The appointment of Ernst Meisner as the next Artistic Director of the Dutch National Ballet is excellent news and nowhere will it be welcomed more than in this country. He trained at the Royal Ballet School and spent the first 10 years of his career with the Royal Ballet. While he was here he staged a gala at the Orchard Theatre in Dartford at which he invited Leanne Benjamin, Alina Cojocaru, Zenaida Yanowsk, Ed Watson, Filip Barankiewicz and four dancers from Russia to perform (see Mara Galeazzi Ernst Meisner: My Project in Dartford 4 June 2005). Since returning to the Netherlands in 2010 he has maintained many connections with us.
I first made his acquaintance in 2013 when he responded to my review of the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's first performance at the Stadsshouwburg in Amsterdam on 24 Nov 2013. The company was about to take its show on a tour of the Netherlands, Having attended the recording of an outstanding performance of The Messiah by the Huddersfield Choral Society at the Huddersfield Town Hall I sent the Junior Company the DVD of the recording to play on the road. The next year he asked Richard Heideman, the company's press officer, to arrange for me to interview him and his remarkable young artists (see Jane Lambert Meet Ernst Meisner and His Remarkable Young Dances6 Dec 2014 Terpsichore), On their next performance at the Stadsshouwburg Ernst invited me to meet him the dancers and their families at a reception after the show. I have kept in touch with many of them ever since.
Two weeks after the Junior Company returned to London in 2015 the Dutch National Ballet Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella at the Coliseum. I saw it on 11 July 2015 and loved it (see Jane Lambert Bend It Like Cinders - My Take on Cinderella18 July 2015 Terpsichore), Anna Tsygankova and Matthew Golding danced the lead roles but several of the members of the Junior Company whom I had met in Amsterdam were given roles in Cinderella.
Every year the company presents extracts of its work from the previous year as well as other short pieces at a gala and throws a party. I attended the gala on 8 Sept 2015 which I described without any hyperbole as The best evening I have ever spent at the balletin Terpsichore. Following my visit I joined the Friends of the Dutch National Ballet and have been a fan ever since.
When I first met Ernst he was the "artistic coordinator" of the Junior Company. He is now its Artistic Director. He later became Artistic Director of the Dutch National Ballet Academy and is now the Associate Director of Talent Development. Above all, he is an exceptionally talented choreographer. I cannot watch Emberswithout tears welling up but my all-time favourite is No Time Before Time. This work expresses perfectly the energy and exuberance of the Junior Company. In my lifetime the Netherlands has produced three towering figures; Rudi van Danzig, Toer van Schayk and Hans van Manen. It is no idle flattery to mention Ernst Meisner in the same breath.
I have illustrated this article with a frame from Ernst's Online Ballet Class video. He gained a whole new worldwide audience from those classes during lockdown, Those classes kept us moving and gave us hope. I followed every single class and am enormously grateful for them.
When Ernst Meisner becomes Artistic Director, the Futch National Ballet will be in excellent hands.
Dutch National Ballet Giselle UK screening 21 Jan 2024 14:00
We do not get to see enough of the Dutch National Ballet in this country which is a shame for many reasons. It is one of the world's great companies and it is the company outside the Anglosphere that is most similar to the Royal Ballet and the Birmingham Royal Ballet. There are many links between the National Ballet and the two Royal Ballet companies For example, Northern Ballet's new Director, Federico Bonelli, danced with the National Ballet between 1996 and 2003 and the Junior Company's Artistic Director, Ernst Meisner, trained at the Royal Ballet School and danced with the Royal Ballet for many years. The links between the companies go back to at least 1940. The Sadler's Wells Ballet was touring the Netherlands when it was invaded by enemy forces.
Yesterday's screening of Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamente's Giselle in the United Kingdom enabled British balletgoers who did not already know the company to see just how good it is. The lead roles were danced by former Bolshoi principals Olga Smirnova and Jacopo Tissi, This was the first time that I had seen them. Both impressed me considerably with their virtuosity. Smirnova's Giselle reminded me strongly of Osipova's, particularly in the scene when she is summoned from the tomb by Myrtha where she rotates with the speed and energy of a Catherine wheel.
Giorgi Potskhishvili was possibly the best Hilarion that I have ever seen. His passion was palpable. In this production, he pulls a knife on Albrecht which causes Albrecht to reach for where his sword should have been. I had never seen that detail before and it explains a lot. At a pre-performance talk when I saw the ballet in Heerlen I put it to Beaujean that Hilarion had a rather raw deal in the story (see "Mooie!"16 Nov 2018). "He may have been jealous, even a bit stupid," I argued, "but he was not the one to deceive two women. Did he really deserve to die?" I don't think I would have asked that question had I seen Potskhishvili's performance then.
Myrthe was danced by Floortje Eimers whose career I have followed closely for the last 10 years. Although it is not regarded as the leading female role I have often thought that it makes or breaks the ballet because it is Myrthe rather than Giselle who dominates the second act. Eimers danced the role well and the second act was gripping. Particularly the last scene before the bell struck when Tissi lay exhausted on the floor.
There were many other commendable performances but as the programme listed only the four leading roles, I can't remember exactly who danced what, The only one I can remember is Sho Yamada in the Peasant Pas de Quatre. The other three who danced with him merit congratulations but while I remember their faces I cannot remember their names, Similarly, I should commend those who danced Moyna and Zulma.
One of the reasons why this production is so impressive is that the sets and costumes were designed by Toer van Schayk. His name was not on the cinema programmes but it should have been because van Schayk is a genius. He is as distinguished as a painter and sculptor as he is as a dancer and choreographer. He has designed the sets for many shows of all kinds. Often a set is lost on camera. In this film, the high peaks and meandering valley in the first act and the mysterious and menacing forest in the second were captured faithfully,
The ballet was filmed by Pathé Live which used to present the Bolshoi. I tended to prefer Pathé's transmissions to the Royal Opera House's largely because of the skills of its presenter, Katerina Novikova. She could switch effortlessly from one language to another and she charmed her interviewees with her smile. She never used an interpreter and translated their replies as soon as her interviewees stopped speaking. Pathé did not introduce Giselle and there was no interval. Instead, the ballet started promptly at 14:30 and continued without a break until the reverence.
That was a missed opportunity. The company is used to giving pre-performance talks when on tour or in Amsterdam as I mentioned above. I usually learn something new about a ballet even though the talks are given in Dutch. The company always gives a good account of itself on World Ballet Day. I would have enjoyed short interviews with Beaujean about the choreography, van Schayk about his designs and Smirnova, Tissi and Eimers on their characters.
Giselle may be a very short ballet but it is too long to appreciate in one sitting. The contrast between acts one and two also requires some time for adjustment. In the theatre, the audience would have at least 20 minutes to grab a coffee, visit the loo, read the programme, purchase an Igone de Jongh or Michaela de Prince tee-shirt or some other merchandise and chat about the performance. Cinema audiences need that break too especially if it is their first experience of ballet. If the Dutch National Ballet ever contemplates another screening I hope it will include breaks and interviews with the artists and creatives,
I had come to see Michaela DePrince whom I had already mentioned several times in this blog. She had been born in Sierra Leone, the country of my late spouse and my former ward who is the nearest I have to a daughter. I was amply rewarded for my journey because DePrince danced magnificently. But so did the other dancers some of whom are now principals or soloists in the Dutch National Ballet and other great companies.
That visit to Amsterdam was the start of many good things. I met members of the company, parents and other relations of those members and fellow fans of the company from the Netherlands and elsewhere. I made friends with many of them. Yvonne Charlton visited Powerhouse Ballet. She gave us some great classes in Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester and taught us some of her choreography. In the miserable days of lockdown, Maria Chugai raised our spirits with two wonderful online classes and her appearance at "The Stage Door".
On my visits to the Dutch National Ballet, I got to know the Netherlands, its cities and its people. I learned about its history, its traditions and its view of the world. Even though it has sounds that do not exist in our language, Dutch is actually a first cousin to English. Had it not been for brexit which ended free movement it is more than likely that I would be living there now.
The Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company has been so successful that other companies, including the Birmingham Royal Ballet, have followed its example. Earlier this year I attended the launch of BRB2 and met its Artistic Coordinator Kit Holder at Elmhurst Ballet School (see An "Evening with Ashton" and the Launch of an English Junior Company30 Jan 2023). I was in the audience when it visited Nottingham on 28 April 2023 and was very impressed (see BRB2 in Nottingham29 April 2023). I am looking forward to its next tour which will take in Poole, Canterbury and Northampton in May 2024 (see BRB2: First 2024 Tour Venues Announced 26 July 2023 Birmingham Royal Ballet website).
The idea of a junior company as a bridge between vocational school and corps de ballet is an excellent one. I shall continue to support Ernst Meisner and Kit Holder in their endeavours in any way I can.
According to its website, The Lowry is holding an open day on 6 Aug 2023. It has not published any details yet though it has posted a video about the event in 2021. As we have a company class in Leeds on 5 Aug 2023 and I shall be speaking at the Cambridge IP Law Summer School between 7 and 11 Aug 2023 I would have given the event a miss had I not received an email about it from the Birmingham Royal Ballet last week.
That email carried an image of Carabosse doing her worse towering over a smaller image of Désiré and Aurora at their wedding above the banner headline "Join us at The Lowry Open Day on Sunday 6 August". The email announces that the Birmingham Royal Ballet will attend the open day between 10:00 and 17:00 bringing costumes for The Sleeping Beauty that visitors can try on. Between 11:00 and 14:00 there will be workshops where attendees can learn some of the choreography.
The Birmingham Royal Ballet returns to Salford to dance Sir Peter Wright's production of The Sleeping Beauty between 7 and 9 March 2024, Readers can view the trailer here. Companies around the world dance that production and I have seen performances of that work by the Hungarian and Dutch National Ballets. The best that I have ever seen was in Amsterdam on 17 Dec 2017 with Maia Makhateli as Aurora, Daniel Camargo as the prince and Igone de Jongh as Carabosse (see The Dutch National Ballet's "The Sleeping Beauty" - I have waited nearly 50 years for this show20 Dec 2017). That bit of ballet history will never be repeated but I have very high hopes of BRB's visit to the Lowry in the Spring.
Modern Films Coppelia BBC 2 18:15 27 Dec 2022 and iPlayer
On the evening of 27 Dec 2022, the BBC broadcast Modern Films' Coppeliain the UK. Readers who missed the transmission can still catch it on the iPlayer. It was choreographed by Ted Brandsen and has much in common with his production for the Dutch National Ballet which I reviewed in Brandsen's Coppelia on 12 Dec 2016. The main differences are that the score is by Maurizio Malagnini and not by Leo Delibes and it is very much shorter. Most of the dancers are or were in the Dutch National Ballet and some of the designs seem to be the same.
DePrince introduced me to the rest of the Junior Company which included some outstanding dancers. Through them, I got to know the rest of the company which has given me enormous pleasure over the last 10 years. Some of its members have become dear friends and acquaintances and I have made many more friendships among its regular ballet-goers. I am therefore grateful to her not only for her performances but also for the introduction to the company and its fans.
DePrince is now in Boston which is a lot further away. Modern Films' production was one last chance to see her with members of the Dutch National Ballet. She danced Swan, the lead role in the film. Traditionally the heroine is called Swanhilde though, in Brandsen's stage production, she is known as Swantje. Daniel Camargo who has also crossed the Atlantic but was formerly a principal of the Dutch National Ballet danced Franz. Dr Coppelius was danced by Vito Mazzeo. Swan's friends were Nancy Burer, JingJing Mao and Sasha Nukhamedov, Franz's were Timothy van Poucke, Sam Sjouke and Edo Wijnen and Igone de Jongh was the ballet teacher. Darcey Bussell, one of the few cast members not to be in HNB danced the mayor. Floor Eimers, Giovanni Princop and Rachel Beaujean were also in the film.
I enjoyed it more than Scottish Ballet's Coppelia but not as much as English National or Birmingham Royal Ballet's or indeed Ted Brandsen's stage version. I think that is because all those companies retain Delibers's score which contributes so much to the ballet. It was lovely to see DePrince again as well as other members of HNB. I am not sure that I would have liked it as much had the cast come from any other company.
Lesley Collier was one of my favourite dancers when I first took an interest in ballet. I had not seen her for many years so I jumped at the chance to watch her coach two dancers from Birmingham Royal Ballet at Elmhurst Ballet School on 24 Jan 2023. Shortly before the masterclass was due to start, Carlos Acosta appeared, It was clear that this event would be out of the ordinary. The director introduced the dancers as founder members of BRB2.
It was only in the interval that I appreciated the significance of that introduction. I overheard Caroline Miller (who was sitting immediately behind me) discuss the new company. Her description sounded very like Ernst Meisner's Junior Company which I have followed since 2013 (seeThe Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Feb 2013 Terpsichore). I turned around and asked her whether my surmise was right. She confirmed that it was. I was delighted because I had been calling for British companies to follow the Dutch lead for many years, The Junior Company has launched many dazzling careers and strengthened still further an already great company.
Kaden and Kempsey-Fagg are at the very start of their careers but they seemed to do the pas de deux just as well as McRea and Osipova. For the audience the exercise was fascinating. Ashton had labelled different parts of the piece with distinctive names such as "the pussy cats". Collier spotted the most minute details such as Kempsey-Fagg lifting Kaden a little bit too high. She reran each sequence requiring a correction until it was perfect. My only regret as an audience member is that there was not enough time for the dancers to take the whole piece from the top.
The two young dancers rehearsed the piece not only in front of their artistic director but also their artistic coordinator, Kit Holder and three of their colleagues. The appointment of Holder is an excellent choice. I recognized his exceptional talent as a choreographer as long ago as 2015. I wrote in It Takes Three to Tango:
"Kit Holder has choreographed Quatrain for Birmingham Royal Ballet to Piazzolla's The Four Season's of Buenos Aires. Holder is an impressive talent. I first noticed him in Ballet Black's To Fetch a Pail of Water (see Ballet Black's Best Performance Yet 17 Feb 2015) and I was bowled over by Hopper which he created for Ballet Central (see Dazzled 3 May 2015)."
Holder has created plenty of work since then.
Like the Junior Company, BRB2 will tour to gain stage experience. They will start in Northampton on 25 April, continue to Nottingham on 28 and 29, Peterborough on 3 and 4 May, Covent Garden on 13 and 14 June and Wolverhampton on 24 June. The best night to see them is probably their premiere in Northampton on 25 April 2023 when they will perform with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Unfortunately, I shall have to miss that show as I have to chair a lunchtime seminar in Gaerwen on Anglesey the very next day but I will catch them in Nottingham (which is the closest venue to my home) and possibly other stages of their tour.
"Sibley spoke about her teachers I realized that every teacher represents to his or students every dancer, choreographer and teacher who has gone before. Sibley loved her teachers and I can relate to that because I love every one of mine. Those who have gently corrected my wobbling arabesques and feeble turns. I texted one of them yesterday after the talk from a restaurant where I ordered - guess what - a steak.
'Oh super jealousy/ she replied. 'Don't be jealous' I responded 'You are also part of the tradition. You live it, I just see it. And you pass on your gift to others.' 'Awwwww Thanku xxxx' 'When I go to class you or Annemarie represent every dancer, choreographer and teacher who ever lived'. 'Aw Jane! I won't be able to leave the room soon' 'I am only paraphrasing Sibley. She should know. Through you I am linked to your teacher who is probably linked to someone at Ballet Russes who is linked to Petipa.. 'xxxxx wise woman!.'
As indeed Dame Antoinette is. I learned so much from her yesterday for which I shall always be grateful."
Wake's film celebrated such links. Collier's coaching illustrated another. The exceptionally gifted young men and women who have been accepted into BRB2 and the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company will plug into those links through Kit Holder and Ernst Meisner.
Dutch National Ballet Dawson 11 Dec2022 14:00 Music Theatre, Amsterdam
Although David Dawson is one of the United Kingdom's leading choreographers, balletgoers usually have to travel to see his work because he is Associate Artist with the Dutch National Ballet and Resident Choreographer with the Semeroper Ballett in Dresden. His surname is the name of a double bill of two of his works that the Dutch National Ballet is currently performing in Amsterdam. It consists of Legacy Variations, a new piece that the programme describes as "a love letter to the company that has been his home for 27 years" and The Four Seasons which was first performed in 2021.
"I’ve worked with them since the day each of them joined the company, and since then we’ve discovered a way of working together that’s unique. In this new ballet, we reflect on our journey together, on what we’ve learnt and where we’ve arrived.”
He describes them as unique dancers: James as "very elegant and stoic, yet sensitive in his dancing" embodying a purity which is both strong and vulnerable at the same time; Edo as having "the quicksilver qualities of mercury" that "shines so brightly and moves in the most profoundly coordinated and musical way" and Joey as having "an abundant energy that appears endless" whose dancing is "incredibly organic, earthy in tone, with a deeply felt understanding of his own strength." The music for this piece is by Alex Baranowski, the sets were designed by John Otto and the costumes by Yumiko Takeshima.
I enjoyed Legacy Variations very much indeed. It exhibits the two qualities of its creator that I most admire. His adherence to the classical tradition in which he was trained and made his career as a dancer combined with a willingness to innovate. Although I had seen several of his work before I recognized those qualities for the first time when I saw his Sawn Lake for Scottish Ballet in Liverpool (see Empire Blanc: Dawson's Swan Lake4 June 2016). This is a work that I long to see again and I would have seen its revival in 2020 had it not been for the lockdown. Legacy Variations reminded me why I am a Dawson fan. It is a very short work. For me, it was over almost as soon as it started. I could have watched it all afternoon. Having said that it must have required prodigious strength, stamina and concentration from Stout, Wijnen and Massarelli though they made it look effortless and aetherial.
TheFour Seasons is a longer work based on Max Richter’s arrangement of the well-known work by Vivaldi. This is a work for 16 dancers: Jingjing Mao, Jakob Feyferlik, Yuanyuan Zhang, Martin ten Kortenaar, Jessica Xuan, Sho Yamada, Mila Nicolussi Caviglia, Connie Vowles, Arianna Maldini, Luiza Bertho, Inés Marroquin, Conor Walmsley, Jan Spunda, Daniel Montero Real, Davi Ramos and Rémy Catalan. I have followed the careers of many of those dancers from the day they joined the Junior Company and it gives me enormous pleasure to see them in major roles. I am particularly proud of my compatriot Conor Walmley who comes from the same county as Kevin O'Hare, Xander and Demelza Parish and a less well-known but abundantly talented favourite, Beth Meadway. I was thrilled to learn that one of Powerhouse Ballet's guest ballet mistresses once taught Walmsley (and also me despite the gigantic chasm of age and talent between us).
This is another ballet that displays Dawson's classicism and innovation in abundance. The music, particularly Isabelle van Keulen's violin playing, was enchanting. Equally captivating were Eno Henze's simple geometric shapes representing the seasons - a green triangle for Spring, a red rectangle for Summer and a golden circle at the end and so on - that subtly changed position and lighting throughout the show. These were complemented by Takeshima's costume designs. Again, I could have watched it for hours. The artists were rewarded with thunderous applause and a standing ovation.
This has been an annus mirabilis with such highlights as Like Water for Chocolate and Mayerling from the Royal Ballet, the Van Manen festival from HNB and Mthuthuzeli November's Wailers for Northern, but I wrote on this blog's Facebook page that I had an inkling that Dawson would be special. I was not wrong.
Dutch National Ballet Sixtieth Anniversary GalaNational Opera and Ballet Auditorium Amsterdam 30 June 2020 19:30
One of the high points of my year is the Dutch National Ballet's annual gala. It consists of extracts from some of the company's work over the previous year and ends with a reception in which the dancers and musicians mingle with the audience. In other years it has taken place in early September but this year it was on 30 June. It is always a special occasion but this year's gala was particularly important because it was the company's 60th anniversary. It also celebrated Hans van Manen's 90th birthday and the company's emergence from covid restrictions. To underscore the significance of the occasion, the event was attended by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.
As usual, the evening began with the Grand Défilé, a parade of artists from the youngest students of the Dutch National Ballet Academy in their smartest leotards to the principal ballerinas in dazzling white classical tutus accompanied by the premiers danseurs nobles to the strains of Aurora's wedding from The Sleeping Beauty. That was a tune that I often played in 2020 and 2021 in the hope that the pandemic would one day come to an end and the world's theatres would reopen. This visit was my first trip to the Netherlands since 17 Nov 2019 when I saw The Best of Balanchine at the Zuiderstrandstheater in The Hague.
The Grand Défilé was followed by Hans van Manen's Solo, a spectacular piece to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach's Violin Partita which had come pretty close to stealing the show the previous evening. Henrik Erikson of the Stuttgart Ballet who had entertained us the night before thrilled us once more. This time, he was joined on stage by Fabio Adorisio and Christian Pforr. Once again the applause was tumultuous.
At this point, the company's artistic director Ted Brandson usually walks on stage to welcome the crowd in Dutch and English. This year it was a little different for he spoke only in Dutch. Presently a screen appeared and this film was run. Now I have never learnt any Dutch - I regret to say that there are not many opportunities to learn that language in this country except for diplomats and a few academics - but I do speak German and my ears caught something that sounded like "Ritter" which means knight in that language. Dutch is a language that English speakers with a good knowledge of German can actually get the drift because it is close to both languages. The ceremony was nothing like a British investiture at which Her Majesty or nowadays Prince Charles dubs the candidate with a sword. A decoration was presented by the Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam. But it was clearly a very high honour at least equal to any of our knighthoods for service to the arts as the company's news release makes clear. I met Brandsen after the show and congratulated him on his knighthood. I asked him whether we had to call him "Sir Ted" from now on. Brandsen thought that perhaps we should but I have to say that his view was not shared by any of my Dutch friends.
The preeminence of Dutch ballet rests largely on the work of three outstanding choreographers, Hans van Manen, Rudi van Dantzig and Toer van Schayk. The company actually refers to them as the three Vans on the History page of its website. Van Schayk is a distinguished sculptor, painter and stage designer as well as a choreographer and many of the sets for the Dutch National Ballet's productions were designed by him.
The next work on the programme was De Chimaera van LA, an extract from van Schayk's ballet Het mythische voorwendsel which means "the mythical pretext". According to the programme notes, the title of the ballet was inspired by a quotation from Salvador Dali who said, "the subject of art is a pretext." The music for the piece was by Bela Bartok but van Schayk created just about everything else. He choreographed the work and designed the set, costumes and lighting. It was performed by Anna Tsygankova and Giorgi Potskhishvili. I know Tsygankova very well having seen her for the first time as Cinderella at the Coliseum in 2014 but Potskhishvili was new to me. He is clearly a rising star having entered the Junior Company as recently as 2020. Their ballet master, incidentally, was Caroline Sayo Iura who danced in the first performance of the ballet.
The French composer Erik Satie inspired Sir Frederick Ashton to create Monotonesand Hans van Manen Trois Gnossiennes. Van Manen's work was the next in the programme. It is a duet but one in which the pianist and piano have a role at least to the extent that they are on castors and moved around the stage. Having never heard the word "Gnossiennes " outside the context of this music I looked it up and found that it had been coined by Satie and that he had never explained what it means. The word is reminiscent of the Greek word γνῶσις and as the music has a sacerdotal quality I offer "The Three Initiates". The dancers were Anna Ol and James Stout and the pianist Olga Khoziainova.
The Staatsballett Berlin presented the following ballet It had commissioned David Dawson (the Dutch National Ballet's Associate Artist) to create Voices during the lockdown. According to the programme notes the piece reflects that time. Dawson is reported to have said:
“The difficult times caused by the pandemic have given us an opportunity to reflect and progress, and help us to see the world again in its truth. I believe this is when change can really happen. VOICES aims to visualise the awakening of a new era where we can create the world we want to live in. A new place for humanity to have the chance to be the best it can be as we all learn more about our infinite capacity and potential.”
One of van Manen's best known works is 5 Tangosto the music of Astor Piazzolla. Perhaps the most thrilling part of that ballet is Voyamos a Diablo. This is a male solo which requires a dancer of considerable strength and equal grace. Artur Shesterikov danced that role with characteristic flair.
The contribution to the evening from Van Dantzig's repertoire was Voorbij Gegaan. The title has never been translated but I think it means "Gone By". Van Dantzig created it for Alexandra Radius and Han Ebbelaar as they approached the peak of their careers. A lyrical piece to a piano composition by Chopin it was danced delightfully by Qian Liu and Semyon Velichko.
One of my favourite moments of the evening was Joela short solo by Remi Wӧrtmeyer that he had created for himself to the music of Jacques Offenbach. It was a humorous piece but also one that required strength, stamina and enormous skill. The company has recently announced Wörtmeyer's retirement, In his valedictory, Brandsen said:
"Remi’s positive energy, fabulous technique and engaging personality onstage and off have made him one of the most beloved dancers in our company. I will miss Remi and his dancing enormously and I wish him lots of success with his new artistic adventures.”
I shall also miss him and I add my best wishes.
My other favourite piece was Riho Sakamoto'sMy One and Only from Balanchine's Who Cares. I interviewed her when she joined the Junior Company and have marvelled at her meteoric rise. This is a solo that charms her audience. The applause loved her and exploded in applause.
I had seen van Manen's Variations for Two Couplesthe previous night and discussed it in my review of that performance. Jozef Varga, who has also announced his retirement, had appeared in the first performance of that ballet. He was joined by Tsygankova who had also been in the first show, The other dancers were Jessica Xuan and Constantine Allen. This performance is likely to have been Varga's last with the company. He will also be missed and I wish him well.
The last piece before the interval was Grand Pas Classiqueby Viktor Gsovsky. It is not performed very often if at all in the United Kingdom and the only time that I had seen it before was as part of the Dutch National Ballet's Christmas Gala which was live streamed on 19 Dec 2021. The work is spectacular even on screen but it is even better on stage. The dancers were Jakob Feyferlik who had performed the work in the Christmas Gala and Olga Smirnova.
There was an interval after Grand Pas Classique. After we had returned to our seats, Matthew Rowe, the Director of Music, rose and addressed the King and Queen of the Netherlands. He said that the Dutch Ballet Orchestra had commissioned some music from the Dutch composer, Jacob ter Veldhuis, as a 60th anniversary present for the company. Mr Ter Veldhuis was in the audience and a spotlight picked him out immediately after the conductor's announcement. The piece that Mr ter Veldhuis had written was entitled Luce Divina inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy on which he had already written an oratorio. The orchestra then played the commissioned work.
Although Rowe conducted the orchestra for most of the evening, he handed the baton to Jonathan Lo for De Chimaera
van L.A and the finale. Lo is the Director of Music of Northern Ballet and I have also seen him at Covent Garden. Lo was with Brandsen when I congratulated him on his honour and Brandsen kindly introduced me to Lo. I expressed my delight that through Lo there was now a personal link between Leeds and Amsterdam. I was even happier when Lo told me that Northern's new Director, Federico Bonelli, had also attended the gala which means that there is now a direct link with my local company at the highest level.
Every year an award is presented by Alexandra Radius to the year's most outstanding dancer. This year it was won by Salome Leverashvili. She came to my attention when she and Timothy van Poucke published a vlog which I featured in Missing Amsterdamon 17 Feb 2017.Those talented young artists have risen through the company's ranks very quickly. Van Poucke won the Radius prize as early as 2018. Leverashvili accepted her prize with a short but witty speech in English which may well have won her even more fans.
A part of any gala to which the audience particularly looks forward is the Junior Company's piece. This year the Junior Company danced the last part ofIn the Future. I discussed the piece in detail in my review of the previous night's performance. The Junior Company did not disappoint their fans. They were as exciting and vivacious as always. Yet another triumph for their artistic coordinator, Ernst Meisner. The programme did not name them individually but I have done so in my review of the previous night's show.
After the performance, the audience spilt out onto the lobby and terraces for the reception. The reception welds the company and its audience into a family which does not happen with most other companies. It is one of the reasons why I love the Dutch National Ballet. Of course, I have a lot of respect for the world's other great companies and I am a member of many of their Friends' schemes and support them in every way I can. But, with the exceptions of Scottish Ballet, Ballet Cymru and, very recently, Northern Ballet, I do not feel as close to them as I do to the Dutch National Ballet. It was at the reception that I met van Manen. My brief handshake and greeting enabled me to express my admiration and gratitude for his lifetime's work. I doubt that I could have done that in any other way.
Dutch National Ballet and Guests Hans van Manen Festival IV National Opera and Ballet auditorium 29 June 2022 20:15
I would argue that Hans van Manen is the greatest living choreographer and one of the greatest of all time. I have been a fan ever since I first saw his work some 50 years or so ago. In that time he has made over 150 ballets and I have seen a fair number of them. His works are performed regularly by the world's leading ballet companies including those of the United Kingdom.
Earlier this month van Manen celebrated his 90th birthday. To mark the occasion, the Dutch National Ballet ended its 2021-2022 season with a special Hans van Manen Festival. Between 8 and 29 June 2022, the Dutch National Ballet and companies from Austria and Germany performed 19 of van Manen's works arranged in four separate programmes.
I attended the fourth of those programmes on 29 June 2022 which consisted of Four Schumann Pieces, In the Future, Variations for Two Couples, Solo and Concertante. I chose that programme for three reasons. It was an opportunity to see the latest recruits to the Junior Company which I had followed closely since 2013. They were to perform In the Future which I had previously seen at their 5th-anniversary celebration at the Stadsschouwburg on 15 April 2018, the 2018 gala and in London on 5 July 2019. Secondly, one of the works was to be performed by the Vienna State Ballet and another by the Stuttgart Ballet which had been Cranko's company. These are companies that rarely visit this country and it was a chance to see them. Finally, the fourth programme included Concertante which is the work by van Manen that I know best.
Van Manen had created Four Schumann Piecesfor the Royal Ballet. It was first performed at Covent Garden on 31 Jan 1975 with Sir Anthony Dowell in the leading role. The music is Robert Schumann's String quartet in A opus 41 no. 3. The ballet revolves around the leading male and there is some YouTube footage of Dowell in that role. It was part of a mixed bill which I attended. I can't remember much about it but it would have been one of the reasons why I began to admire van Manen. According to the programme notes, the male lead was later performed by Rudolf Nureyev, Hans Ebelaar, Wayne Eagling and Matthew Golding each of whom interpreted it in a different way. The company that performed the piece on 29 June was the Vienna State Ballet. Davide Dato was the lead male He was supported by Hyo-Jung Kang and Arne Vandervelde, Liudmila Konovalova and Francesco Costa, Elena Bottaro and Igor Milos, Sonia Dvořák and Géraud Wielick and Aleksandra Liashenko and Andrey Teterin. The company danced Four Schumann Pieces for the first time in the Vienna Volksoper on 4 June 2022. For them, it was a brand new piece which they danced with appealing energy and freshness.
In the Futurewas created for the Scarpino Ballet Rotterdam in 1986, a company that is even older than the Dutch National Ballet. The piece was inspired by music that the Scottish composer David Byrne had written as a soundtrack for Fritz Lang's film Metropolisthe previous year. As striking as the music are the set, costume and lighting designs of Keso DekkerEach dancer wears a garment that is green at the front and red at the back. The dancers pulsate to the music as if they were beams of light. It is a perfect piece for the Junior Company which is now a completely different cohort from the one I saw in Amsterdam in 2018 and London in 2019. The members who danced on 29 June were Luca Abdel-Nour, Koko Bamford, Lily Carbone, Mila Caviglia, Sven de Wilde, Lauren Hunter, Nicola Jones, Gabriel Rajah, Guillermo Torrijos,Louisella Vogt and Koyo Yamamoto. They were as impressive as their predecessors and I look forward to watching them develop as a troupe and blossom as artists of the Dutch National Ballet and other leading companies.
Variations for Two Couplesis one of van Manen's latest works. It was created for Anna Tsygankova, Matthew Golding, Igone de Jongh and Jozef Varga and first performed on 15 Feb 2012. It is a very short piece that packs in music by Benjamin Britten, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Stefan Kovács Tickmayer and Astor Piazzolla. The programme states that for van Manen it was all about the personalities of the dancers that he wished to draw out. Varga danced the role that van Manen had created for him on 29 June. but instead of Tsygankova, Golding and de Jongh he was joined by Riho Sakamoto, Young Gyu Choi and Jessica Xuan. Van Manen intended this to be a very understated ballet. He said, "everything is 'low down' – even the dancers’ lifts." That is echoed by Dekker's costumes and backdrop. The result is a work of refinement and elegance.
There was an interval after Variations for Two Couples. On returning to my seat I noticed that van Manen was sitting in my row. Several of his fans were talking to him and one gave him a hug. He stood up to allow me to pass and for a moment I felt impelled to introduce myself and shake his hand. However, the curtain was about to rise and I let the moment slip. The very next day my friend Gita Mistry button-holed him in the lobby of the National Opera and Ballet auditorium as we gathered for the Gala. She introduced me to him and I had the opportunity to tell him how much I had enjoyed his work over the last 50 years. However, Gita went one better and actually took a selfie of herself with the great man. In her interview with Judith Mackrell, Laura Esquivel compared the art of the chef with that of the choreographer (see Like Water for Chocolate23 July 2022). Gita offered to cook for van Manen and as she is an artist in spice he would enjoy one of the best meals of his life were he ever to take her up on the offer.
Solodanced by Henrik Erikson, Alessandro Giaquinto and Matteo Miccini of the Stuttgart Ballet won the loudest and most sustained applause of the evening. It is a very short piece set to Bach's Violin Partita. Keeping up with the music requires great virtuosity and equal stamina. It was danced with energy, flair and fluidity. - an altogether brilliant display.
The first time I sawConcertanteit was performed by Northern Ballet. I wrote in Terpsichore:
"What can one say about a masterpiece? Especially when there is a YouTube video of the great man himself discussing his ballet. According to the clip van Manen staged the work for the Nederlands Dans Theater junior company (Dans Theater 2). He spoke very highly of the Leeds dancers (Bateman, Batley, Leebolt, Contadini, Lori Gilchrist, Nicola Gervasi, Prudames and Isaac Lee-Baker) as well he might for they were good."
The evening had begun under the baton of Matthew Rowe, a compatriot and (I believe) an old boy of St Paul's School. It ended under that baton of Northern Ballet's Director of Music, Jonathan Lo. As he was led onto the stage the applause was deafening. I felt very proud of him as well as Matthew Rowe. But the loudest cheers and most vigorous clapping were reserved for van Manen himself. They were in appreciation of the works that we had seen that night but also for his lifetime's achievement.
Dutch National Ballet Raymonda Livestream 8 May 2022
Had I not broken my femur in warmup exercises for our Waltz of the Flowers workshop on 19 March 2022 I would have been in the auditorium of the Dutch National Balet and Opera on 6 April 2022 to watch Anna Tsygankova, Costa Allen and Artur Shesterikov dance Raymonda, Abd al-Rahman and Jean de Brienne respectively. Watching today's live streaming on a Chromebook was a very poor second best. But it was enough for me to see that Rachel Beaujean's production of Raymonda is a very significant work indeed. I can understand why it is described as the jewel of the Dutch National Ballet's 60th-anniversary celebrations.
"Raymonda is betrothed to Jean de Brienne who visits her in Castle Doris just before he is due to go on crusade. After he has left she falls asleep and dreams of an eastern prince called Abderakhman who declares his love for her. She wakes up in a cold sweat and finds that it was all a nightmare. In the second Act, however, the real Abderakhman appears and offers to carry her away. She politely turns him down but Abderakhman will not take "no" for an answer. He and his followers try to adduct her but are interrupted by de Brienne. They fight each other with swords and de Brienne kills his rival. In the last Act, Raymonda weds de Brienne and they all enjoy a long Hungarian divertissement."
Beaujean has changed that story but not as much as Tamara Rojo who has set her ballet in the Crimean war of the mid-19th century (see Raymonda An epic journey of love and courageon the English National Ballet website). In Beaujean's version, Abd al-Rahman is a friend of Raymonda's grandfather and she falls in love with him. There is a sword fight between Jean and al-Rahman when Jean finds out that the latter has won Raymonda's affections but Raymonda stops the fight before anyone is killed. Jean slopes off and Raymonda marries al-Rahman in Hungary.
In my review of the Bolshoi's performance, I mentioned that Raymonda had been created for Pierina Legnani who pioneered the 32 fouettés in the seduction scene in Swan Lake. It is not surprising that there is some very demanding choreography for the leading lady. In today's streaming, Raymonda was danced by Maia Makhateli with grace but also breathtaking virtuosity. I was particularly impressed by a sequence in the second act where, after several fouettés, she was gathered up by Young Gyu Choi, performed what looked like a grand battement and was immediately flung into a fish dive.
Sadly the company did not publish a downloadable cast list and I was not quick enough to write down the names of artists and roles as they flashed across the screen at the beginning and end. I have already commended Makhateli. She was ably supported by Young Gyu Choi who danced Abd al-Rahman and Semyon Velichko. I recognized several of the other principals and soloists but I can not remember their roles except Sandor who was danced by Jozef Varga. Everyone danced well. All are to be congratulated.
Although much of Petipa's choreography seems to have been preserved there were some obvious additions. My guess is that the dance by al-Rahman's retainers in the second act had more in common with Jerome Robbins than Petipa was created for this production. If so, I make no complaints about it because it worked.
Even on a small screen Kaplan's sets and costumes shone through. I had been impressed by his work on The Great Gatsby but the designs for Raymonda were on an altogether different order of lavishness.
One of the compensations for watching this live streaming was that a camera was placed at the back of the orchestra pit. It enabled viewers to watch the conductor from the musician's angle and the audience beyond for a few moments during the overture to the third act. That is a view that an audience would never see in a theatre or indeed in most screenings. It felt briefly like being inside the performance.
Watching live streaming has left me with conflicting emotions. On the one hand, I now know what I missed which saddens me. On the other hand, it is better than not seeing any of the show at all which cheers me. I don't think this emotional conflict can be resolved until I see the show on stage. With any luck, I will get another chance in the next few years.
Copyright 2021 Dutch National Ballet Standard YouTube Licence
As I said in my review of the live-streaming of the Bolshoi's performance on 27 Oct 2019, Raymonda is not performed in this country very often. Indeed, as English National Ballet noted on its website, no local company had performed the work in its entirety until its production opened at the Coliseum last month. As ENB's version is set in the 19th-century Crimean war rather than the medieval crusades, it could be argued that we still have to wait for a British company to dance the whole work.
But if we want to see a full-length performance of the traditional ballet, we do not have to go very far or wait very long to see one. That is because the Dutch National Ballet will premiere a new production of Raymondaat the company's auditorium in Amsterdam on 3 April 2022. It has been created by the company's assistant artistic director, Rachel Beaujean, in collaboration with the artistic director, Ted Brandsen, and Grigori Tchitcherine of the National Academy. Beaujean produced Giselle which impressed me greatly when I saw it at Heerlen on 9 Nov 2018 (see Mooie! 10 Nov 2018). Tchitcherine gained a thorough knowledge of Raymonda first as a student at the Vaganova, later as a dancer with the Mariinsky and most recently from his research into the original and subsequent productions of the ballet. As the sets have been created by Jérôme Kaplan who also designed the sets for David Nixon's The Great Gatsby and as the orchestra will be conducted by Boris GruzinI have very high hopes for this production.
Although Beaujean will depart from Countess Pashkova's libretto in one regard in order to "devise a crown and setting that are relevant to today" HNB's website emphasizes that the "choreographic splendours" will be retained. Further reassurance in that regard is provided in an interview with Beaujean and Tchitcherine. They describe how they delved into the history of the ballet over the last two years. They examined the records of the original choreography that had been made by Vladimir Stepanov. He devised one of the earliest systems of ballet notation which he explained in Alphabet des mouvements du corps human, essai d'enregistrement des mouvements du corps humain au moyen des signes musicaux published in Paris in 1892. They also examined Konstantin Sergeyev's choreography for the Kirov's revival in 1948 and concluded that it was probably closest to Petipa's. A member of HNB's cast who also knows the Mariinsky's version well tells me that it follows tradition.
Beaujean's modification to the story is to characterize Raymonda as "a young woman who makes her own choices on the path of love" rather than tamely accepting her marriage to Jean de Brienne as inevitable. She justifies the change on the ground that Petipa and Glazunov were not happy with the original libretto and made changes to it. That is altogether different from writing a story about a different war, in a different country in a different century.
In making these observations I do not disparage Tamara Rojo's version in the least. I missed the season at the Coliseum only because of pressing professional commitments and soaring omicron infections in London. I am a Friend of English National Ballet and have attended its performances regularly ever since I was enchanted by one of its performances of The Nutcracker in the Festival Hall. New versions of familiar ballets can work as David Dawson has shown with his Swan Lake for Scottish Ballet. I look forward to watching Rojo's version when English National Ballet brings its Raymonda to Manchester or Liverpool.
I will see ENB's Raymonda after HNB's. I have my ticket for the centre of the stalls 6 rows from the stage, a return rail ticket to Amsterdam via St Pancras and a reservation at my favourite hotel in Amsterdam. I shall publish my review in early April.
