Blue Skin

"Blue Skin" is a choreography from 1974. I was 26 years young 
and a member of John Cranko's Stuttgart Ballet. In this famous 
company based in Baden-Württemberg, there were dancers of 
various national and ethnic origins. John Cranko himself was a 
wayfarer. He was born in 1927 in Rustenburg, South Africa and 
his young years were marked by "apartheid" and all its terrible 
consequences.

Stuttgart Ballet has had a great and long running tradition. 
It became a major cultural force under the guidance of Jean 
George Noverre in the 18th century. However, it celebrated 
its greatest successes under the directorship of John Cranko 
who lead the company from 1961 until his tragic death in 1973. 
The company's immense revival was made possible because 
of the "economic miracle" of West Germany, which was just 
recovering from its catastrophic involvement in World War II 
fueled by antisemitism and racial hatred. 

In spite of this, there was plenty of optimism and a substantial 
amount of moral support supplied by the USA and the Western 
countries of Europe, strenuously claiming the superiority of the 
capitalist regime over communism. It was the time of the "cold 
war" in which many impossible things became possible. Even 
some ex-nazi politicians could find new carreers within the new 
formed West German democracy. This complacency was sharply 
criticized and confronted by the anti establishment uprising 
called "Red army faction". It was an anarchist organization 
also known as the "Baader-Meinhof group" and I must admit 
that although I was a refugee who fled the communist regime, 
I felt a certain degree of sympathy for this movement. But my 
sympathy finished abruptly when members of this organization 
killed my Scottish friend Iain Mac Leod. I realized that it was 
time for Sabine, my wife, and I to leave Germany.

	
	
"Blue Skin" was made somewhat earlier - at a time when I was 
not really concerned with this unsettling political scene. I just left 
Czechoslovakia and I was happy that I didn't have to put up with 
any of the restrictions posed by the communist regime. 

But it was obvious that, even in the early seventies, racial 
misunderstandings and even hatred still existed. This made 
a deep impression on me. In spite of that, it was not my 
intention to create a work criticizing racial divisions. It was 
designed to make people aware that we all have the same 
ancestors and that we all are the tenants of the same planet. 
It was perhaps just my naïve attempt to understand the specific 
qualities of different ethnic groups. Inevitably, "Blue Skin" lead 
to my further interest in ethnic cultures and enabled me to visit 
and explore the culture of the Australian aboriginals. 

"Blue Skin" is an idealistic work believing in total equality of all 
inhabitants of this planet. Towards the end of the piece ultraviolet 
light was projected onto the dancers changing their skin color and 
making them completely the same and therefore equal. Yes, I am 
aware that this is a complete "utopia", but I am also aware that 
"utopia" has an important and valid place within our society. 
In fact it always did. Without "utopia" we will be deprived of our 
dreams and without our dreams there will be no future..!
    
                    Jiří Kylián - May 21, 2020