About the work
"One of a Kind" is a full-length ballet by the Czech choreographer Jiří Kylián, created in 1998 for Nederlands Dans Theater. It was commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Dutch Constitution. Its starting point is Article 1 of the Constitution – the equality of all people. Kylián explores the tension between the freedom of the individual and that of the collective. The set design is by the Japanese architect Atsushi Kitagawara. As one of the few evening-length works in Kylián's oeuvre, the piece unfolds the full breadth of his movement language.
Plot
The plotless work circles the question of how the individual can exist within a community of other individuals. It deploys the entire spectrum of Kylián's choreography: from wild and animalistic to tender and elegiac, from movement faster than seems humanly possible to trance-like slow motion, from fragile and intricate to spectacularly virtuosic. Women and men dance as complete equals, and yet every encounter is tinged with a subtle eroticism. Instead of a narrative, the piece strings together images and states of movement that repeatedly re-examine the relationship between the individual and the group.
Cultural significance
As long-time artistic director of Nederlands Dans Theater (1975–1999), Jiří Kylián shaped contemporary dance worldwide. "One of a Kind" ranks among his most ambitious works – a full-length attempt to translate a political-philosophical theme (the equality and freedom of the individual) into pure movement. The piece continues to be revived by international companies, including Stuttgart Ballet, and belongs to the core repertoire of Kylián's legacy.