Dawson

Standard YouTube Licence

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.

Legacy Variations is danced by James Stout, Edo Wijnen and Joseph Massarelli.  In an interview for the programme, Dawson explains why he cast them:

"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 Lake 4 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.

The Four 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.

The Nutcracker and The Mouse King

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

Author Hans Gerritsen  (c) 2021 Dutch National Ballet (all rights reserved 

 

The Music Theatre The Nutcracker and the Mouse King 18 Dec 2021 and 24 Dev 2021 13:00

Between 1991 and 2003 Wayne Eagling was the Artistic Director of the Dutch National Ballet. In that role, he collaborated with Toer van Schayk to create The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.   On 18 and  24 Dec 2021 the work was live-streamed over the internet to audiences around the world. I watched both performances.

This ballet includes the Mouse King in the title for a reason. In other productions, the role of the mouse king is quite limited.  He leads his mice into battle against the toy soldiers and begins to gain the upper hand until Clara clobbers him.  In Eagling's version, he appears first at the Stahlbaums' party, later as a nightmare as Clara tries to sleep, next as the leader of the mice and finally in a duel with the prince.  The battle between mice and soldiers seems to symbolize a struggle between chaos and order which echoes in the boys' mithering their sisters or the Arabs dragging their captives.

Eagling's collaboration with van Schayk has led to all sorts of fantastic creations.   A giant pink-eyed monster rodent, an autonomous walking robot of a nutcracker and the fantastic machine with its circular centre-piece that at one point turns itself into a massive feline compete with a moving paw in the final confrontation with the mouse king and a ruined temple for the mirliton scene.   So much more compelling than a kingdom of the sweets with the Spanish, Arabs and Chinese dances representing chocolate, coffee and tea.

The two shows had different casts and each is to be congratulated.  Clara was danced by Maia Makhateli on 18 Dec and Riho Sakamoto on 24. Sakamoto has recently been promoted to principal which pleases me considerably as I have been following her progress ever since she joined the Junior Company in 2014 (see Riho Sakamoto promoted to principal).  Makhateli was magnificent as she always is and was partnered gallantly by Jakob Feyferlik,   Also impressive were Edo Wijnen who danced the nutcracker, Vito  Mazzeo who was Drosselmeyer and James Stout who was the mouse king.   Sadly I do not yet have a cast list for the Christmas eve matinee and I can't be sure who performed the leading roles other than Sakamoto.

Live screening is better than nothing but it is not the same as attending the theatre.   Theatre - particularly ballet - is two-way communication.  A good audience lifts the artists to new heights.   I am sure the dancers were aware that viewers like me around the world were cheering ourselves hoarse and clapping till our palms were sore but that's not the same as hearing us.  The Netherlands like the UK has had to cope with the "o" strain at the worse possible time and the season may have to be curtailed for public health reasons.  But one day the pandemic will be over in both countries.  When it is, my priority will be to watch this ballet live.

Going Dutch

Dutch National Ballet, Empire Noir,  Igone de Jongh, Floor Eimers,
Suzanna Kaic, Michaela DePrince, 17 June 2015

Author Angela Sterling

(c) 2015 Dutch National Ballet, all rights reserved

Reproduced with kind permission of the Company

Dutch National Ballet, Cool Britannia, Stopera Amsterdam, 27 June 2015

I have just returned from Amsterdam where I saw the Dutch National Ballet's Cool Britannia at The Stopera. The word "stopera" is an abbreviation of the words stadhuis or town hall and opera the meaning of which is obvious. The building combines the functions of Amsterdam's town hall with the national opera house and concert hall. It was my first visit to the Stopera but I hope it will not be my last for it is a magnificent auditorium.

As I said in my preview Cool Britannia - in Amsterdam 16 April 2015, this is a triple bill of one act ballets by three leading British choreographers: David Dawson, Christopher Wheeldon and Wayne McGregor. Dawson and Wheeldon created new ballets called Empire Noir and Concerto Concordia which I discussed in David Dawson's Empire Noir 18 June 2015 and Wheeldon in Amsterdam and the Dutch National Ballet in London 6 June 2015). McGregor contributed Chroma which British audiences already know. Each of those works was very different from the others.

Empire Noir showcased the dancers' virtuosity. It was full of spectacular jumps, turns and lifts and looked quite exhausting. Even the dancers' entrances and exits were made at the double.  Haines's score was throbbing, vibrant and incessant.  I had seen Michaela DePrince and Sho Yamada in the Junior Company last year but this was the first time I had seen Casey Herd, Jozef Varga, Artur Shesterikov and James Stout about whom I had read so much. My only disappointment was missing Igone de Jongh but there was some fine dancing from Samantha Mednick, Sasha Mukhamedov, Floor Elmers and, of course. DePrince. She may only be an apprentice in the company (though I am delighted to learn that she will be elevated to coryphee next year) but she has quite a following in Amsterdam. She received particularly loud applause when she took her bow. The chap next to me rose to his feet as soon as she stepped forward. In the interval I noticed that a stand was selling her t-shirts. The only other dancer with t-shirts on offer was de Jongh.

Wheeldon's Concerto Concordia was a quieter and more contemplative work. He chose Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in D Minor for his music. This is a work with sudden changes of moods could have been written for ballet. It was the first time that I had heard it and I adored it. According to the programme notes Wheeldon created the work for Anna Tsygankova and she was on stage on Saturday accompanied by Varga. They were one of two principal couples who are joined on stage from time to time by six others. The other principal couple was Victoria Ananyan and Serguei Endinian. This was the work that I enjoyed the most, probably because I liked the music.

I had  seen Chroma once before and remembered the sharp, angular almost robotic movements, the simple set with its large window through which dancers entered or against which they were silhouetted and the curious almost canine sniffing gestures at two points in the show. This cannot be an easy ballet to dance and I was delighted to see Nathan Brhane and Wantao Li who were in the Junior Company last year with  Yamada and DePrince. It was good to see those young dancers again and great to see how far they have come in a year. They were led  by Herd, Stout and Roman Artyushkin. The crowd loved this ballet and they rose to their feet as one. I like Amsterdam audiences. They see enough ballet to know what's good and what's not but they are much less stingy in their praise than Londoners.

The Stopera has a massive stage. I don't know how it compares to Covent Garden's but it seems pretty cavernous to me. There's plenty of reasonably priced seating. I was in the front row of the 1st circle and was as close to the stage as I would have been in the front row of the dress circle in the Royal Opera House. My seat cost 53 euros which is less than I would have paid for the amphitheatre. There was plenty of leg room and although the house was pretty full it did not seem crowded.  I was served very quickly when I queued for a drink in the first interval and I was charged less than I would pay in a theatre bar at home.  The auditorium overlooks the Amstel and it is possible to step out onto a walkway in warm weather. There is a metro station almost next door and a couple of pubs and two Argentine restaurants across the street.

There are flights to Schiphol from Ringway and Yeadon at a fraction of the cost of the train fare to London and hotels are generally cheaper in Amsterdam than London. I am already looking forward to my next trip back.