Ballet tests limits of art’s relationship to instinct, intelligence
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 31, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 UCLA Performing Arts Eye-catching visuals complement the
high energy of the Angelin Preljocaj-choreographed "Paysage Apres
La Bataille (Landscape After the Battle)".
By Kelsey McConnell
Daily Bruin Contributor
Ballet Preljocaj’s “Paysage Apres la Bataille
(Landscape After the Battle),” premiering in Royce Hall
Friday night, is an experimental blend of the paintings of
artist/theorist/iconoclast Marcel Duchamp and the fiction of writer
Joseph Conrad.
“At the beginning my idea was to know what part of
instinct or intelligence created art,” said Ballet
Preljocaj’s founder and Artistic Director Angelin Preljocaj.
“To symbolize intelligence the best person would be Duchamp,
and for the instinct I really like Conrad.”
Duchamp is perhaps best known for his philosophy that the
audience’s reaction has as much effect on the meaning of a
work of art as the artist’s intention.
“I think art is not a scripture or a piece of music or a
picture on the wall,” Preljocaj said. “Art is the
relationship between the person looking and the piece. When the
museum is closed, the art is dead.”
In “Paysage Apres La Bataille,” this intellectual
theory of art is juxtaposed with Conrad’s ode to the
brutality of instinct, the novella “Heart of
Darkness.”
 UCLA Performing Arts In one of its first U.S.
appearances, Ballet Preljocaj will perform at Royce Hall on Friday,
Feb. 2 and Saturday, Feb. 3, at 8 p.m.
“Heart of Darkness” draws on Conrad’s own
experience at sea, in its telling of a British sailor’s
excursions through the dark, unexplored continent of Africa and the
tribal peoples he befriended there.
“I wanted to invent an imaginary meeting between the two
(Duchamp and Conrad),” Preljocaj said.
At the beginning of the performance, the audience glimpses the
result of this meeting.
The rest of the ballet explores the origins of human creativity
with its physical intensity and inventive production. Faux
neon-hued animal furs adorn the backdrop, while center stage
becomes a clearing for the dancers to confront their primal desires
and test the intellect of men and women.
The choreography pushes human boundaries with the sensual and
extreme motion characteristic of Preljocaj.
“I try always to see if I can go to the limit,”
Preljocaj said. “One of the interests of modern dance is that
the body is very open and flexible in its possibility.”
Preljocaj makes the most of this versatility with choreography,
moving from the romantic sway of closely held couples to men in
gorilla suits dancing like apes to a gymnastic game of musical
chairs and later, polar bears chastising a pair of lovers.
The motivation and intense physicality of the piece is not the
only thing that makes it original, however. Goran Vejvoda’s
computer score includes a montage of interviews with Duchamp,
commentary in several languages, popular songs of the past, and
radio, music and voice overs.
“I think modern dance has to be very rooted in the
time,” Preljocaj said. “Music gives energy to the
dancers and this music is the energy of the time, and the ambiance
gives a good mood to the piece.”
The Los Angeles premiere of “Paysage Apres La
Bataille” is one of the first performances of the piece in
the United States. Preljocaj was pleased with the European
reception to his newest creation.
“I think, globally, people understand that my point of
view was to make an interrogation,” he said. “I hope
American people will catch the sensitivity of the piece.”
Preljocaj himself has long been a prominent member of the modern
dance world.
After studying classical dance, Preljocaj worked in New York in
the early ’80s and then founded his own company in 1984. His
early work with the company won him the Ministry of Culture Prize
and he has received accolades for his artistic achievements ever
since. Most recently promoted to Chevalier of Legion of Honour,
Preljocaj is currently Europe’s most commissioned
choreographer.
Even after these commendations and 20 of choreographing,
Preljocaj still hopes to bring something new to the audience with
“Paysage Apres la Bataille.”
“What’s important to me with “˜Paysage’
is the perception of the body’s animal instinct versus
computer intelligence,” Preljocaj said. “I hope that
people see my work because I try to exist in my work.”
DANCE: Ballet Preljocaj performs at Royce Hall
on Friday, Feb. 2 and Saturday, Feb. 3, at 8 p.m. For ticketing
information, contact the Central Ticket Office at (310)
825-210.
