Start to Finish

The Norwegian National Ballet is proud to contribute to this years CODA festival. During the past few years, CODA has grown into a multifaceted arena for contemporary dance and has showcased productions of the highest quality. NNB is a classical company with an extensive contemporary repertoire. We are rooted in the classical tradition but with our sights firmly set on the future. The collaboration with CODA is important to the NNB to demonstrate the importance of contemporary dance in the cultural scene today.
Our program Start to Finish consists of three ballets by world-renowned choreographers, and will be the final NNB premiere before moving into our new theater in Bjørvika in 2008.
We start the evening with a contemporay classic that will turn eighty next year! George Balanchines ballet “Apollo”, to music by Igor Stravinsky, is a link to our past, but is also very much of our time.

We continue our successful collaboration with William Forsythe, who gives us the ballet The Second Detail. This much sought-after contemporary choreographer takes the neo-classical style to another level, with groundbreaking movements that challenge the dancers to go beyond their limits.

The last ballet on the program is “Start to Finish” by the highly-acclaimed choreographic duo Paul Lightfoot and Sol León. NNB is one of the few ballet companies in the world that has acquired the rights to perform their works, and were quite proud of that! This ballet has only been performed by Netherlands Dans Theater and is a contemporary gem. This work deals with both death and rebirth and is a moving finish to our program.
Enjoy!

Espen Giljane

Artistic director