Dates

4 April 2025

Location

Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Souterrain

Running time

1:15

Tickets

€ 12,50

Lady Macbeth
Photo: Hugo Thomassen

The historical entanglement between dance and literature

In contemporary theatre, literary models are often built on for the artistic process. Even in so-called ‘director’s theatre’, in which the literary text is usually fragmented and deconstructed, literary models remain the point of reference. The situation is different in contemporary dance. Choreographies are rarely based on literary models and authorship is almost always automatically attributed to the choreographer. This lecture examines the connection between dance and literature.

The historical entanglement between dance and literature

Centuries ago there was a very strong connection between (European) artistic dance and libretti and literary models, just like in theatre. Writers and poets wrote about dance, and choreography was often inspired by literature. This lecture examines the connection between dance and literature. It poses the question of why literature has taken a back seat in modern dance art, unlike in other performing arts.

Two open lectures

In two public lectures in English, dance and performance scholar Gabriele Klein will once again place the themes of performances of Dutch National Ballet in the context of current dance and socio-political debates. Using examples from classical and contemporary dance and supported by video material, she will demonstrate the relevance of dance for a democratic society and culture. 

This lecture is related to the performance Lady MacbethThe other lecture in this series is titled Dancing across cultural and national borders, and is related to the performance How Anansi freed the stories of the world. For more information on that lecture, click here.

Order tickets

loading Loading tickets...

About Lady Macbeth

The American theatre and film choreographer, Helen Pickett, is renowned as ‘one of the few prominent women in contemporary ballet’. For her Dutch debut, she collaborates with director James Bonas and composer Peter Salem to delve into the mind of the ruthless Lady Macbeth. In this new, full-length production, Lady Macbeth, Pickett and Bonas reveal the unseen, hidden scenes from Shakespeare’s famous tragedy Macbeth, seen through the eyes of Lady Macbeth, one of the most captivating ‘creations’ of the sixteenth-century playwright. As a spectator, we feel her fears and desires, her unbridled lust for power, the pinnacle of this power and, in the end, her descent into deep despair.

Costume sketches
Costume sketches Lady Macbeth - Luís Carvalho
Gabriele Klein
Photo: Johanna Liebsch

Gabriele Klein - special professor for ballet and dance

Gabriele Klein is special professor for ballet and dance (Hans van Manen Chair) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) since 2022. Klein is the first university professor in the Netherlands in the field of dance studies. In addition to current issues such as the archiving and digitalisation of dance, her professorship focuses on historical, current and future developments in ballet and dance in the Netherlands and their relevance in an international context.