Falling Angels: Jiri Kylian's Unemployment Ballet to Steve Reich's Drumming

Falling Angels is a trip the jobless fantastic toe choreographed by Jiri Kylian and is accompanied by the song Drumming from Steve Reiches. The relationship between the music and the move is fully represented in sections throughout the piece. Kylian finished the dance in 1989 which is a period when there was a commixture of music and freedom within the move workforcet of dance. Falling Angels is performed by octad women dancing to rhythmic drumming.

Women in that period of fourth dimension had stepped forward in their position of power and were equal to men in the economy, this may have been a reason Kylian chose alone female dancers.

Kylians composition expresses emotions through movement which connects to the reference and creates an understanding of the messages being portrayed. These messages that women had gained equality were portrayed through the employment of dynamics and motifs as well as sharp and percussive movements. Is it possible for Angels to fall? Jiri Kylian’s work Falling Angels raises many controversies about the interpretation of its steps and movements.

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Some employ a feminist frame of analysis, and the role women portrayed in the twentieth century of western culture. Others believe it to have no underlying significance or meaning other than the beauty of the movement. This research will demonstrate that Falling Angels reflects the female role in the twentieth century of western culture. This study will analyze Jiri Kylian’s understanding of women, and how they were depicted during the late twentieth century. It will be determined that Falling Angels reveals Kylian’s view of women through the medium of dance as informed by surrealism and minimalism.

In the choreography, his choices of surrealism and minimalism help portray his understanding of women. These choreographic choices communicate Jiri Kylian’s underlying message and inspiration for the work of art. By studying Jiri Kylian and his meaningful decisions, the true intent of his work unveils, and the question if Angels can truly fall will be revealed. The purpose of this study is to analyze the choreographic elements of surrealism and minimalism in Jiri Kylian’s Falling Angels, and describe how these elements influenced the choreography to depict the female role in the twentieth century of western culture.

The beginning of Falling Angels is a period of silence during which eight women walk from the shadows of upstage into scattered positions in front of the audience. They correspond calmness and composure adding a sense of a kinesthetic awareness within the dancers as they slowly advance A short, invariable drum beat made by the stick tapping on a bongo drum begins and the dancers respond by fish fillet in turns and performing a single flapping motion to poise themselves in isolated areas inside individual light spots shaped like squares.

The flapping is controlled and could be understand as a symbol representing the movement of an angel, hence the cognomen of the dance. The setting of the stage involves black curtains and bright lights focusing on the centre of the stage. It compliments the tight black leotards and skin biased flats that the women are wearing and also focuses on the features of the womens torsos and faces. The movements in this section are non-locomotor and comprised of changes in dynamics. Motifs such as the gestures of flapping, tingle and lunging then swaying.