Walking Mad was created for Nederlands Dans Theater in 2001 to immediate acclaim, wining the Lucas Hoving Production Award for best production, and later the Danza & Danza’s Award (2005).
Set to Maurice Ravel’s seminal Boléro and the Estonian composer Arvo Pärts Für Alina, Walking Mad charts a dramatic adventure depicting three female protagonists navigating their relationship to themselves and to the men in their lives. A humorous work with grave undertones, it is one of the pieces by Inger that has been performed the most. After its initial creation and subsequent passage to the repertoire of the Cullberg Ballet, it went on to be set on a number of different companies internationally. At the time of writing, it continues to be in demand, some twenty years later.
Ravel’s Boléro was first created as a ballet. An immediate success upon its opening at the Palais Garnier in Paris in 1928, it featured choreography by Bronislava Nijinska commissioned by Ida Rubinstein. It has gone on to be interpreted by various choreographers including the iconic 1960 production by Maurice Béjart.
Arvo Pärt’s Für Alina also features in Mats Ek’s Solo for Two.
Music:
Maurice Ravel: Boléro (for orchestra 1928)
Arvo Pärt: For Alina (for piano 1976)