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This ballet "One of a Kind" was only created last year which was the 150th anniversary of the Dutch Constitution. The Dutch Ministry of Interior requested Kylian to base this work on the Dutch Constitution. The Constitution's first article is the principle of freedom, which according to the programme notes is an inspiring source for this ballet.

The work was divided into three distinct parts. The first part opened with a female dancer's slow meditative solo to electronic music on a ramp, followed by another female dancer. The fluidity of their dancing was impressive, especially in their beautiful rippling arm movements. This was well contrasted with the more aggressive razor-sharp dancing by the male ensemble later. There were also two successive "pas de deux" which impressed with its very dense and tightly knitted texture. As with the more recent Kylian ballets, the visual style was very sombre, as reflected in the black costumes and backdrops.

The second part thankfully had more colour in the blue and brown leotards of the dancers. The distinguished cellist, Pieter Wispelway, was on stage as well and at one point interacted with the dancing of a male dancer. The sets designed by Atsushi Kitagawara were theatrical. There was a large cone-like object that constantly shifted its position on stage, and a diamond-shaped set painted with zebra stripes. The movements in this second part were more rapid than the first part, building up more and more dynamic vitality. Solos developed into duets for instance, and scale gradually added up. This part was the most satisfying in terms of choreography.

In the third part, I admired anew the uniformity of style of the technically accomplished dancers of the company - the female dancers' effortless sky-high extensions, and sinuous undulating torsos above all. The choreography had yet more variety. There were two "pas de trois" - first performed by one male dancer and two female dancers, followed by one female and two male. Later, we saw two "pas de deux" performed side by side simultaneously - an interesting choreographic device. Michael Simon's lighting was effective, especially in the dazzling gold colour of the two rows of golden beads partitioning the stage at one point. At the end, the main female soloist seemed to walk into the dark abyss at the back of the stage.

My overall impression of this rather cerebral ballet is that the mathematical and highly analytical mind of choreographer Jiri Kylian was very much in evidence. However a coherence seemed to be missing from the three distinct parts. There was no over-riding visual imagery and choreographic shape to lend this ballet a unique and memorable identity, except a constantly hard and heavy dynamic tone. And I still could not see the relationship of this work with the Dutch Constitution!

I also wish the dancers were less anonymous and could show some interesting personalities as individuals. Perhaps this blandness was deliberately intended by Kylian, who preferred a group expression. I look forward to the more varied triple-bill programme to be performed by the Nederlands Dans Theater 1 this weekend, consisting of Kylian's "Whereabouts Unknown", "Wings of Wax", and Paul Lightfoot's "Start to Finish".