A few words for Antony Tudor 

To write about Antony Tudor is probably the most difficult 
thing a choreographer can be asked to do. But I try. 

To me Tudor was a mystery. - At the time when I have met him 
for the first time I had only a very limited knowledge of his 
work. Only his uncompromising view of dance, choreography and 
its psychology was known to me. The more surprising was the 
fact, that after NDT's first appearance at the "City Centre" 
in New York, Tudor was not only present, but he insisted to 
see me.
I was warned, that Mr. Tudor was a very sarcastic critic of 
dance and choreography and that the experience of meeting him 
after a show could have devastating aftershocks and could 
result in permanent damage. But in my case, the contrary 
was true. I felt very embraced, understood and sheltered by 
him. His acceptance and appreciation of my work was very 
heartwarming and reassuring. And strange as it might sound, 
he said to me, that he felt I was his "Artistic grandson". 
In the cafeteria of the Hotel Empire we drank orange juice 
and talked about art...
I couldn't help noticing, that he had great love for Czech 
music, a fact which had obviously become a point of common 
interest. And he noticed that my nose had the same curve 
towards the right, as well as his own.

Years have passed and many things have happened. In 1980 
I have made "Overgrown Path". It is a work, which is deeply 
rooted in the psyche of the country in which I was born. 
Janáček's fate (His daughter Olga was dying when he wrote 
this work, and he was at that time still an unappreciated 
composer), meant a deep psychological dilemma for him.

	
	
Taking into consideration all the psychological implications 
surrounding the life and the work of Janáček and the very 
subject of his music, I had decided to dedicate the piece to 
Tudor. I know that there are scores of dancers which he 
frustrated and scores which he inspired. But he did all that 
for the love of dance, the most dionytic, vital, untameable 
and the most unexplored art of our "Artistic Family".

Many years back Martine van Hammel and Kevin Mackenzie 
have danced a work of mine entitled "Torso". Tudor wrote a 
handwritten letter to  me after seeing the performance. 
The words were: "I was in awe". Well, I was in awe reading 
his words. And I appreciate this so very deeply - not only 
for myself, but for the fact that someone is able to show 
his esteem  for something which he understands more than 
anyone else...
All of this might seem like an expression of complacency. 
Well I agree, that it might be classified as such, but it is 
not as simple as that. I find, that a true appreciation of 
a colleague, who you respect is worth more then any other 
praise you might receive in your life!

I think I understand Tudor very well, even though I didn't 
know him or his work profoundly. On one hand his psychological 
ballets explore our extreme emotionality, on the other hand 
he has decided to embrace the zen buddhistic philosophy 
denying all that emotionality, which he promoted with such 
vigour in his work. All his critics or fans must rejoice by 
saying: Remarkable, unusually controversial and very inspiring...
He should be always remembered and celebrated.  

Certainly, he will always be remembered and appreciated by me.

Jiří Kylián - Den Haag, September 14th, 2008