May is a modern and dynamic dance-theatre piece inspired by Mácha's famous verses, accompanied by live music and singing.

How well do we know K. H. Mácha's legendary poem May? It seems like all of us Czechs are able to recall its first lines. Is that really all? And if so, is that enough? Are we aware of its content, details, its atmosphere and universal character? The company 420PEOPLE present a new piece that goes far beyond their experience in the field of contemporary dance. Václav Kuneš, the company's choreographer, got together with the actor, and in this case also director, David Prachař and they have created May, a piece in which they both also perform.

Source : 420People

choreographer, dancer, artistic director of 420PEOPLE Dance company

In 1993 he graduated from the Dance conservatory in Prague, Czech Republic.

For  11 years, he was a member of the Nederlands Dans Theater where he  worked with Jiří Kylián, Ohad Naharin, William Forsythe, Paul Lightfoot,  Mats Ek, Nacho Duato, Johan Inger, Andre Gingras or Hans van Manen to  name a few. In 2004 he became a freelance artist, danced many years with  Saburo Teshigawara and for one of his works, Scream and Whispers he was  nominated for Dancer of the Year 2005 award in Cannes. He was guesting  at various gala events with Roberto Bolle, Sylvie Guillem and others. 

He  worked as an assistant to J. Kylián with many companies around the  world.
As a choreographer he worked for theatres in France, Holland,  Denmark, Sweden, Germany, USA, Czech Republic and Japan. 
In 2015 he  was invited to perform in the creation of Solaris by Saburo Teshigawara,  contemporary opera produced by Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris.

Since  2007 he is the artistic director at 420PEOPLE, group he co-founded with  Nataša Novotná. Artistic mission was always focused on creativity and  collaborations.

420PEOPLE invited many choreographers and dancers  from around the world: Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Saburo Teshigawara,  Jiří Kylián, Talia Paz, Michael Schumacher, Jo Strömgren, Ann Van der  Broek. In 2017 they collaborated with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and his  Eastman group on a new work called Nomad.

420PEOPLE also  coproduced two dance films with Jo Strømgren Kompani: Closed which was  premiered at the Berlinale Festival in 2017 and The Accident in 2021. 

In  recent years he has created several works in Japan in collaboration  with Yamamoto Ballet Company and with OPTO File group of ex-dancers from  Nederlands Dans Theater, currently based in Japan. In 2016 it was La  Mantovana, then REEN was performed at the New National Theater in Tokyo.  In 2017 he created a piece Echo with full orchestra playing Dvořák’s  Symphony from The New World as an opening of a new theater in Ota. That  same year he created work Recall which was then touring Japan in 2018. 

In  2018, 420PEOPLE has moved into their new home-venue in Prague, the La  Fabrika Theater. Vaclav’s first work there, The Watcher, with live music  by award winning rock band Please the Trees, is still on the repertory  there until today and it has been performed at the GONG hall during the  Colours of Ostrava music festival for an audience of 1500 people. La  Fabrika then coproduced a “pièce d’occasion”, dance cabaret evening also  with live music, dancers, actors, singers and a puppet called One and  Done. 

In 2018 and 2021 Vaclav was a jury member of the Czech  national TV series StarDance, one of the most watched TV programs in the  country.

In March 2019 he created choreography for a new Czech  musical ‘Mandrake flower’ and later that year he was the Associate  choreographer to Cherkaoui on the creation of the opera Alceste at the  Bayerische Staatsoper in München. In 2020 Vaclav created two dance  films: ORĪGĪ (as a part of the EU project CLASH!) and The Flammable  Machines - the Audition with renowned Czech film director Jaroslav  Brabec. 

Most current works are: stage play Beauty and the Beast  (dir. Daniela Špinar) with the drama dept. of the National Theater in  Prague with dancers and acrobats and two full evening dance works:  EVOLUTION for Bühnen Halle Ballett and EVER with 420PEOPLE. All on  display in the 2023-2024 season. 

In 2022 Vaclav started new  concept called 42+people focused on creating dance works for dancers  above the age of 42 years. The first work, duet WHERE, created and  performed together with Helena Arenbergerova was highly successful and  earned them both the Thalia Award nominations for best performance,  Helena then receiving it in 2023.

420PEOPLE performed in venues  in France, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Germany, South Korea, Russia,  Slovakia, Serbia, Cyprus, Mexico, Italy, Finland, Holland, Norway, Japan  and U.K. 

Source and more information: https://www.vaclavkunes.org/

420PEOPLE are Nataša Novotná and Václav Kuneš. Both of them are linked together by one of the most prestigious dance companies in the world, the Netherlands Dans Theatre – a place, where the intensive collaboration with world leading choreographers and artist comes to its peak. Their dream and intentions are to "use" the years on the top of the dance world, subsequently presenting as much of this top within the Czech Republic and, furthermore sharing these experiences with Czech dancers and Czech spectators. At the turn of the year 2007, Václav Kuneš and Nataša Novotná founded a new dance company in Prague: they named it 420PEOPLE. 

In the very first year of the company´s existence, Václav created the choreography Small Hour which has become successful both in the Czech Republic and abroad. In 2008, Václav presented two new pieces: "On an Even Keel" and a dynamic trio "Golden Crock". Inspired by the emergence and development of jazz music, in the spring of 2009, Václav created his first full evening choreography Ghost Note in the production of the Netherlands Station Zuid. At the end of the same year he presented his second full evening choreography, this time produced by 420PEOPLE and Korzo Theater, A Small hour ago. At the gala-closing of TANEC PRAHA 2009 festival, Nataša Novotná was awarded the Dancer of the Year prize. A very special part of the company’s repertory was "B/olero", a piece choreographed by Ohad Naharin: thus 420PEOPLE became the only ensemble in the world allowed to perform the piece, besides Naharin’s home company Batsheva. The company has also been a success during its tour around Europe (France, Spain).

Source: The company 420 people 's website

More information : 420people.org