It is important to understand the history of a choreographer. Who they are, where they grew up and the type of society they grew up in. All of this informs the type of person they become and in turn will inform the type of works they create.

It is also important to review the range of stimuli available to the choreographer. What external experiences (visual, aural, tactile or internal feelings, emotions) have inspired the choreographer? It is necessary to understand the main stimulus for creating the work and why the choreographer chooses to create it. To be able to identify any recurring approaches or themes in the choreographer’s repertoire, students would also need to understand the characteristics, traits, idiosyncrasies or choreographic techniques in the choreographers works. This enables the audience to create a complete understanding of the choreographer and the sociohistoric context within which they work.

Jiří Kylián was born in Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was created in 1918 at the conclusion of WW1. The country was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1938 and was occupied by Germans until the end of WW2. It became independent in 1946 only to be invaded by communist Soviet Union in 1948 after a coup. The Soviets installed a communist government and so Czechoslovakia became one of many Eastern European countries behind the 'Iron Curtain' of communist domination.

In May 1968, first Paris, then all of France became involved in strikes and protests. Originally protesting against a stifling education system, lack of economic prosperity and poor union leadership. About 9 to 10 million workers and students went on strike. Daily headlines showed burning cars in Paris and regular police brutality. The riots ended fairly quickly after big pay rises were offered. This feeling of revolt spread and at the same time a new communist leader in Czechoslovakia, Alexander Dubcek, came to power. He began, cautiously at first, to relax the more odious features of communism and fairly soon, there was talk of the 'Prague Spring' and of 'communism with a human face'. On 21 August 1968 Soviet tanks rolled into Prague as the Russians put a halt to these reforms and dismissed the government. With a reference to the Vietnam war being waged by the USA, one of the most popular items of graffiti of the time played with the words Soviet and Vietnam to read "Czech Sovietnam". The crushing of the 'Prague Spring' was hugely unpopular and did much to convince the Western World that a meaningful dialogue with the Soviet Union was not possible. Kylián was in Prague at the time. He joined in the street protests and, realising he may not be able to leave Prague, took a train to Stuttgart one week after the arrival of the tanks. Czechoslovakia did not gain independence until after the fall of communism in 1989.

In the early 1990s Czechoslovakia split into two countries: The Czech Republic and Slovakia. Both are recent members of the European Union. Thus, all of Kylián's formative years were under a communist regime with its stifling conformity and lack of personal freedoms. Kylián has said "the only colours I remember from my youth are grey, brown and black. And I don't just mean visual colours; they were also the colours of my feelings. The bleak uniformity imposed upon us was devastating". Another prominent feature would have been the long cold winters with the possibility of day after day of grey skies.

• Males are statistically disadvantaged – 93% of prison inmates are males, they have an increased chance of suicide, reduced life expectancy, increased chance of alcoholism in comparison to females.

• Large amounts of self-help books are for men, written by men.

• Males have difficulties expressing emotions – confidence and bravado, it’s often a façade or a show.

• Males can be prone to aggression, anger and blaming of others.

• Compulsive competition.

• Loneliness – women often cope better than men if they are by themselves.

• Series of paradoxes – vulnerability and aggression, blame and ignorance, macho and miserable.

Kylián's earlier works were often non-narrative dramatic ballets set to well known 19th century composers. They featured a balletic style frequently pushed to extreme limits with subtle references to folk. Traces of this classicism can still be seen in his later works.

Occasionally, humor is a dominant feature of a Kylián dance work, 'Symphony in D' (1981) and the exuberant 'Six Dances' (1986) are obvious examples. His interest in the paradoxical and absurd mean that quirky, sardonic, moments are very much a feature of much of his later works.

Perhaps the strongest feature of his post 1980 works is his use of symbols and metaphors. He has spoken of his dislike for abstraction referring instead to his process of 'economy of means'.

"Getting to the essence takes a tremendous amount of work; one distills until one gets there. My notebooks are packed with information, designs, associative material. I finally absorb it all, throw it away and begin to choreograph. The material is slowly pared down until a cube emerges that may seem abstract, but that wouldn't have its particular qualities if one hadn't drilled down through all the strata to the point in which one was actually interested."

It follows that analysing a Kylián work can be an immensely rewarding detective hunt for hints, allusions and associations.

"The opening of the 1988-9 season marked the beginning of a new creative period. Kylian asked himself new questions as well as working out themes that had lain dormant in his mind for some time. This artistic rebirth is unmistakably visible in his fascinating piece No More Play".

After this, a series of dances emerged that later became known as the 'Black and White Ballets', primarily because of the abandonment of colour. These dances unmistakably show several new features of Kylián's work.