisfaction for all of us on both sides of the footlight.

Cast

2023-12-15 | 19:00

Credits

Polish National Ballet
Orchestra of the Polish National Opera

Sponsors

  • Patrons of the Polish National Opera | Partners of the Opera Academy

  • Patron of the 15th Anniversary of the Polish National Ballet

  • Partners of the Polish National Opera

  • - Partner of the Polish National Ballet

  • Media patrons

  • Media partner