In 1924 Prokofiev was commissioned by a choreographer to make a ballet. The ballet was called Trapeze ballet. It was composed for five musicians and had five movements. In 2016 I was commissioned to create a piece based on the music of that ballet and I commissioned a composer to make the music based on Prokofiev’s music. The ballet in 1924 was choreographed by Boris Romanov and it was about a group of trapeze artists, therefore I chose to work with the trapeze. The trapeze inspired me to make a dance piece about a suspended body and for that I chose the myth of Tantalus, as he depicts a body that is suspended in a kind of zero zone. He is unable to reach the fruit that hangs above him when he is hungry, or the water below him when he is thirsty. So the composer that I commissioned for this special piece had to use Prokofiev’s music in order to transform it into a piece about another trapeze dance that is called SULANTAT, which is an approach of Tantalus name read backwards. The piece was composed for five musicians and lasted for 15 minutes and 7 seconds.
Concept: Kat Válastur/ Performer: Elien Rodarel/ Composer: Sebastian Plano/ Sculptural contribution by Leon Eixenberger/ Spatial constellation: Kat Válastur and Leon Eixenberger/ Choreographed by Kat Válastur in collaboration with Elien Rodarel.
Performed by the quintet from the Münchner Philharmoniker/Recorded Live at Gasteig, Munich on November 12th of 2016/Instrumentation: Violin, Cello, Bass, Oboe, Bass Clarinet and Electronics.
A production of Kat Válastur /supported by GASTEIG theatre München/co-produced by JOINT ADVENTURES, München
A highlight of this inspirational evening was undoubtedly Kat Válastur and Sebastian Plano’s work “Sulantat”. Incidentally, the title “Sulantat” is to be understood as a play on the ancient myth of the Tantalus. The ballet “Trapèze” served as a source of inspiration for Kat Válastur “Work with a body that moves weightlessly in space”. With Elien Rodarel, the choreographer had found a trapeze artist who stung the audience’s attention with his performance, as Rodarel showed artistic tricks on a rope swing at lofty heights. But “Sulantat” is much more than the juxtaposition of tricks, it is dance
Tanzimpressionen zu Prokofjews Ballett “Trapèze” bei MPHIL 360°, Sabine Kippenberg, 2016, Tanznetz