The van Manen Festival, Programme IV

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Dutch National Ballet and Guests Hans van Manen Festival IV National Opera and Ballet auditorium 29 June 2022 20:15

I would argue that Hans van Manen is the greatest living choreographer and one of the greatest of all time.  I have been a fan ever since I first saw his work some 50 years or so ago.   In that time he has made over 150 ballets and I have seen a fair number of them.  His works are performed regularly by the world's leading ballet companies including those of the United Kingdom.

Earlier this month van Manen celebrated his 90th birthday.   To mark the occasion, the Dutch National Ballet ended its 2021-2022 season with a special Hans van Manen Festival.  Between 8 and 29 June 2022, the Dutch National Ballet and companies from Austria and Germany performed 19 of van Manen's works arranged in four separate programmes.  

I attended the fourth of those programmes on 29 June 2022 which consisted of Four Schumann Pieces, In the Future, Variations for Two Couples, Solo and Concertante.  I chose that programme for three reasons.  It was an opportunity to see the latest recruits to the Junior Company which I had followed closely since 2013.  They were to perform In the Future which I had previously seen at their 5th-anniversary celebration at the  Stadsschouwburg on 15 April 2018, the 2018 gala and in London on 5 July 2019.  Secondly, one of the works was to be performed by the Vienna State Ballet and another by the Stuttgart Ballet which had been Cranko's company.  These are companies that rarely visit this country and it was a chance to see them. Finally, the fourth programme included Concertante which is the work by van Manen that I know best.

Van Manen had created Four Schumann Pieces for the Royal Ballet.  It was first performed at Covent Garden on 31 Jan 1975 with Sir Anthony Dowell in the leading role.  The music is Robert Schumann's String quartet in A opus 41 no. 3.   The ballet revolves around the leading male and there is some YouTube footage of Dowell in that role.  It was part of a mixed bill which I attended.  I can't remember much about it but it would have been one of the reasons why I began to admire van Manen.   According to the programme notes, the male lead was later performed by Rudolf Nureyev, Hans Ebelaar, Wayne Eagling and Matthew Golding each of whom interpreted it in a different way.  The company that performed the piece on 29 June was the Vienna State Ballet.   Davide Dato was the lead male  He was supported by Hyo-Jung Kang and Arne Vandervelde, Liudmila Konovalova and  Francesco Costa, Elena Bottaro and Igor Milos, Sonia Dvořák and  Géraud Wielick and Aleksandra Liashenko and Andrey Teterin.  The company danced Four Schumann Pieces for the first time in the Vienna Volksoper on 4 June 2022. For them, it was a brand new piece which they danced with appealing energy and freshness.

In the Future was created for the Scarpino Ballet Rotterdam in 1986,  a company that is even older than the Dutch National Ballet.  The piece was inspired by music that the Scottish composer David Byrne had written as a soundtrack for Fritz Lang's film Metropolis the previous year.  As striking as the music are the set, costume and lighting designs of Keso Dekker  Each dancer wears a garment that is green at the front and red at the back. The dancers pulsate to the music as if they were beams of light.  It is a perfect piece for the Junior Company which is now a completely different cohort from the one I saw in Amsterdam in 2018 and London in 2019.  The members who danced on 29 June were Luca Abdel-Nour, Koko Bamford, Lily Carbone, Mila Caviglia, Sven de Wilde, Lauren Hunter, Nicola Jones, Gabriel Rajah, Guillermo Torrijos, Louisella Vogt and Koyo Yamamoto.  They were as impressive as their predecessors and I look forward to watching them develop as a troupe and blossom as artists of the Dutch National Ballet and other leading companies.

Variations for Two Couples is one of van Manen's latest works.  It was created for Anna Tsygankova,  Matthew Golding, Igone de Jongh and Jozef Varga and first performed on 15 Feb 2012.  It is a very short piece that packs in music by Benjamin Britten, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Stefan Kovács Tickmayer and Astor Piazzolla.   The programme states that for van Manen it was all about the personalities of the dancers that he wished to draw out.  Varga danced the role that van Manen had created for him on 29 June. but instead of Tsygankova, Golding and de Jongh he was joined by Riho Sakamoto, Young Gyu Choi and Jessica Xuan.   Van Manen intended this to be a very understated ballet.   He said, "everything is 'low down' – even the dancers’ lifts."  That is echoed by Dekker's costumes and backdrop.  The result is a work of refinement and elegance.

There was an interval after Variations for Two Couples.   On returning to my seat I noticed that van Manen was sitting in my row.  Several of his fans were talking to him and one gave him a hug.   He stood up to allow me to pass and for a moment I felt impelled to introduce myself and shake his hand.  However, the curtain was about to rise and I let the moment slip.  The very next day my friend Gita Mistry button-holed him in the lobby of the National Opera and Ballet auditorium as we gathered for the Gala.  She introduced me to him and  I had the opportunity to tell him how much I had enjoyed his work over the last 50 years.  However, Gita went one better and actually took a selfie of herself with the great man. In her interview with Judith Mackrell, Laura Esquivel compared the art of the chef with that of the choreographer (see Like Water for Chocolate  23 July 2022). Gita offered to cook for van  Manen and as she is an artist in spice he would enjoy one of the best meals of his life were he ever to take her up on the offer.

Solo danced by Henrik Erikson, Alessandro Giaquinto and Matteo Miccini of the Stuttgart Ballet won the loudest and most sustained applause of the evening.  It is a very short piece set to Bach's Violin Partita. Keeping up with the music requires great virtuosity and equal stamina.  It was danced with energy, flair and fluidity. - an altogether brilliant display.

The first time I saw Concertante it was performed by Northern Ballet.   I wrote in Terpsichore:

"What can one say about a masterpiece? Especially when there is a YouTube video of the great man himself discussing his ballet. According to the clip van Manen staged the work for the Nederlands Dans Theater junior company (Dans Theater 2). He spoke very highly of the Leeds dancers (Bateman, Batley, Leebolt, Contadini, Lori Gilchrist, Nicola Gervasi, Prudames and Isaac Lee-Baker) as well he might for they were good."

The video to which I referred was an interview with van Manen in Leeds on 6 June 2013.   I have seen performances of the work by other companies since then and it never ceases to impress me. Floor Eimers said that Concedrtante brings out the best in her and that seems also to be the case with other dancers.  There is something compelling in Frank Martin's music, Kekko's designs and of course the choreography,   This was the last work of the van Manen season and it was danced with verve by Nina Tonoli, Timothy van Poucke, Jingjing Mao, Martin ten Kortenaar, Lore Zonderman, Jan Spunda, Khayla Fitzpatrick and Conor Walmsley.

The evening had begun under the baton of Matthew Rowe, a compatriot and (I believe) an old boy of St Paul's School.  It ended under that baton of Northern Ballet's Director of Music, Jonathan Lo.  As he was led onto the stage the applause was deafening.   I felt very proud of him as well as Matthew Rowe.   But the loudest cheers and most vigorous clapping were reserved for van Manen himself.  They were in appreciation of the works that we had seen that night but also for his lifetime's achievement.

Swan Lake from Tatarstan

Last Monday I mentioned Jakop Ahlbom's Swan Lake at the Meervaart Theatre in Amsterdam (see Jakop Ahlbom's Swan Lake 2 May 2016). On 24 Jan 2017 the same theatre will stage a more conventional Swan Lake by the Ballet of the State Opera of Tatarstan. The video of the cygnets land pas de deux from the white act ooks good so I thought I would find out something about this company and its homeland.

I regret to say that my only thing I knew about Tatars up to now had been that were once known for the swiftness of their arrows. When I was a small child my father's reply to my mother complained of procrastination whether it was visiting in-laws, home improvements or anything else he did not enjoy doing was:

"I go, I go; look how I go,
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow."

 A quotation from Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream.  However there is a great deal more to Tatarstan than that.

The first thing to note is that they do have a State Opera House with a ballet company that looks pretty good judging by its soloists and repertoire. They seem to have all the 19th century classics and Soviet staples and a few of their own one of which is Carmina Burana  that may or may not have anything to do with David Bintley's.

So what and where is Tatarstan? According to Wikipedia it is a landlocked republic in South West Russia. Its map bears a remarkable similarity to that of Switzerland though its land area is somewhat larger (26,000 square miles compared to Switzerland's 15,940 square miles) and its population is very much smaller (3.8 million compared to Switzerland's 8.2 million). Unlike Switzerland it is relatively flat. Its highest point is only 1,125 feet compared to mighty Mt Rosa's 15,203. It also has lakes (though the biggest, Lake Kubyshew and Lower Kama, appear to be reservoirs) and rivers that are as great as the Rhine and the Rhone. It has a splendid red and green flag and its motto is  Bez Buldırabız! which means "Yes we can".

Turning back to ballet the State Opera House holds an International Festival of Classic Ballet named after Rudolf Nureyev from time to time. According to its website:

"The "Nutcracker" ballet, performed on May 21, 1992 was not only the highlight of the program, but also a sensation, as legendary Rudolf Nuriyev conducted the orchestra. After the performance, which was a great success, outstanding ballet dancer agreed to give his name to the festival."

Last year the festival attracted Matthew Golding as well as principals from other companies (see Nureyev International Ballet Festival in Kazan to conclude with two galas 28 May 2015). So in my view the Tatarstan State Opera dancers are definitely worth a dekko.

If anybody wants to see the Tatar ballet in Amsterdam tickets cost between 12.50 and 35 euros and can be bought on-line.

London Ballet Circle

I mentioned the London Ballet Circle in August on 31 Aug 2013. I have now joined the Circle or rather rejoined it as I was a member while I was an undergraduate at St Andrews in the early 1970s but allowed my membership to lapse when I went to UCLA for graduate studies in the USA. Now that I have rejoined I am getting all sorts of useful information in its newsletters and Facebook page.

For instance there is an announcement about the English National Ballet School's special public performances at its studio theatre on Hortensia Road on Saturday 19 October, at 14:00 and 16:00 as part of the Chelsea Festival.  It also celebrates the school's 25th anniversary.  Tickets are £10 for adults £10 and £5 for children and further information can be obtained from galinawilkinson@enbschool.org.uk  on 020 7376 7076.  If I lived in or near London I would be there like a shot.

While talking about the English National Ballet School I should add that two of its students did well at the Genée which I mentioned in "Yet More Good News from Ballet West - Natasha Watson's Medal in the Genée" 30 Sept 2013. . Isabelle Brouwers received a silver medal and John-Rhys Halliwell a bronze. John-Rhys Halliwell also won the audience award.  Belated congratulations to those guys and all the best for the future.  I look forward to seeing them on the stage soon.

More useful information that I have just received from the London Ballet Circle is about Dance UK, the national voice for dance. The website of this organization has information about auditions, events, fitness, jobs and campaigns.  One of the items is Launch in Leeds on 23 Oct which is on my home turf. It is a day long seminar on "How to make a living in dance and how to have a long career" which is run by Northern Ballet, Phoenix, Leeds Met and Yorkshire Dance. Jolly interesting even to someone like me who is far too old and far too fat and arthritic to have any aspirations to a career in dance.

Finally the London Ballet Circle is holding a special event for its new president Sir Peter Wright on the 28 Oct 2013. I would love to have attended the event but I will be on my way back from a meeting of arbitrators that takes place at the UN agency for intellectual property in Geneva that day. The evening for Sir Peter promises to be splendid and I hope everybody who can attend has a great time.  I shall look forward o reading all about it.

You should by now have realized that it is worth joining the London Ballet Circle even if, like me, you live nowhere near London and give the Big Smoke the widest of all possible berths.  If you want to join here is their membership page with details of subs and how to join up.