About the work
Requiem is a 1990 ballet by the Dutch choreographer Toer van Schayk, created for Dutch National Ballet to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem Mass. Van Schayk, alongside Rudi van Dantzig and Hans van Manen, is one of the choreographic triumvirate who shaped the company's international profile from the 1960s onward. For the ballet he created his own free translation of the Latin requiem texts.
Plot
Requiem tells no narrative in the conventional sense but distils grief, consolation, loneliness and community in the face of death into a large choreographic frieze. Van Schayk's movement language translates Mozart's liturgical movements into images of collective pain and quiet comfort; a central motif is the inevitability of ultimately having to "pay the bill".
Cultural significance
Requiem ranks among van Schayk's most significant works and is regularly revived in Dutch National Ballet's repertoire, including for the choreographer's milestone birthdays. It exemplifies the Dutch ballet tradition of interpreting sacred music in immediate, physical and existential terms rather than merely illustrating it.