Last Touch First The whole scene is like a microcosm of a watch. There is the “heart of the watch” the “pace maker”. There is the device, which changes the ‘’pendulum-like movement’’ to a “circular movement”. There are the wheels, which slow down or speed up the restless heart of the clock. There are the precious stones which ensure the smooth movement of the mechanism – the best oil is used to ensure that friction is reduced to a minimum. Finally – this very complicated clockwork is reduced to three hands which move in three different speeds (hours, minutes and seconds). This magnificent mechanism was designed by people to ensure that we are not too late or too early – but also to give us some kind of a ‘’false’’ understanding of time. Time can never be measured in absolute terms – as well as space can never be understood objectively. People have designed devices which measure time and distance in order to make the time and space in which we move as individuals, more understandable and acceptable. “Last Touch First” has become a project, which only makes comments on the four greatest mysteries with which we, people are confronted since the beginning of our very existence: The question of time The question of space The question of love The question of death The basic idea for this work is very simple. It comes from looking at relatively old photographs. Photographs, made at the time when the great Russian writer A.P. Chekhov lived (1860 - 1904). At that time, the presence of a photographer was something very unusual. Whenever a photographer would turn up in a small town or even a village, everyone felt that something vey extraordinary was about to happen…. Consequently, everybody would put on his very best “Sunday Clothes” and took up a pose, in which he or she wanted to be photographed and remembered for the generations to come….But, nobody has asked any questions about the fate of the people being portrayed - nobody cared about the persons fate before this photograph was taken, or whatever happened to them afterwards… This photograph, this “Slice of Time” became the starting point of our “Slow Motion” study…. We have the wish, that in our so unbelievably hectic time – it is possible to create tension by moving extremely slowly and creating an unpredictable tension, which some people might perceive as being much too fast. The reason why we feel this, is quite simple: we look at certain things on the stage, become fascinated by them, only to realize that other events happen simultaneously and because of our singular concentration, they totally escape our attention…. Because of this, we feel constantly, that the time is slipping through our fingers – every time we think that we can actually hold it. Jiří Kylián – Den Haag, November 2010
Last Touch First, Letter to the Dancers
Dear Michael, Sabine, Cora, Paula, David and Vaclav,.
This piece, which we are working on, is about six lonely
people, whose only way to find a sense of togetherness
is through a contact with other lonely people. This is a
very strange paradox, and I try to understand this
concept myself, as I totally feel as a member of the
pack. Now, after we have learned ‘’Last Touch’’ and have
started to work on its extension, my feeling is, that we
have established an interesting point of departure. It is
very fascinating for me to work with you – people, whose
lives have been touched by turbulence, confusion or
frustration, but also by a feeling of togetherness, be-
longing and compassion. I cannot stress more that in our
work, it will be your understanding of the total importance
of the most unimportant things, which will make this piece
interesting and valuable! This idea is the most natural one
but also the most perverse. But, without it, nothing can
ever happen in the further development of our piece.
When we look at the world of Chekhov, it is not at all
different from the world we live in. Or rather, it is com-
pletely different but whatever we feel is exactly the same!
And it will be so, as long as the crazy human race exists.
I totally understand, that somebody (Chekhov) has written
some 100 years ago that ‘’life is worth nothing’’ and that it
matters to no one, if we live or not – but just the fact that
he wrote that, and decided to leave it to be read in the
future is a very strange paradox. Back to our ‘’Last Touch
First’’: already the title suggests something paradoxical.
Something that has to do with the confusion of time order
and our understanding thereof.
The fact that we are dressed in historic costumes seems
anachronistic and unnatural, but in my eyes it stresses
the intention of what we are doing. It underlines the
confusion of time, memory and order… It is a symbol of
our confused identity and I really feel that our identity is
totally confused when we take into consideration all the
‘’bombardment of information’’ which lands on our heads
every day of our life. This ”bombardment’’ from the outside
of our ‘body and mind’ as well as the ‘’bombardment’’ from
the inside of our body should play an important role in our
‘’work in progress’’. Chekhov knew very well that he wrote
works for his contemporaries as well as for the future
generations, and as well as for all those who died long
before. In fact, his work could have been written at
anytime… The themes of the characters in all his plays
are incredibly simple in all their complexity: they ask the
same questions, which we ask ourselves and which
generations after us will ask: Why am I here, how do I
spend the time given to me, how long is it anyway, what
do I expect to receive from life, and what is it, that I
wish to be remembered for ….? All these questions are
very simple and yet they represent the deepest doubts
about our very existence.
It is so funny: If we are given a role, which is a portrait of
an actor, who cannot act, still we want to be remembered
as a ‘’very good actor, who acted the role of an actor,
who couldn’t act’’… Back to the work, which we try to
create: Should a critic, who is able to use his own brain,
write about our work, that what he saw was the most
‘’worthless worthwhile work’’ he had ever seen, I would kiss
his feet.
For what we are trying to do, my questions are:
How do we demonstrate that we present the most
‘’worthless worthwhile’’ work?
How do we make clear that while our lips desperately
try to speak gold, our guts are full of shit?
How do we bring tragicomedy into the piece? Childish
humour is great, only if it weighs heavy at the end.
Well, let us talk and let us listen to each other. Dialogues
are usually described as ‘’two people talking to one another’’,
but hardly ever as two people listening to each other.
In the development of our piece, it became apparent that
there should be no message or conclusion, which would
send the audience comfortably home to sleep in their beds.
I really think that all we present should be consciously
subconscious and always left unfinished. Everything in
this work should be of ‘’introspective nature’’. Compassion,
cruelty, love, or visions of perversion, aggression or
ugliness: all these things are inside us – sometimes asleep,
sometimes awake. Possibly, showing all this in ‘’slow motion’’
could relate to the timelessness of this subject, and to its
ever present property. Maybe this should be accompanied
by a very short text by Chekhov, representing the nonsense
and uselessness of life…
Well, very very much love to you all – many thanks and
much luck in developing our work further, to all of us.
With much love, shit and nothing (and please, let us not
forget the ‘’black humour’’!),
Jiří Kylián - The Hague, September 21, 2007