Wings of Wax

I can imagine, that this title evokes the ancient story of Icarus 
and his father Daedalus with their flight and plight, trying to 
escape their imprisonment in the infamous "Laborintus". This great  
epos doesn't only tell us a fascinating story from a distant past. 
It symbolizes the eternal desire of human  beings for freedom in 
its physical, spiritual or any other imaginable form.

Dancers, and their way of life, is also a strange kind of an 
imprisonment. They find themselves in a solitary confinement, 
they are captured within their own body, with which they express 
themselves and which they exhibit as a “Work of Art”. For centuries, 
their art has been defined by their desire to defy gravity. 
They jump, they spin,  and they lift and throw each other into the 
air. All these activities,viewed by an unengaged spectator will be 
most probably classified as irrational, useless and out of touch 
with reality, to say the least.

“Wings of wax” is an attempt to show not only the rationality of laws, 
which govern the technique of the dancers, but by equal measure 
to show  the spiritual and emotional value of these physical exercises.
The interdependence  and trust amongst the dancers in this work is of 
essential importance. All the activities, seen in this work, represent 
time, space, or environment, in which strength, weaknesses, doubts,
aggressions or failures are allowed to coexist. In fact it is a stylized 
and amplified portrait of many of our everyday struggles.
    
                    Jiří Kylián - The Hague, April 14, 2008