A Thoroughly Good Chap - HNB's Next Artistic Director

Ernst Meisner

Standard YouTube Licence

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 Dances 6 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 Cinderella 18 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 ballet in 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 Embers without 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.

An Enormous Loss

By Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ministeriebz/48865568151/,
CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=152604341

 

I met Michaela Mabinty DePrince only once but I felt personally bereaved when I read about her death earlier today.  I first heard of DePrince shortly after my late spouse died of motor neurone disease.  My late spouse was also Sierra Leonean who shared something else with DePrince. We had been married for nearly 27 years and watching life drain away from the most precious person in the world was the most painful experience of my life.

The post about the success of a 17-year-old Sierra Leonean coincided with a postcard on my gym notice board advertising "ballercise" (ballet exercise) classes,  They were offered by a teacher who had trained in Brisbane and danced with the Queensland Ballet. I had studied a little bit of ballet as an undergraduate when I was bursting with energy and ambition.  I had never ceased to attend performances and I continued to devour every review book or article on ballet that I could obtain but there were no ballet classes at my graduate school in LA or indeed at the Inns of Court in London,

Irrational though it may sound to describe the coincidental appearance of the post on the BBC website and the advert as providential, that is just how it seemed.  I enrolled in the class and miraculously much of the ambition and energy of youth gushed back.  I have often told my teacher that her classes raised me from utter despair but I would never have thought of joining the class had I not read that article about DePrince.

Shortly after DePrince had won the Youth America Grand Prix, I learned that she had joined the Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet.  I flew over to Amsterdam for its first performance,  I reviewed the show in The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 on 25 Nov 2013.  I described her as "simply the most exciting dancer I have seen for quite a while."  My review was read by the Junior Company's Artistic Coordinator Ernst Meisner which led to correspondence and eventually an opportunity to meet the dancers.  

Every year the Dutch National Ballet holds a gala followed by a party.  At the party dancers, musicians and the management of the company mingle with the audience.  It was on one of those occasions that I exchanged a few words with DePrince.  It was a glorious evening which I have described as The best evening I have ever spent at the ballet.   Just as I was leaving I spotted DePrince and greeted her,   It was a very short conversation as I was rushing for the underground but I left the theatre thinking how that exceptionally talented young dancer was as gracious off stage as she was magnificent on it.

Over the years I have made the acquaintance of many other members of the Dutch National Ballet and some have become dear friends,  I also met many members of the audience including a wonderful teacher who came to train Powerhouse Ballet a few years ago. I have also got to know the Netherlands well.  It is the one part of the world outside my country that I feel most at ease.   All of those acquaintances and friendships as well as my affection for the Netherlands I owe to that first visit to the Stadsshouwburg and ultimately to the artist who caused me to make that visit,

According to The Guardian DePrince's family has requested donations to  War Child, instead of flowers.  I am sure that her many fans around the world will respond generously to that request. 

Dutch National Ballet's "Giselle" in the Cinema

Standard YouTube Licence

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,

The Junior Company Ten Years On

Standard YouTube Licence

Just over 10 years ago I flew to Holland to watch a troupe of dancers in their late teens and early twenties called "The Junior Company" (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013).  

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.  

To celebrate its 10th anniversary the Junior Company has just announced a tour of the Netherlands between 3 Feb and 17 March 2024 called quite simply Ten.  Its programme will consist of George Balanchine's Valse Fantaisie and new works by Krzysztof Pastor, Joseph Toonga, Wubkje Kuindersma and Kirsten Wicklund. This will be the first opportunity to see some of the world's most promising young dancers many of whom could be household names in a few years from now.  Every time the Junior Company renews its membership it reinvents itself as its Artistic Coordinator Ernst Meisner remarks in Astrid van Leeuwen's article.

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 Company  30 Jan 2023).   I was in the audience when it visited Nottingham on 28 April 2023 and was very impressed (see BRB2 in Nottingham 29 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. 

An "Evening with Ashton" and the Launch of an English Junior Company

Lesley Collier

Photographer MaraJK Licence CC BY-SA 4,0  Source Wikimedia Commons

Birmingham Royal Ballet  An Evening with Ashton 24 Jan 2023  Elmhurst Ballet School

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 (see The 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.

The dancers whom Lesley Collier coached were Frieda Kaden and Oscar Kempsey-Fagg,  The piece that she rehearsed was the pas de deux from Ashton's Rhapsody.  Ashton had created that work to celebrate the Queen Mother's 80th birthday and he had chosen Collier to dance it with Mikhail Baryshnikov.  The music is  Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini which the conductor, Barry Wordsworth described as virtuoso in the pit as well as on stage in the Royal Opera House's YouTube clip An Introduction to Rhapsody (the Royal Ballet).   The video shows Collier coaching Steven McRea and Natalia Osipova on the same piece as she coached Kaden and Kempsey-Fagg in Birmingham. 

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.

After the masterclass, we were introduced to the former Sadler's Wells Ballet dancer Lynne Wake who had made Frederick Ashton: Links in the Chain for The Frederick Ashton Foundation.  The film contains contributions from Sir Anthony Dowell, Dame Antoinette Sibley and Lynn Seymour who were at the height of their careers when I started to follow ballet.  There are also interviews with Dame Beryl Grey, Dame Gillian Lynne and Henry Danton who sadly died recently. Happily, there are also contributions from dancers who are still with us such as Marianela Núñez and Vadim Muntagirov.

The title "Links in the Chain" reminds me of Clement Crisp's interview of Dame Antoinette which I discussed in Le jour de gloire est arrive - Dame Antoinette Sibley with Clement Crisp at the Royal Ballet School on 3 Feb 2014:

"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.

Celebrating Beethoven's 250th Birthday

Standard YouTube Licence

Dutch National Ballet Prometheus and Grosse Fugue Livestreamed from Amsterdam 8 June 2021 19:15

Just over 6 years ago I attended a panel discussion advertised as a State of the Art Panel Discussion: Narrative Dance in Ballet in the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre (see My Thoughts on Saturday Afternoon's Panel Discussion at Northern Ballet 21 June 2015 Terpsichore). The panel was chaired by Mike Dixon and included the critics, Mary Brennan, Louise Levene and Graham Watts, Christopher Hampson, the artistic director of Scottish Ballet and dancers Tobias Batley and Dreda Blow.   The reason it has stuck in my memory is that one of the panellists alleged that it was impossible to choreograph ballets to Beethoven.

I was itching to put him right because I had seen a performance of Sir Frederick Ashton's  The Creatures of Prometheus by the Royal Ballet's Touring Company (now known as The Birmingham Royal Ballet) at the Royal Opera House on 12 Dec 1970. The cast included Doreen Wells, Derek Rencher, Alfreda Thorogood, Christopher Carr, Wayne Sleep and Brenda Last.  It was part of a mixed bill and as far as I can remember it was danced to, and received enthusiastically by, a full house.  Sadly there were only two performances but that often happens to ballets that are created for special occasions such as anniversaries.    

Ashton was not the only choreographer to create a ballet to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Beethoven's birth.  On the other side of the North Sea, Hans van Manen created Grosse Fuge for the Nederlands Dans Theater, It was premiered at Scheveningen on 8 April 1971.   Unlike The Creatures of Prometheus, Grosse Fuge continues to be performed regularly.   According to the programme notes it is one of the most sought after of van Manen's ballets.   It is currently in the repertoire of the Birmingham Royal Ballet.   On 8 June 2021, it was part of the Dutch National Ballet's Beethoven double bill.  The other work in the programme was Prometheus which was a collaboration by  Wubkje Kuindersma, Ernst Meisner and Remi Wörtmeyer,

The two ballets were very different.   Kuindersma, Meisner and Wörtmeyer used The Creatures of Prometheus which was the only score that Beethoven wrote for the ballet.  It requires a large cast that included several of the company's principals, an elaborate set and costumes and a full orchestra.   It broadly follows the myth in which Prometheus steals fire from the gods and gives it to mankind for which transgression he is sentenced to eternal torment.  Grosse Fuge requires 8 dancers and a very simple backdrop and lighting.   Speaking to the audience before the show, Ted Brandsen, the company's artistic director, said that Grosse Fuge is as fresh to modern audiences as it was on the day that it was first performed.

Beethoven wrote The Creatures of Prometheus for the Italian choreographer Salvatore Viganò in 1801.  That was 20 years before La Sylphide in which Taglioni danced en pointe for the first time. Viganò is remembered for coreodramma which is literally "dance drama".  His ballet would have been very different from a modern one.   Beethoven's score may well have been ideal for a dance drama before an audience that was familiar with classical literature but both the music and the story are unfamiliar today.  It was a challenge for the choreographers to produce a work based on that score and myth that would appeal to audiences today.

In my eyes, they succeeded and, I think, two reasons.  First, the choreographers had a remarkably gifted cast. Timothy van Poucke who danced Prometheus is young and energetic but he also has an expressive countenance.   Particularly memorable in that regard was the scene with Luc Smith and Raul van der Ent Braat representing humanity in its infancy.  Van Poucke seemed to express amusement turning quickly into exasperation at humankind's antics.  There was a poignant moment with the entrance of Floor Eimers, a tall, graceful and almost regal figure representing womankind.  There were impressive duets and solos and it would be unfair to single any of the artists for special praise.  The other reason for the success of the piece was Tatyana van Walsum's designs.   The backdrop was particularly striking.   It seemed to morph in texture and colour from scene to scene.  At one point parts of classical statutes, a rockface at a third, the facades at Petra and eventually fire.  

Having followed their careers closely since they joined the Junior Company I was delighted to see Riho Sakamoto, Yuanyuan Zhang, Martin ten Kortenaar, Sho Yamada, Daniel Silva, Nathan Brhane, Nancy Burer, Giovanni Princic and Conor Walmsley in Prometheus.  It has been great to see their progress over the years which in some cases has been meteoric. I congratulate them all.

Eimers appeared in Grosse Fuge together with Maia Makhateli, Qian Liu and Salome Leverashvili. Dressed simply in white they regard the entry of Semyon Velichko, James Stout, Edo Wijnen and Young Gyu Choi in long black skirtlike garments that underscored their strength and masculinity. In so far as those garments signify status they are removed and the men are left with their underpants.   At one point the women grab the tops of the men's pants.   According to the programme van Manen designed the costumes so I assume that the debagging of the men and the grabbing of their shorts must have significance.   The ballet was danced against a plain background at times with a beam of light.   Jean-Paul Vroom designed the set and Joop Caboort the lighting.

As they were forbidden to leave their seats during the interval. the audience was treated to Rose which was directed and choreographed by Milena Sidorova.  I have been a fan ever since I saw her Full Moon which she created for Bart Engelen to the music of the Dance of the Knights when he was with the Junior Company (see Junior Company in London - even more polished but as fresh and exuberant as ever 7 June 2015).  I have now discovered Spider which she created when she was very young.   In his welcome, Brandsen described Rose as "very much not Beethoven".  The music is Brent Lewis, Doris Day and CAN.   The action takes place in a cocktail bar.  It begins with a young woman (clearly in distress) pouring out her heart to a barman impersonating a donkey. It is followed by some impressive duets.  It ends with the cast on their feet dancing against a plain backdrop.

Shots of the audience at the end of the performance show an auditorium that was, perhaps, a quarter full. Though necessary, social distancing is such a misery.  Despite the paucity of numbers, the crowd still made a lot of noise.  As often happens in that theatre there was a standing ovation.  There was a special roar when van Manen appeared.  In a delightful touch, the grand old man applauded his artists. I miss that audience, that company, that theatre and that city so much.

So what is the Dutch Style?

Standard YouTube Licence

That was a question that I put to Ernst Meisner in the Q&A following his interview by Graham Watts in the London Ballet Circle's Zoom call last night.  I asked Ernst that question because the Dutch National Ballet will perform a mixed bill entitled The Dutch School between 12 and 26 June 2021 to which he is one of the contributors.  Thinking also of Balanchine's Jewels in which emeralds were attributed to the French, rubies to the Americans and diamonds to the Russians, I wondered what would be the Dutch jewel if Mr B could plan a sequel.

Ernst replied "simplicity" when Graham Watts read out my question.  That is certainly true of Embers and No Time before Time, two of the most beautiful short pieces that have ever been created for the stage.  It is quite impossible to watch either of those works dry-eyed.  But what about the others?  Van Dantzig, van Manen, van Schayk, Ochoa and Brandsen?  To name just a few?  "Simplicity" is not the first word that comes to my mind when contemplating Mata Hari or In the Future.

Yet there is undoubtedly a quality of Dutch dance that makes it recognizable anywhere and that is its fluidity. That is the characteristic that I think all the works that I have seen in Amsterdam have in common.  It is the je ne sais quoi of Embers and No Time that tugs at my emotions. But it is the one quality that I think the maker of abstract historical ballets shares with the creator of moving architecture.  I might also add another word that is close to fluidity, namely fluency.

Don't all successful works of choreography have that quality? Many will ask.  Yes, but in the same way as all male dancers jump spectacularly but perhaps not quite in the same way as the Russians.  Similarly, there is a certain lyrical softness to say Lise's solo as she is locked up with the sheaves of corn that all dancers display but perhaps not to the same extent which perhaps explains why I have never seen Ashton performed outside England quite as well as his work is danced here. 

If I were thinking of awarding the Dutch a jewel I think it would be mercury, the only metal that exists as a liquid at room temperature.  Not a gem that can be worn on a ring or in the hair but something equally rare, just as beautiful and much more elusive.

Classes in Lockdown

Author NIAID Licence CC BY 2.0

After I felt obliged to postpone the Snowflakes workshop that Mark Hindle had kindly agreed to give us on 14 March 2020 I had reconciled myself to a long delay before I would ever do a plié again. I did broach the subject of online classes with a teacher for whom I have particularly high regard but she was sceptical.  She was worried about limited space, unsprung floors and insurance and so was I. 

On 21 April, Maria Chugai of the Dutch National Ballet gave us an online class which made our spirits soar (see An Unforgettable Class 7 May 2020).  Encouraged by Maria's success, I asked Charlotte Ingleson of Ballet North UK to give us an online class on 2 May in lieu of the March company class which she had agreed to deliver.   Again, that was very successful.   She made us work very hard for the full 90 minutes.    As we have also missed our April class I have arranged with Jane Tucker to give us an extra class on 16 May.  Jane will also deliver her usual class on 30 May.

As Maria and Charlotte have shown that online classes are not only possible but fun I have been trying out a few more.  Online classes fall into two categories.   Some are given by ballet schools and companies over Facebook or YouTube,   They offer training by the likes of  Ernst Meisner and Tamara Rojo for free.  The disadvantage is that the teachers can't see us so there is no chance of corrections.   The other option is to enrol in a class that is held over Zoom. That is the next best thing to a class in a studio because the teacher and see and correct her students and give corrections.  For those classes, there is, of course, a fee.

Of the classes offered by schools and ballet companies, my favourites are those by Ernst Meisner.  Recordings of those classes are available on the Dutch National Ballet's YouTube channel  I am not an unbiased critic because I am a big fan of Meisner for the work that he has done for the Junior Company and the Dutch National Ballet Academy.  However, my opinion appears to be shared by two experienced teachers who certainly know what they are talking about. 

Our guest ballet mistress, Yvonne Charlton of the Dolstra Dance Centre in IJsselstein, wrote:

"Jane Lambert he is a great teacher i am doing his classes."

To which I responded:

"Yvonne Charlton de beste leraar ooit!"  

Taxing the very extremity of my command of the Dutch language.   She agreed with me.

The other person who commented on Meisner's class was our first choreographer, Terence Etheridge.   Having been one of the founder members of Northern Ballet and later its ballet master, as well as ballet master in Hong Kong, Terence knows everything there is to know about classes.   When he wrote in Facebook that it was a very good class we can be sure that it was.

I have also attended two Zoom classes.   One was given by Karen Sant of KNT Danceworks, my usual teacher in Manchester.   The other by Sonya Pettigrew of Brighton Ballet School. 

KNT usually offers classes in Northern Ballet School's studios.   I first came to KNT in August 2014 when my over 55 class in Leeds was on vacation and I have been a regular visitor ever since.  I have taken classes at various levels with all of the teachers and I have got on well with every one of them.  I have also attended some excellent choreography workshops on  Swan Lake, La Bayadere, Coppelia, Romeo and Juliet and The Nutcracker given by Jane Tucker and Martin Dutton as well as days of intensive classes known as "Days of Dance".  Over the years I have made some good friendships and close acquaintances with many of the other students.  I love KNT and am very fond of Karen.

Since the lockdown, Karen has created a portal to her online classes called the class manager.  As far as I could see from the "upcoming classes" section, everything that KNT offered in the studio is available online.  I joined my usual "Pre-Intermediate Class" which meets on Tuesdays between 18:30 and 19:45  The barre was almost identical to the studio but we had a few modifications for the centre work. Nevertheless, we finished with a joyful temps levé carrying me from the kitchen through the hall to my sitting room and back again.  Karen charged £3.50 for that class and I shall certainly be back.

Although Sonya had invited me to attend and review one of her classes several months ago I never had an opportunity to take advantage of it.  After the lockdown, she invited me to attend one of her online classes which I did on 24 April.   I joined the entry-level class and found that it was quite rigorous.  Again, there was a full barre and some demanding centre exercises.   I counted 8 of us in gallery view, mostly women but one gentleman.   Sonya is a good teacher.  She gave me several corrections for which I am grateful.   She has a very easy manner and it is clear that she is well-liked by her students.  If I lived in Sussex I would almost certainly be one of her regulars.

New online classes are coming onto the market all the time.  On 7 May Northern Ballet Academy announced that it is about to launch a new online class for the Over 55s to be given by Viki Westall from 11 May.   As it meets in office hours I am not sure how many classes I can attend but I shall certainly do one and report back to you with my findings.

World Ballet Day - Dutch National Ballet

Standard YouTube Licence


Sometimes one can have too much of a good thing and World Ballet Day is one of those times. There's a great temptation to drop everything to watch a whole day of classes, rehearsals, interviews and shows.  This year I rationed myself to just one contribution on the day and this is it.

It will surprise nobody who knows me that I have chosen the Dutch National Ballet's slot.  I have been following that company for the last 6 years and I have watched careers blossom like cherry trees in Spring. One of the folks I interviewed as a member of the Junior Company in 2014 was Martin ten Kortenaar. He is now one of the leads in Rudi van Dantzig's Romeo and Juliet. 

The recording shows three scenes from the work:  the Dance of the Knights, the balcony scene and the bedroom scene just before Romeo takes flight.  I have seen many versions of this ballet: Lavrovsky's, Maillot's, Pastor's, James's, Nureyev's and, of course, MacMillan's but there seems to be a unique exuberance to this work. According to Ted Brandsen, the Director of the Dutch National Ballet this was the first full-length work to be created in Holland.  With designs by Toer van Schayk, it must be gorgeous.

But, so too, will be Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Frida.  I have long admired the work that she has done for Ballet Black, Scottish Ballet and other companies. This promises to be a tour de force. With Floor Eimers in the show, how could it be otherwise?

I have said many times in this blog that I can't watch Ernst Meisner's Embers without the tears welling up. I have seen it performed beautifully by different artists - Cristiano Principato and Jessica Xuan at last year's gala, Thomas van Damme and Nancy Burer and Cristiano again with Priscylla Gallo at Trecate in Italy.  In this clip you will see two new young dancers in Embers whom I am sure will go far,  They are Sebia Plantefȅve and Davi Ramos. I can't wait to see them live on stage.

Tomorrow I shall watch another clip from a favourite company that performed yesterday.   A Russian company other than the Bolshoi or Mariinsky perhaps. Or maybe an American company that is not from New York.  There is no shortage of choice.

Dancers of Tomorrow

Dutch National Ballet Academy and the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company Dansers van Morgen Theatre of the Dutch National Opera and Ballet, 9 July 2019, 20:00

On 13 Sept 2018 Ernst Meisner was appointed artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet Academy (see Ernst Meisner appointed as interim artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet Academy and René Vlemmix as business manager 13 Sept 2013 Amsterdam University of the Arts).  He combined that appointment with his existing role as artistic coordinator of the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company. I featured Meisner and the Junior Company in Ernst Meisner’s Work with the Dutch National Ballet on 2 Dec 2014.  On Tuesday 9 July 2019, Meisner's students from the academy and his artists from the Junior Company united to perform Dansers van Morgen (Dancers of Tomorrow)

The performance took place in the principal auditorium of the Dutch National Ballet with the company's own orchestra under the direction of Matthew Rowe, its director of music. Seven works were presented:

• Part of Paquita by Marius Petipa
• Together(E) by Wubkje Kuindersma
• Part of Wayne McGregor's Atomos
• Revelry by Ernst Meisner
• Made in Holland by Didy Veldman
• Ode aan Fred by Iva Lešić, and
• Bolero by Gregor Seyffert and Larisa Dobrozhan.

I enjoyed all of those pieces, particularly Revelry. Ode aan Fred ("Ode to Fred") and Bolero.

If I understood the programme notes correctly, Meisner created Revelry for the 2017 gala for which I had been unable to get a ticket.  Set to Lowel Liebermann's composition of the same name  An infectiously exuberant work it is perfect for dance and particularly well suited for the individual personalities of the members of the Junior Company.  Guests arrive at a party and throw themselves into the celebration with gusto.  Clearly, they have a good time.  So much so that when the music ends the audience see each and every one of them prostrate on the floor.  This was the first time that I had seen Revelry but it is already one of my favourites.  It is a work that they could easily have taken to London last week and I am sure the audience would have loved it.

I am guessing that "aan" means "to" in Dutch.   When I saw Ode aan Fred  I thought this would be an ode to Ashton and that we would see lots of developpés, arabesques, pas de bouré and pas de chat.  In fact, this Fred was a well-loved instructor at the National Ballet Academy.  The music started with what sounded to me like didgeridoos and I wondered whether Fred Berlips was an Australian. On consulting the programme notes I found that the opening had been Andrea Geraks Jews Harp Music and that there was also music by Goran Bregovic. I understand from friends who know him that Berlips specialized in teaching younger students.  He was invited onto the stage for the curtain call and auditorium exploded in applause.  Meisner came on stage and made a short speech.  Berlips was presented with an enormous bouquet.  The affection for the man was palpable.

The last work was set to Ravel's Bolero and was quite different from Maurice Béjart's which I had seen at the Coli or the Wells many years ago. It began with a spotlit single dancer but in this version, it was a young woman on the floor.  The arc widened to reveal more women on the floor and then more. As the music gathered pace so did the dancers.  The stage cleared and another group of dancers performing ever more energetically than the last.   As the music reached its conclusion the stage erupted in colour and movement.   It was the perfect way to end a perfect evening,

The show started with Paquita cannot be the easiest work for students. It includes a pas de deux which requires a lot of lifting, some spectacular jumps and turns and 32 fouettés which seem to be at least as difficult as Kitri's in Don Quixote or Odile's in Swan Lake.  There were several difficult solo bits for both men and women as well as work for the corps.  In the absence of a cast list, I cannot identify the dancers otherwise than by the colours of their costumes but I have to commend Yellow for her jumps.  White, of course, was also impressive.

Set to Anthony Fiumara's haunting Aerial for piano and orchestra, Together(E) featured the academy's younger students.  The music reminds me of waves breaking on a beach and that was reflected in the precise movements of the students,   With its bar of red light and almost sculpted dancers, the hand of Wayne McGregor was unmistakable.   Another difficult piece which was executed well by the students.
Having seen Sense of Time in [Un]leasted just a few days earlier I was curious to see more.  Set to Simeon ten Holt's Canto Ostinato which is another work for a single pianist Made in Holland was a beautifully crafted work.

Meisner appeared on stage immediately after Paquita with the academy's business manager.  As his speech was in Dutch (a language I have never formally studied) I did not pick up every word but he explained that he was the artistic director and described the works that were to follow. He said that several of the pieces had been written especially for last Tuesday's show, that the programme included one of his own works and that Wayne McGregor and Didy Veidman had contributed works for the performance.  He also introduced the National Ballet's Orchestra and its illustrious conductor.  The manager mentioned the need for funding and tight management, He and Meisner had worked well together and he looked forward to their future collaboration.

I have made it my business to see student shows ever since 2007 when I saw Xander Parish and his sister Demelza and his sister steal a gala that included Marianela Nuñez and Samara Downs (see Charles Hutchinson Review: A Summer Gala of Dance and Song, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday 31 July 2007).  I have seen many great shows in that time but I think last Tuesday's was in a class of its own.

Welcome Back! Junior Company returns to the Linbury

Standard YouTube Licence

Dutch National Ballet Junior Company Young Talent Festival Linbury Theatre, Royal Opera House 5 July 2019, 19:45

Last night I dashed down to London to welcome the Dutch National Ballet, Junior Company back to the UK. I have been following them since 24 Nov 2013 when I first saw them at the Stadsshouwburg in Amsterdam.  They visited London for the first time in 2014 (see And can they fly! The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company at Covent Garden 30 May 2014) and again in 2015 (see Junior Company in London - even more polished but as fresh and exuberant as ever 7 June 2015). Since then the Linbury has been closed for refurbishment.  Last night they returned as part of the Royal Ballet's Young Talent Festival.

I went to Amsterdam in 2013 to see Michaela DePrince whom I had first mentioned in April 2013 - several months before she joined the Junior Company,  I saw her at the Stasshouwberg and was impressed:

"I had come to Amsterdam to see Michaela dePrince about whom I have written a lot. She appeared as Diana in Diana & Actaeon a ballet originally choreographed by Agrippina Vaganova for the Kirov in 1935. Soviet ballet was athletic and spectacular requiring enormous virtuosity. I had seen something of dePrince's virtuosity in her YouTube videos but she is even more impressive in real life. She is quite simply the most exciting dancer I have seen for quite a while."

But I was also impressed by the other 11 dancers. I have followed their careers and those of their successors ever since. I have seen many performances by several cohorts of the Junior Company but I don't think I have ever seen the Junior Company dance better than they did last night. 

More satisfyingly, the audience loved them. London sees a lot of dance - possibly more than any city in the world with the possible exception of New York - and balletomanes in our national capital do not easily rise to their feet for anything. I have always stood up for the Junior Company but in London, I have often been the only one. Yesterday I was joined by others and there was certainly a lot of noise even from those who had remained seated.

The programme started with Ernst Meisner's No Time Before Time.  That is one of my favourite ballets from one of my favourite choreographers of all time. Meisner's work touches my emotions in a way that only one other work has ever done.  When I see Embers, for example, my eyes begin to water, I start to sniffle, my body begins to tremble. I deploy every single sinew to control myself.  Only Fokine's Dying Swan has the same effect on me and that is at least partly because of its association with Pavlova.  No Time before Time is exuberant and makes me want to join the dancers on stage. It has a beautiful score by Alexander Balanescu that echoed tin my brain all the way back home to Yorkshire. Lasr night's cast interpreted it differently from those who danced it at Lausanne and the Meervaart in 2016. Perhaps more sensitively and delicately but equally delightfully. 

The next work was Charlotte Edmonds's Fuse which I had also seen at the Meervaart in 2016.  Set to Armand Amar's Dam in China and Paddy Fields it begins with three dancers who appear to be bound to each other with their bonds behind their back. As the music changes from vocals to percussion the dancers appear to break free.  In a short speech before the show, Ernst Meisner explained that the idea for Fuse had originated on the Linbury stage the last time the Junior Company had visited London.  They had been so impressed with Edmonds's work that the company had invited her to create a work for the Junior Company in Amsterdam.  In a short video which was shown before the piece was performed Edmonds reflected on the encounter between different cultures, interests and traditions. "Fuse" in this context appears to mean the result of mixing rather than the ignition of explosive (though it could also have meant that). The first time that I saw that ballet, I wrote:  "This was the first time I had seen Edmonds's work and I look forward to more." Since then I have seen more at Northern Ballet's Tell Tale Steps 2 and I look forward to her work with Ballet Cymru.

Daniela Cardim's Cardim's What got you here was the only work that I had not seen before.  It was a thought provoking piece but one that was not entirely bereft of humour.  There was a commentary which started with a celebration of the genetic accident that each individual represents but continued with the chilling thought that well over 99% of all life forms  that have ever existed are now extinct. There was an exchange of finger pointing that seemed to result in a realization that any responsibility for such mass-extinctions is pretty widely shared. There was the interesting discussion of the circularity of time and movement. If a traveller started in a straight line to travel to the end of the universe he would eventually return to his starting point.  More disturbing was considering what would happen if we knew the world would be destroyed within 4 years by the explosion of a neighbouring star,  Would farmers bother to plant crops or deliver them to stores?  The work ended dramatically with the dancers pointing accusingly at the audience before retracting their fingers and directing them to themselves.

An interval followed Cardim's work in which members of the audience were equipped with tiny red and green torches for Juanjo Arques's Fingers in the Air.   That was a work I had seen at the company's fifth anniversary show on 15 April 2018 (see  "In the Future" - Junior Company's Fifth Anniversary Performance 17 April 2018).  This time the commentary was in English. The audience was asked to vote on whether the men or women should dance, whether we wanted to see solos or duets and whether we wanted the dancers to perform with or without lights.   It did not matter because at the end we were shown what we had been missing but the audience voted for the women, duets and lights. The site of the whole company dressed in the same black leotards was compelling.  Arques was in the audience. I greeted him just before his piece started. It happened to be his birthday, What a way to celebrate!

The last work was Hans van Manen's In the Future.  I had seen that work in the fifth anniversary show and also at last September's gala.  Unless my memory is playing tricks on me, two new movements were added to In the Future.   According to the programme notes, these were Winter and The Sound of Business which were part of David Byrne's Music for the Knee Plays album.  I enjoyed Winter and the Sound of Business but I would have preferred to see them as separate pieces. Each of those works is a complete work itself in words and music as well as dance.  It was, however, a spectacular way to end a very successful evening and a triumphant return to London.

The Junior Company will perform again tonight at 19:45. I do not know whether tickets are still on sale at the box office but if they are and you can reach the House in time I strongly recommend this show,

Ernst Meisner's "Embers" - One of the Highlights of the Dutch National Ballet's Opening Night Gala

Cristiano Principato and Jessica Xuan in Embers

Author Michel Schnater
© 2018 Dutch National Ballet, all rights reserved
 Reproduced with kind permission of the company

Cristiano Principato and Jessica Xuan  Embers (Opening night gala of the Dutch National Ballet) 8 Sep 2018, 19:30 Stopera

For me the highlight of the Dutch National Ballet's opening night gala on 8 Sept 2018 was the performance of Ernst Meisner's Embers by Cristiano Principato and Jessica Xuan.  I love Max Richter's music.  I love Ernst Meisner's choreography.  Most of all I love the interpretation by Cristiano and Jessica. 

This is what I wrote in my review:

"Another personal highlight was Cristiano Principato and Jessica Xuan in Ernst Meisner's Embers. I fell in love with that piece the first time I saw it at the Stadsshouwburg in 2015 (see The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's best Performance yet 8 Feb 2015). In 2016 Principato brought his friends in the Dutch National Ballet and other leading companies to a tiny theatre in a small town half way between Milan and Turin to perform a Gala for Africa (see From Italy with Love 1 July 2016). I flew to Italy to support them. While I was there I had the honour of meeting Cristiano Principato's parents. It was a beautiful evening which ended with a performance of Embers by Principato and Priscylla Gallo. I wrote:

'Last year Meisner was my joint choreographer of the year for creating Embers. It moves me in a special way. I have now seen it four times and I love it a little more each time I see it. Thomas and Nancy Burer introduced me to the work and they dance it beautifully. I experienced it in a different way when Cristiano and Priscylla danced the piece on Tuesday night. Never has it seemed more beautiful.'

In July of this year, Principato and Xuan danced Embers at the Varna International Ballet Competition. For her performance in that piece, Xuan was awarded first prize. I am very fond of both of those dancers. When they took their bow on Saturday I felt compelled to rise to my feet. Wild horses would not have restrained me."

 I can't really add to that.

Dutch National Ballet's Gala 2018: A very special evening with a very special company

Author: Gebruiker:Iijjccoo  Licence CC BY-SA 4.0  Source Wikimedia Commons

Dutch National Ballet Gala 2018 National Opera and Ballet Auditorium, 8 Sept 2018, 19:30

I described the Dutch National Ballet'a gala in 2015 as "The Best Evening I have ever spent at the Ballet" 13 Sept 2015.  I meant it even though I had seen some very special performances.  "How could the 2015 gala possibly be equalled?" I asked myself rhetorically. In fact it was surpassed the very next year (see in Dutch National Ballet's Opening Night Gala - Improving on Excellence 8 Sept 2016).  Saturday night's gala was better still  It was a very special evening with a very special company.

It was special for all sorts of reasons.  Some of those were obvious such as the brilliance of the performances and the sense of occasion.  Others were personal reasons like the expression of pride on the face of my former ward (the nearest I have to a daughter) as she spotted Michaela DePrince in the grand defilé.   My ward also came from  Sierra Leone.  Having suffered  from civil war and ebola Sierra Leone has not had much to cheer about lately. DePrince's success is an exception. It is unadulterated good news and an enormous source of pride even to Sierra Leoneans who have never seen a ballet.  Recently DePrince sustained an injury that has kept her from her public far too long.  Seeing her dance again on Saturday in Peter Leung's Portrait  was a joy.  That alone justified the trip to Amsterdam as far as I am concerned.

Another personal highlight was Cristiano Principato and Jessica Xuan in Ernst Meisner's Embers. I fell in love with that piece the first time I saw it at the Stadsshouwburg in 2015 (see The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's best Performance yet 8 Feb 2015). In 2016 Principato brought his friends in the Dutch National Ballet and other leading companies to a tiny theatre in a small town half way between Milan and Turin to perform a Gala for Africa (see From Italy with Love 1 July 2016).  I flew to Italy to support them. While I was there I had the honour of meeting Cristiano Principato's parents.  It was a beautiful evening which ended with a performance of Embers by Principato and Priscylla Gallo. I wrote:

"Last year Meisner was my joint choreographer of the year for creating Embers. It moves me in a special way. I have now seen it four times and I love it a little more each time I see it. Thomas and Nancy Burer introduced me to the work and they dance it beautifully. I experienced it in a different way when Cristiano and Priscylla danced the piece on Tuesday night. Never has it seemed more beautiful."

In July of this year, Principato and Xuan danced Embers  at the Varna International Ballet Competition. For her performance in that piece, Xuan was awarded first prize.  I am very fond of both of those dancers. When they took their bow on Saturday I felt compelled to rise to my feet.  Wild horses would not have restrained me.

One of the reasons I like Meisner's work so much is that he innovates.   In 2014 he collaborated with Marco Gerris of the ISH Dance Collective to create Narnia, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.  That work combined ballet with hip hop for the Junior Company and ISH.   Dancers from both companies performed extracts of that work at the 2016 gala and I was entranced.   Now Meisner and Gerris have collaborated again to produce a new work called Grimm which the Junior Company and ISH danced on Saturday night.  The combination of hip hop and classical dance succeeded brilliantly. The costumes were gorgeously outlandish and the music infectious.  I would love to see the whole work.   I hope it may be performed in the UK one day.

This year's gala was dedicated to Rudi van Dantzig who was one of two towering geniuses of Dutch ballet.  Three of his works were performed on Saturday: Voorbij Gegaan ("Beyond Goodbye")  by Josef Varga and Anna Tsygankova, Autumn Haze by Qian Liu and Constantine Allen and extracts from his Swan Lake.  The first extract was from act II where Siegfried meets Odette.   Artur Shesterikov was Siegfried and Anna Ol Odette.  The second was the seduction scene from act III with Legnani's 32 fouettés.  Maia Makhateli was Odile and Daniel Camargo Siegfried.   I have seen some great dancers in that role including Fonteyn and Nureyev but this was one of the most exciting performances  that I had ever seen.  Just before Christmas I joined the autograph queue following their performance in The Sleeping Beauty to ask Camargo and Makhateli to sign  two Christmas cards - one for two promising young ballet students at the Leeds Centre for Advanced Training whose mum is one of my ballet teachers and  another for Helen McDonough, who is the second biggest fan of Camargo and Makhateli from the UK.  Helen was in the audience on Saturday so they danced before their #1 and #2 British fans.

The other towering genius of Dutch ballet is, of course, Hans van Manen.  Three of his works were performed on Saturday.   The first was the Frank Bridge Variations, a pas de deux which was performed exquisitely by Remi Wörtmeyer and Suzanna Kaic.  It was followed immediately by In the Future  from the Junior Company which I had seen at the Stadsshouwburg in their fifth anniversary performance.  Visually Saturday's performance was as impressive as it had been the first time I had seen it but the words that are an integral part of the piece and essential for its appreciation were indistinct.  The last of Van Manen's works was his Symfonien der Nederlanden which was performed by the corps immediately after the first interval.  Van Manen is my favourite living choreographer and this symphony for the Dutch People is now my favourite of his works.  Set to Louis Andriessen's uplifting score, the dancers in costumes that resembled overalls saluted a great nation.  This was the first time that I had seen the Symfonien but I shall make sure that it is not the last.

Wörtmeyer is a talented choreographer.   I was impressed by his Passing Shadows at New Moves 2017:

"Passing Shadows by the company's principal, Remi Wörtmeyer, was another gripping work though more for the choreography than the staging. There was an explosion of applause before the curtain began to fall as Wörtmeyer spun his fellow Australian Juliet Burnett of the Flanders Ballet inches from the floor. This was a work for four dancers to Rachmaninov's Cello Somata in G Minor Op 19 Slow. This was a work for four dancers the other two being Jingjing Mao and Clemens Fröhlich. Wörtmeyer is credited with painting the sets and designing the costumes though they were sourced from the company's wardrobe and props departments."

He has created another beautiful work called You Before Me to Philip Glass's Etudes No 2 .  It was danced on Saturday by Anna Ol and Semyon Velichko.  Their interpretation was a joy to watch, as delicate as it was moving.

Ever since I saw her Streetcar Named Desire  for Scottish Ballet I have been a fan of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa.  Last year I was introduced to her by Cassa Pancho at Ballet Black's performance of her Little Red Riding Hood in Nottingham (see All Hail to the Lone Star Dancer 23 June 2017).  Her NUDE a delightful piece danced by Erica Horwood and Vito Mazzeo in flesh coloured body hugging costumes delighted the crowd.

Another choreographer who has created a major work for Scottish Ballet is David Dawson.  I loved his Swan Lake but I also enjoy his shorter ballets for the Junior Company and the Dutch National Ballet.  One of my all time favourite ballerinas is Sasha Mukhsmedov whose Nikiya delighted me (see Dutch National Ballet's La Bayadère 14 Nov 2016).  On Saturday I saw her in a very different role in Dawson's The Grey Area and she delighted me once more.  In The Grey Area she has partnered gallantly by James Stout who has recently been promoted to principal.

One of the most thrilling virtuosos of any company is Young Gyu Choi.  He excels in such roles as the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty and Shiva in Mata Hari.   He was superbly cast for the Soviet era ballet Flames of Paris which was danced for the first time in the Netherlands (and possibly the first time anywhere outside the former Soviet Union by a non-Russian company) on Saturday night. The bit that we saw was a rumbustious pas de deux with Aya Okumura to some catchy tunes by Boris Asafyev.  Okumura partnered Young enchantingly.  "Balletic Les Mis" flashed through my mind as I watched the piece.  I missed Ratmansky's revival of Flames of Paris on the Bolshoi's latest tour of London and in last year's cinema screening so I can't really say much about the work other than that the extract that we saw at the gala was very entertaining.

Another work that we see rarely in the UK is John Neumeier's Lady of the Camellias.   That is probably because we are brought up on Ashton's Marguerite and Armand which was created for Fonteyn and Nureyev some 15 years earlier.   Just as Fonteyn was Ashton's muse Marcia Haydée was Neumeier's.  The role of Marguerite requires a diva and there is probably nobody in the world who could have performed it more convincingly than Igone de Jongh.  Her Armand was Daniel Camargo who was magnificent.  Elegantly constructed and beautifully executed, it was the company at its best.

The show opened with the grand defilé or big parade - row upon row of dancers from the first year students at the National Ballet Academy to the principals presented themselves to the strains of Aurora's wedding from The Sleeping Beauty.   What presence and grace those children possessed.  The orchestra was conducted by our very own Koen Kessels.  That was yet another treat as Kessels is my favourite ballet conductor since John Lanchbery and I was able to tell him that in person as I was about to leave the theatre.  The show ended in a shower of gold confetti that brought the audience to their feet.

Every year the company awards a prize in honour of Alexandra Radius to the outstanding dancer of the year.  Usually it goes to a principal.   Young Gyu Choi won it last year and Artur Shesterikov the year before.  This year it was awarded to Timothy van Poucke, one of the company's youngest dancers who is still in the corps.  Van Poucke's career has been meteoric.  Only last year he and Salome Leverashvili were blogging about the Junior Company (see Missing Amsterdam 18 Feb 2017).

Readers will get some idea of the grandeur of the occasion from the video above. I am in the clip 8 minutes 35 seconds in.   Although it is grand it is not exclusive as it would be in some countries.  Anyone anywhere can buy a ticket through the company's website.  Tickets for the gala are more expensive than for other shows because there is a reception at which food and drink are served liberally.  Even so, our seats in row 9 of the stalls (zaal) were significantly less than the cost of equivalent seats at Covent Garden.

The New York Times ranks the Dutch National Ballet as one of the top 5 in the world and I would respectfully agree with that ranking.   I think the Junior Company has much to do with the Dutch National Ballet's success as recruits from the Juniors refresh and reinvigorate it every year.  According to Ted Brandsen, Junior Company alumni already make up a third of the company and that proportion is likely to rise over time.  I think that is why every year's gala has been better than the last.