Sylvie Guillem and Massimo Murru merge Mozart with seduction

In this throwback video from 2005, we see a sublime excerpt from ‘La Petite Mort’ – a dynamic short ballet from acclaimed Czech choreographer Jiří Kylián – danced by the legendary Sylvie Guillem and Massimo Murru.

Set to the slow movements from two of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s most beautiful piano concertos – Nos. 21 and 23 – the music is a counterpoint to the ballet’s physicality.

Guillem, a former étoile with the Paris Opera Ballet and then an international guest artist, could certainly not be contained to classical repertoire. Here, alongside Murru, a former La Scala Ballet étoile, her legs bend, swivel, expand and fly.

Stripped down to the barest costumes, the pair’s musculature and sheer physicality are unencumbered, slipping from angular shapes into flowing classical lines, and supporting each others’ weight in unexpected shapes. Continuously weaving into each other’s negative space, they entwine their legs, arms and bodies, to dance as a single entity.

‘La Petite Mort’ originally premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 1991 on the second centenary of Mozart’s death. Kylián created it for Nederlands Dans Theater, where he served as artistic director from 1976-99, and it has been a favourite with artists and audiences, ever since.

View the original video here.

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