The inspiration mostly comes from the natural plants, the leaves, the wind, water, the human body.
As a kid, the first building that I saw was the train station he built in Lyon.
It's this giant bird in this open space.
There's really an element that is balletic in his work.
The answer is architecture. And architecture, if it's good, you could say, moves.
To me, they're very much related.
An artist from another discipline brings a completely new perspective.
They see our art form, they see the beauty of dance through very fresh eyes.
That can lead to some really interesting discoveries.
Well, the idea, of course, to have an architect I can't take credit for.
It all started when Balancing asked Philip Johnson in the 70s to do a scenic design
for all the ballets that were in that season.
And so I thought, wouldn't it be nice to revisit that notion with the architect of the day?
And so I did a little research and Kala Trava was the one that popped in the forefront of my mind.
Well, this was a wonderful surprise.
Peter Martens write me and tell me if I will be interested to participate in something like that.
And when I came out of my surprise, I understood what a wonderful opportunity is.
We sat here in this office sharing ideas and he would take out his little pen
and he would make some drawings.
And then he didn't have anything to sort of fill in coloring.
And I bought a very expensive bottle of wine.
So he poured it in my astray and painted it with his finger with the red wine.
It was beautiful. I used that as our logo.
I always venerate, you see, dance and music as the highest art.
Why? Because they happen and you cannot catch them.
It's like a ceremony.
To work in a box, in German you say the guk castes, a box to look in it.
You see, it's very special, isn't it, because it creates a frame.
Adding to this frame is the whole theater.
Then you have the void in the center of this.
To put an object there was, I think, finally the key of the solution I am bringing.
I propose several families, even separate models,
so that the artist can find more an identity.
It's a huge will that goes all the way across the stage in the back
with an entrance that will be twisted.
So dancers will be able to run behind it, dance behind it and come through.
By pivoting, you see the lines will extend in one direction or the other.
So you get also interference.
As you can see in my fingers, you see the lines put one over the other.
They create superpositions.
There's definitely moments where I just used the sheer design of it for my choreography
and you might see it or you might not.
Maybe there's no room. Maybe I need to change that.
The biggest surprise to me was seeing how Mr. Karatrava was willing
to listen to these choreographers and their vision and then adapting,
trying to accommodate them.
As he said to me, he's not a collaborator, an architect designs, but he wants to design.
There was moments in which an artist will come and say,
well, I would like, you know, this what you do is abstract and it's okay, you know,
but I would like to have something else.
Let's say I would like to have palms.
First, of course, you get choked.
Then you say, well, why not palms?
So I went to Punta Cana and I started painting palms.
So it was a beautiful experience, you know, very interactive.
He just came up with these ideas and now there are paintings and sculptures
and each choreographer has his or her own version.
Instead of solid, this will be bands and it makes a beautiful pattern.
My own version is there's a sculpture that is hanging from the ceiling
that is suspended that sort of changes formation.
Someone can enter there.
I envision it moving at certain times.
So I'm choreographing the architectural changes in the valley.
The big and zettie discs actually use a pantograph for the movement.
And as the pantograph opens, the smaller discs come out to the side.
Some of them rise or fall as they're coming out.
We can't make a pantograph that large and make it work.
So we adapted that design idea and engineered it with a set of motorized tracks
which make the discs appear to do exactly the same thing that the model does
but does it with a slightly different engineering.
Of course Hudson had to build it.
They brought it to the theater.
We flew up the truss that includes all the tracks and motors.
We hung the discs from that truss.
We flew the whole thing up and we watched it work.
These are large pieces that have to be able to come down, roll away,
and another set go up in the 20 minutes we have between ballets
during the intermission while the audience is having a drink.
Taking ideas from a man who doesn't normally think in enclosed terms
and adapting them and trying to be as true to them as possible
and yet bring them into our stage space.
That's been a great challenge.
I was delighted I have to admit when the first time he saw the discs move
he applauded and was very happy.
That was a relief to us because of course we wanted to make this
into something that he felt reflected his design well.
It's like in architecture.
The reality is always better.
You see them from the sketch on paper to the reality
and see also that there is a kind of add value coming out of this process.
New work is the lifeblood of the New York City Ballet.
It was always what this company was about.
To have great people work in this theater,
whether they're composers or architects or painters, it's very exciting.
These visions I hope very much emphasize the dancers
because they are bringing the key.
They are bringing the scale.
They are bringing the life.
They are bringing the scale.
