Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table: horrors and fear (the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago)

Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table is one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century dance. Its message of the futile, relentless tragedy of war is universal in its humanitarian appeal. Jooss created The Green Table for a choreographic competition in Paris, and the mood of post-World War I Germany helped to shape his concept. Subscribe to wocomoMUSIC: Follow us on Facebook: Jooss’ original sketches for a personal solo based on the medieval Dance of Death yielded to his conviction that a second world war was brewing under the increasingly pervasive influence of Hitler and his National Socialists. Death’s solo became instead the vortex of a ballet for his full company about the cyclical recurrence of war, its impact on humanity and the evil cynicism of those who bring it about for power, pride or profit – the “Gentlemen in Black”. Within months of winning first prize The Green Table was an international success. Jooss’s vision and his intransigent