Death and the Maiden

• Choreography : Petr Zuska
• Music: Franz Schubert, Leoš Janáček
• Sets: Jan Dušek
• Costumes: Petra Lebdušková
• Light design: Petr Zuska
• Duration: 22 min.
• Number of dancers: 6
• World premiere: 20. 10. 2011 - Les Ballets de Monte – Carlo
• Czech premiere: 7. 6. 2012 - Czech National Ballet

We do not know much about death. According to some theories, those dying experience a unique flashback, with their entire lives projected before their very eyes within a second. In this case though, a young maiden’s “flashback” stretches over 22 minutes. While all the memories of her family and close friends pass by, the girl is concurrently being purged of all the aspects of the material world.

Death is very stern; it can be bad and cruel, yet also embracing and immensely tender. Death has many faces and forms, and we do not know when and where it may appear. Perhaps it is somehow connected with the piano, the king of musical instruments, which is the main vehicle of the music to which the work is set and, also, a piece of furniture in the young girl’s room.