Mats Ek: in his own words

“It is a huge honour and a privilege to have Mats Ek create a new work on us,” says Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director. “He is a master choreographer with a long history of impactful and imaginative works, and I can’t wait to see him create closely with our dancers.”

The Rite of Spring premieres as part of EK / FORSYTHE / QUAGEBEUR, a dazzling triple bill celebrating the creativity and innovation of contemporary repertoire at Sadler’s Wells Theatre.

On dance

“Dance is one of the few art forms where people gather from all over and deal with the same subject… It can be understood by many.”
Artist Talk with Mats Ek

“Dance is difficult, and will always be so.”
Paris Match

“I would not like to be doing nothing and just looking at birds flying around me – I would rather like to be one of them.”
DanceTabs

On women in dance

“It has always irritated me the way that classical ballet, but also modern, treats the female as some sort of decoration or weak person that has to be lifted around and taken care of. In their training, I have found that women are not really allowed or provoked or helped to use their powers… It’s a hinder for the dance world.”
Interview with Choreographer Mats Ek

“Strong female pioneers have been the ones that have paved the way for modern dance. I think of Isadora Duncan, Mary Wigman, Martha Graham, and others.”
Interview with Choreographer Mats Ek

On being a choreographer

“I take a lot of interest in other choreographers. I read and I see as much as I can.”
Artist Talk with Mats Ek

“I consider it part of the game in dance that you write on water, and things vanish… The memory is in the body. It can only be kept alive as long as people who were part of the original productions are still there, and maybe one generation after that.”
Financial Times

On his style

“When I started in the ‘70s and ‘80s, it was not really considered comme fait in modern dance to deal with stories… But I had no other way to do it. I’m incapable of doing so-called abstract ballets, I tried and failed. I just obey to my limits which may be my possibilities.”
Artist Talk with Mats Ek

“All my ballets are linked to an initial situation, absurd or lyrical, and the dancers have to have an understanding of it.”
Financial Times

“I’m movement minded, but I work on an issue. Not a story necessarily, but a human situation.”
Chicago Tribune

“It has been important when I deal with the classical materials to somehow stay true to the core of it.”
Artist Talk with Mats Ek

“It is disturbing how male and female dancers are printed. The male dancers are lifting the weak, helpless, fragile, so-called feminine creatures. They are basically loved when they are dead, like Giselle and many other characters of the romantic ballets. For me, to discover and use the weight and the power of the female dancer is crucial.”
Artist Talk with Mats Ek

Book tickets now for EK / FORSYTHE / QUAGEBEUR at Sadler’s Wells, London from 9 to 12 November 2022.

Find out how Mats Ek plans to interpret The Rite of Spring in this video: