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One of the most interesting press releases to have emanated from Northern Ballet recently was the announcement of the appointment of Kenneth Tindall as artistic director digital and choreographer in residence (see Northern Ballet appoints Kenneth Tindall to Artistic Staff 31 May 2018). Many congratulations to Kenneth!  It could not have happened to a nicer fellow. And congratulations also to Northern Ballet.  A very savvy decision.  I am sure that Kenneth will do an excellent job.

Kenneth is, of course, very well established.  Two young dancers who are beginning to rise in their careers are Thomas van Damme and Yuanyuan Zhang of the Dutch National Ballet. Thomas and Yuanyuan have their own YouTube channel called "The Ballet Couple".  I first wrote about them last September in The Ballet Couple. Since then, Yuanyuan has been promoted to grand sujet and Thomas from élève to the corps. 

Every week they offer some tips about dancing.  Last Friday, for instance they discussed the ideal age to take up and the time to retire from ballet.  On when to start ballet they said that it is possible to begin at any age unless you want to dance professionally. For adult ballet students - particularly for those of us who have taken it up or resumed it very late in life - that is very encouraging. But it is also good to know that you don't have to start too early even if you want to go on stage.

As for when to retire Thomas and Yuanyuan said that it is very much a personal matter and they discussed some of the factors that dancers consider. When I asked Yuanyuan about her long term ambitions five years ago she said that she said her immediate aim was to get into the main but company but in the future she could see herself as a ballet master.

In other clips Yuanyuan talks about pointe shoes and there is a lovely film on the opening night gala.

However, it is not all about ballet.

On Tuesday for example they suggested using a pint class as a loud speaker. It does work Thomas.  It's the same principle as a megaphone. I am a bit more dubious about hanging a second hanger from the aluminium ring pull of a drinks can. I can think up all sorts of problems like collapsing wardrobe rails and scrunched up clothes. Probably cheaper and easier to buy Probably cheaper and easier to get another wardrobe or at least a clothes rail from Ikea. I preferred the previous film about an elegant way of opening a packet of corn chips and I guess it would also work for crisps.

There are also some charming videos about celebrating a national holiday, food that dancers really eat, opening a package of Chinese goodies and a really soppy one "Yes together until we die."

A Day of Superlatives - Dutch National Ballet's Don Quixote

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Dutch National Ballet Don Quixote 28 Feb 2018 20:00 Music Theatre, Amsterdam

Wednesday was a day of superlatives. I don't think Amsterdam has ever looked lovelier than it did that night in the clear, crisp air with a full moon and the lights of the buildings, street lights and traffic twinkling in partly frozen canals and the river. I don't think I have ever seen a better Don Quixote even though I have seen artists like Isabella Boylston and Marianela Nuñez dance Kitri and Carlos Acosta dance Don Basilio. Above all, I don't think I have ever seen the Dutch National Ballet dance better.

One reason why I enjoyed that show so much was that nearly all the leading rôles were performed by dancers who graduated from Ernst Meisner's Junior Company.   Sho Yamada, who danced Don Basilio, had partnered Michaela DePrince in an extract of Diana and Acteon the first time I saw the Junior Company (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013). Riho Sakamoto was Kitri on Wednesday night. Jessica Xuan, who also joined the Junior Company in 2013, was queen of the Dryads. Yuanyuan Zhang, danced Juanita. Many more of their contemporaries including Cristiano Principato and Thomas van Damme supported them in the show,

Wednesday's show was their opportunity to impress and each of them grabbed it readily.  They danced with exuberance and verve.  Combined with imaginative sets that included a winking moon, costumes for ambulatory cacti and monsters more outlandish than Hieronymus Bosch's, the stage exploded with energy, movement and colour. Don Quixote had never been my favourite ballet because the story is so confusing.  Basically La Fille mal gardée except that it is dad rather than mum pushing daughter into an arranged marriage.  What has that to do with Cervantes? Or cactus men and beaked monsters for that matter?  The answer is "not much but who cares so long as the ballet flows".  Wednesday did flow to Minkus's jaunty score with spectacular choreography such as one armed lifts and daring fish dives. Ratmansky's production helped me understand the ballet and to appreciate it properly.

Yamada danced Don Basilio with style and swagger.  Tall, slender and athletic he commanded the stage.  Sakamoto charmed me with her coquetry and impressed me with her technique, especially with her fouettés in the final act. Though it is probably unfair to single out any artist for special praise, there were captivating performances by Xuan as queen of the Dryads, Suzanna Kaic as Cupid and Zhang as Juanita.  There was fine character dancing from Nicolas Rampaic as the slightly dotty Don Quixote and hilarious clowning by Frans Schraven as his squire.

I have already mentioned the imaginative sets and costumes.  I was not surprised to learn that they had been designed by Jérôme Kaplan who had impressed me several years ago with his designs for David Nixon's Gatsby. I have also mentioned Minkus's jaunty score.  Its interpreter on Wednesday night was Marzio Conti.  As I was seated directly behind the conductor only 5 rows back I experienced the music as he must have done. Perhaps that was yet another reason why I enjoyed the show so much.

Usually I come to Amsterdam for the day arriving on the first flight out of Manchester and returning on the last.  This time I had come to give a talk on patent litigation  at the Radisson Blu hotel in Russia.  Not really Russia, I should explain, but the street where the hotel stands is called "Rusland" which is Dutch for "Russia". On the way back from the theatre I felt transported to Petipa's Russia as I followed the frozen canals with the music resounding in my ears. That is just how I imagine St Petersburg to be.  One day, perhaps, I will find out whether I was right.

Talking of translations, a partner of the Dutch office of a leading international law firm invited me to dinner on Tuesday night at Hemelse Modder which translates as "Heavenly Mud".  The meal was scrumptious. I had croquettes of mussels, fennel and tarragon, lamb stew and a delicious lemon pudding with an excellent German red. I mentioned it on Facebook to which Ted Brandsen commented that it was his favourite restaurant.  I can quite see why.  It is now one of mine.   It is not far from the Music Theatre and I strongly recommend it.

The Ballet Couple

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There is a great overlap between film and dance. It started long before The Red Shoes.  Pavlova experimented with the camera as you can see from her clip of The Dying Swan In Leeds of All Places - Ashton Pavlova and Magic  18 Sept 2013.  So, too, did Nijinsky as you can see from Hommage au Faun 9 July 2013.

When I interviewed Kenny Tindall in "A Many Sided Genius" - Tindall on Casanova 4 March 2017 we talked about the cinema which he refers to as "church". Tindal compared the work of a choreographer to that of the director of a film:

"The roles were similar and maybe even converging as techniques and technology that had been developed for the cinema were increasingly used in ballet. I recalled the filming of The Architect to which project I had contributed (see Tindall's Architect - How to Get a Piece of the Action - Literally! 7 June 2014). I asked whether another film might result from Casanova. Tindall’s eyes sparkled. No concrete plans as yet, he said, but would it not be splendid to film Act I in Venice and Act II in Paris."

I was reminded of my conversation with Tindall when I saw New Moves on 24 June 2017.   As I said in my review:

"The most dramatic work of the evening was Thomas van Damme's Convergence which he created for Skyler Martin and Clara Superfine to music by Gorecki. Superfine is yet another dancer whose career I follow closely (see Thank You Ernst 17 March 2016). Through superb use of lighting reminiscent of cinema, he seemed to force the dancers together. They seemed to approach each other but not as lovers, more like predator and prey. It seemed like a gripping narrative though the programme notes suggest something gentler:

"1. Independent development of similar characters often associate with similarity of habits or environment.
2. Moving toward union or uniformity."

As he has mastered the technique of building suspense, I look forward to seeing whether van Damme will use that technique in his future work."

I have not had to wait very long. He used the same technique in Girls Night with Riho Sakamoto and Yuanyuan Zhang,  This is one of a number of short films that Thomas van Damme has made with Youanyuan Zhang as The Ballet Couple.  They have their own YouTube Channel, Facebook page and Twitter stream.  They describe themselves as:

"Professional ballet dancers in love enjoying life and youtube. 

Follow us in our life with our special jobs and crazy adventures! 

Tell us about your adventures and experiences with dance or other. 

Love, 

Yuanyuan & Thomas"

You have already seen enough of them to appreciate their talents.  Just imagine their potential.

A Million Congratulations!

Michaela DePrince in "A Million Kisses to my Skin"

Author Angela Sterling
(c) 2015 Dutch National Ballet, all rights reserved
Licensed with the kind permission of the company

I am very grateful to David Dawson for sharing this announcement from Dance Europe:

Promotions at Dutch National Ballet

"Dutch National Ballet has announced the following promotions for the 2016-17 season: Jared Wright - 2nd soloist; Michaela DePrince - grand sujet; Matthew Pawlicki - grand sujet; Floor Eimers - coryphée; Krista Ettlinger - coryphée; Sem Sjouke - coryphée; Jessica Xuan - coryphée; Martin ten Kortenaar - coryphée; Oscar Valdes - coryphée; Riho Sakamoto, Yuanyuan Zhang and Cristiano Principato to corps de ballet. From the Junior Company to the main Company: Emilie G. Tassinari, Clara Superfine, Thomas Van Damme, Daniel Robert Silva, Joseph Massarelli and Giovanni Princic become élèves."

I have been following Michaela DePrince ever since 4 April 2013. It was she who led me to the Junior Company where I saw her dance for the first time (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013). Here's what I wrote about her:

"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."

Last year she gave a masterclass at Danceworks and Lesley  Osman sent me some lovely photos and a first hand account from Ciara Sturrock who took part (see Michaela's Masterclass 8 July 2015). She is coming back to Danceworks on 18 July 2016 (see Another Masterclass 2 May 2016). Last year at the opening gala I bumped into DePrince as I was leaving the Stopera.  As I said in The best evening I have ever spent at the ballet 12 Sept 2015, "I left the Stopera thinking how that exceptionally talented young dancer was as gracious off stage as she is magnificent upon it." The photo above shows DePrince in Dawson's A Million Kisses to my Skin.  Instead of a million kisses I send Michaela DePrince a million congratulations.

Last June I returned to Amsterdam to see Cool Britannia which included yet another of Dawson's works, Empire Noire (see Going Dutch 29 June 2015). DePrince was dancing in that work but so too was another outstanding young dancer, Floor Elmers. I was most impressed by her performance and have been following her career ever since.  A million congratulations to Floor as well.

In December 2014 I wrote a series of articles on members of the Junior Company (see Meet Ernst Meisner and his talented young dancers 6 Dec 2014). They included Martin ten Kortenaar, Riho Sakamoto, Yuanyuan Zhang, Cristiano Principato and Emilie G. Tassinari. I congratulation each and every one of them too and wish them well.

This year on my birthday I  saw Clara Superfine, Thomas Van Damme, Daniel Robert Silva, Joseph Massarelli and Giovanni Princic in Ballet Bubbles 16 Feb 2016. It was the best birthday treat ever. I thank them profusely and wish each and every one of them every success in their careers.

Finally, I congratulate all those artists listed above whom I have not mentioned.   Each and every one of them deserves an enormous bouquet of flowers.

Principato's Project

Cristiano Principato

Photo Robin DePuy

(c) Dutch National Ballet 2014

Reproduced with kind permission of the Dutch 

National Ballet

Cristiano Principato is an Élève (which translates roughly as "pupil", "apprentice" or "trainee") of the Dutch National Ballet. I wrote a feature on him in December 2014 shortly after he had joined the Junior Company That man can dance. He was trained at La Scala Ballet School, spent a year with the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company and joined the main company last year. He has already performed at Covent Garden (see
Junior Company in London - even more polished but as fresh and exuberant as ever 7 June 2015) and at the Coliseum (see Wheeldon's Cinderella 13 July 2013) and I am sure we shall be hearing a lot more about him as time goes on.

Cristiano's latest project is a gala at the Silvio Pelico Theatre in Trecate on 28 June 2016 in aid of Casa Alessia's initiative in Bujumbura to give former child soldiers an opportunity to recover their childhood, to gain an education and learn a useful trade. Casa Alessia is an Italian charity which tackles need in Italy and overseas. According to the charity's website:

"Since 2008 a village of some 48 dwellings has been built at Masango in Burundi under the guidance of a Father Bepi.
The project was intended to enable former child solders regain their childhood. Father Bepi has taught them a trade while the charity has provided a roof over their heads to ensure a promising future.
Co-operative enterprises have been established around the village which brings relief to the poorest people."

Readers will know that this is just the sort of initiative that is close to my heart. My late spouse came from Sierra Leone which also suffered a vicious civil war in which children were kidnapped, drugged and forced to fight and commit the vilest atrocities. Michaela DePrince, who is also in the Dutch National Ballet, has described some of those appalling events graphically in Hope in a Ballet Shoe. My other connection with Africa is my late spouse's goddaughter who escaped the civil war to live with us. She is now the nearest I have to a daughter and her little boy the nearest I have to a grandson. I visited that country in 2007 and saw some of the devastation for myself (see Sierra Leone 18 April 2007 NIPC Law).

Because of my connection with Africa I have supported initiatives like Anno Africa's work in one of the toughest neighbourhoods of Nairobi (see What can be achieved by a good teacher 3 March 2013) and the Gala for Ghana 4 Feb 2014 which brought together some of the biggest names in dance including Elena Glurdjidze, Ed Watson and Lauren Cuthbertson who has just dazzled London with her Giselle (see Cuthbertson's Giselle 3 April 2016).

Cristiano's gala in Trecate promises to be just as riveting. He has enlisted some of his colleagues from the Dutch National Ballet such as Emilie Tassinari, Giovanni Princic, Yuanyuan Zhang, Thomas van Damme and Priscylla Gallo as well as dancers from elsewhere. Those dancers are some of the best of their generation and I have no doubt that at least some of them will be at least as great as Watson, Cuthbertson and Glurdjidze in 10 to 15 years time. There is a great video about the gala with some footage of Casa Alessia's work in Burundi circulating on Facebook.

Now if anybody wants to see these fine young dancers Trecate is about 6 miles from Novara which happens to be Cristiano's home town. For those who are interested in history a famous battle took place against the French 1513. There is a magnificent basilica with a dome that is almost 400 feet high, a neo-classical cathedral and the Broletto or forum. The town is not too far from the Alps. The nearest international airport is probably Turin which is about 60 miles away and served by BA and several budget airlines with direct flights to the UK

I should like to wish Cristiano and everybody involved in this show chukkas for the performance and everyone in Casa Alessiia every success with their valuable work.

Meet Ernst Meisner and his talented young dancers

Ernst Meisner

Photo Robin DePuy

(c) Dutch National Ballet 2014

Reproduced with kind permission of the Dutch 

National Ballet

Having danced with the Royal Ballet for 10 years Ernst Meisner is very well known and very well-liked by British audiences. In 2010 he returned to the Netherlands and joined the Dutch National Ballet as a grand sujet. He is now Artistic Co-ordinator of a group of exceptionally talented young dancers within Dutch National Ballet known as “the Junior Company”.

I saw their opening night in Amsterdam on 23 Nov 2013 which I reviewed in The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013. In May 2014 Ernst Meisner brought his Junior Company to the Linbury and I reviewed their show in And can they fly! The Dutch National Ballet Junior Company at Covent Garden 30 May 2014. The more experienced members of the Junior Company have now joined the Dutch National Ballet as apprentices and their places have been taken by Bart Engelen, Martin ten Kortenaar, Lisanne Kottenhagen, Ryosuke Morimoto, Cristiano Principato, Emilie Tassinari, Yuanyuan Zhang and Riho Sakamoto.

I had admired the works of Rudi van Dantzig and Hans van Manen for many years but I started to follow the Dutch National Ballet only recently. I am now a Friend of that company and am getting to know It better. I was led to the National Ballet by the Junior Company and have written a lot of articles about both of them in Terpsichore. Noticing my interest in the Dutch National Ballet in general and the Junior Company in particular Ernst Meisner kindly agreed to help me write this feature by answering my questions and introducing me to the new members of the Junior Company.

As there is a lot of material I have divided this feature into a number of posts. The first is on Ernst Meisner’s work with the Dutch National Ballet. The second is on the Junior Company. The rest of the feature consists of interviews with each of the new members.  I asked each of those dancers:

• how he or she had started to study ballet;
• where he or she had trained; 
• whether there was a dancer or choreographer who had inspired the new member and if so who it was;
• whether a teacher had inspired the new member and if so who;
• the member’s greatest achievements to date;
• the roles he or she had already danced;
• the ballets or roles that the member wished to dance;
• the new member’s favourite dancers and choreographers;
• the member’s immediate ambitions;
• his or her long term ambitions such as choreography, teaching or another career outside ballet; and
• the member’s interests outside ballet such as sports, music, film and other performing arts.

I am very grateful to Richard Heideman, Press Manager of the Dutch National Ballet, for putting those questions the dancers on my behalf.

If you want to meet Ernst Meisner you will have a chance to do so in March when he talks to the London Ballet Circle. I understand from Susan Dalgety of the Circle that the date of his talk has not yet been fixed, I shall post details of the date, time and venue of his talk as soon as I learn them.

Meet Yuanyuan Zhang of the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company

Yuanyuan Zhang 

Photo Robin DePuy

(c) Dutch National Ballet 2014

Reproduced with kind permission of the Dutch 

National Ballet

Initially a student of Chinese dance, Yuanyuan had a chance to try ballet and fell in love with it. She studied at the Shanghai Theatre Academy where she drew inspiration from her teachers. Also, when she was young she saw many dance videos and they all inspired her. Her greatest achievement to date was coming fourth in the Cape Town International Ballet Competition and her golds in the classical dance and modern dance awards.

She has already danced in Le Corsaire, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker and the role she would particularly like to dance is Giselle which she thinks is very beautiful.

Yuanyuan's favourite dancer is Alina Cojocaru.

Her immediate ambitions is to enter the Dutch National Ballet and in the longer term she sees herself as a ballet master.

Outside ballet Yuanyuan likes music and singing.

I look forward to seeing Yuanyuan dance and I wish her well with her career.