Northern BalletGenerations Three Short Ballets 16 Sept 2023 14:00
Tomorrow Northern Ballet will dance Benjamin Ella's Joie de Vivre, Hans van Manen's Adagio Hammerklavier and Tiler Peck's Intimate Pagesat the Linbury. Those who are fortunate enough to obtain tickets are in for a treat. I saw the show at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds on 16 Sept 2023. I have to think back to the first time I saw A Simple Mannearly 40 years ago for a show by Northern Ballet that I have enjoyed as much.
In his foreword to the programme, Federico Bonelli wrote how much he had been looking forward to the moment when he could present a programme of his own to reflect his ambitions for Northern Ballet in the years to come. Each of the works that the company danced had a connection with the Bonelli. Adagio Hammerklavier was a reminder of his time with the Dutch National Ballet, Joie de Vivre of his career at the Royal Ballet and Intimate Pages of his guest appearances around the world.
My favourite work of the three was Adagio Hammerklavier. I had seen it online as part of the Dutch National Ballet's Hans van Manen's Variationswhich were screened from an almost empty Music Theatre on 27 and 28 Feb 2023. In my review of that performance, I referred to a panel discussion in the Stanley and Audrey Forum in 2015 when a critic who really should have known better opined that Beethoven is impossible to choreograph (seeMy Thoughts on Saturday Afternoon's Panel Discussion at Northern Ballet 21 June 2015). It was glorious to watch a ballet set to Beethoven's music in the same theatre in which it had been declared impossible.
In my humble opinion, van Manen is the world's greatest living choreographer. I had the enormous good fortune to shake his hand at the Dutch National Ballet's gala in June 2022. This is not the first time Northern Ballet has performed his work The company performed Concertante in 2013 and on being asked what he thought of the dancers he replied that he liked them very much indeed (see YouTube Dance Master Hans van Manen on Concertante & Northern Ballet), There is now a new generation of dancers at Northern Ballet and I think he would like today's artists even more. The first couple in Adagio Hammerklavier were Amber Lewis and Jonathan Hanks, the second Alessandra Bramante and George Liang and the third Dominique Larose and Joseph Taylor. The pianist was Colin Scott. They danced with flair and precision and I think van Manen would have liked them too,
I was not the only one to relish that ballet. In the second interval, I spotted Bonelli standing on his own so I introduced myself. As I was telling him about my blog Janet Mclty of BalletcoForum joined us. She like me had been impressed by van Manen and she asked the director whether we could have more van Manen, ideally one of his ballets in every mixed bill. Bonelli did not think that would be possible but said that it was a very nice idea and I agree.
Joie de Vivre was light, fresh and exuberant - a perfect start to a triple bill. The score consisted of 8 violin and piano concertos performed live by Geoffrey Allan and Ewan Gilford. Ella described it as "a poem or epigram of human feelings, emotions or reactions." Three couples performed this work: Dominique Larose and Joseph Taylor, Sarah Chun and Harris Beattie, Kirica Takahashi and Jun Ishii. Finally, I should say a word for the costumes and lighting which were exquisite.
The last piece was choreographed to Leoš Janáček's String Quartet No. 2 Intimate Letters and again we had a live string quartet consisting of Geoffrey Allan, Helen Boordman, Rosalyn Cabot and Toby Turton. The music was plaintive and haunting. Peck explained in the programme notes that the composer wrote it with a love interest in mind. The piece requires a main couple, two soloists and three couples. Sarah Chun and Harris Beattie were the main couple. Aerys Merrill and Kirica Takahashi were the soloists. The couples were Julie Nunes and Stefano Varalta, Kaho Masumoto and Archie Sherman and Helen Bogatch and Bruno Serraclara.
Just before the show I watched the dancers in company class. They looked happy, energetic and motivated.
Dutch National Ballet Sixtieth Anniversary GalaNational Opera and Ballet Auditorium Amsterdam 30 June 2020 19:30
One of the high points of my year is the Dutch National Ballet's annual gala. It consists of extracts from some of the company's work over the previous year and ends with a reception in which the dancers and musicians mingle with the audience. In other years it has taken place in early September but this year it was on 30 June. It is always a special occasion but this year's gala was particularly important because it was the company's 60th anniversary. It also celebrated Hans van Manen's 90th birthday and the company's emergence from covid restrictions. To underscore the significance of the occasion, the event was attended by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.
As usual, the evening began with the Grand Défilé, a parade of artists from the youngest students of the Dutch National Ballet Academy in their smartest leotards to the principal ballerinas in dazzling white classical tutus accompanied by the premiers danseurs nobles to the strains of Aurora's wedding from The Sleeping Beauty. That was a tune that I often played in 2020 and 2021 in the hope that the pandemic would one day come to an end and the world's theatres would reopen. This visit was my first trip to the Netherlands since 17 Nov 2019 when I saw The Best of Balanchine at the Zuiderstrandstheater in The Hague.
The Grand Défilé was followed by Hans van Manen's Solo, a spectacular piece to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach's Violin Partita which had come pretty close to stealing the show the previous evening. Henrik Erikson of the Stuttgart Ballet who had entertained us the night before thrilled us once more. This time, he was joined on stage by Fabio Adorisio and Christian Pforr. Once again the applause was tumultuous.
At this point, the company's artistic director Ted Brandson usually walks on stage to welcome the crowd in Dutch and English. This year it was a little different for he spoke only in Dutch. Presently a screen appeared and this film was run. Now I have never learnt any Dutch - I regret to say that there are not many opportunities to learn that language in this country except for diplomats and a few academics - but I do speak German and my ears caught something that sounded like "Ritter" which means knight in that language. Dutch is a language that English speakers with a good knowledge of German can actually get the drift because it is close to both languages. The ceremony was nothing like a British investiture at which Her Majesty or nowadays Prince Charles dubs the candidate with a sword. A decoration was presented by the Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam. But it was clearly a very high honour at least equal to any of our knighthoods for service to the arts as the company's news release makes clear. I met Brandsen after the show and congratulated him on his knighthood. I asked him whether we had to call him "Sir Ted" from now on. Brandsen thought that perhaps we should but I have to say that his view was not shared by any of my Dutch friends.
The preeminence of Dutch ballet rests largely on the work of three outstanding choreographers, Hans van Manen, Rudi van Dantzig and Toer van Schayk. The company actually refers to them as the three Vans on the History page of its website. Van Schayk is a distinguished sculptor, painter and stage designer as well as a choreographer and many of the sets for the Dutch National Ballet's productions were designed by him.
The next work on the programme was De Chimaera van LA, an extract from van Schayk's ballet Het mythische voorwendsel which means "the mythical pretext". According to the programme notes, the title of the ballet was inspired by a quotation from Salvador Dali who said, "the subject of art is a pretext." The music for the piece was by Bela Bartok but van Schayk created just about everything else. He choreographed the work and designed the set, costumes and lighting. It was performed by Anna Tsygankova and Giorgi Potskhishvili. I know Tsygankova very well having seen her for the first time as Cinderella at the Coliseum in 2014 but Potskhishvili was new to me. He is clearly a rising star having entered the Junior Company as recently as 2020. Their ballet master, incidentally, was Caroline Sayo Iura who danced in the first performance of the ballet.
The French composer Erik Satie inspired Sir Frederick Ashton to create Monotonesand Hans van Manen Trois Gnossiennes. Van Manen's work was the next in the programme. It is a duet but one in which the pianist and piano have a role at least to the extent that they are on castors and moved around the stage. Having never heard the word "Gnossiennes " outside the context of this music I looked it up and found that it had been coined by Satie and that he had never explained what it means. The word is reminiscent of the Greek word γνῶσις and as the music has a sacerdotal quality I offer "The Three Initiates". The dancers were Anna Ol and James Stout and the pianist Olga Khoziainova.
The Staatsballett Berlin presented the following ballet It had commissioned David Dawson (the Dutch National Ballet's Associate Artist) to create Voices during the lockdown. According to the programme notes the piece reflects that time. Dawson is reported to have said:
“The difficult times caused by the pandemic have given us an opportunity to reflect and progress, and help us to see the world again in its truth. I believe this is when change can really happen. VOICES aims to visualise the awakening of a new era where we can create the world we want to live in. A new place for humanity to have the chance to be the best it can be as we all learn more about our infinite capacity and potential.”
One of van Manen's best known works is 5 Tangosto the music of Astor Piazzolla. Perhaps the most thrilling part of that ballet is Voyamos a Diablo. This is a male solo which requires a dancer of considerable strength and equal grace. Artur Shesterikov danced that role with characteristic flair.
The contribution to the evening from Van Dantzig's repertoire was Voorbij Gegaan. The title has never been translated but I think it means "Gone By". Van Dantzig created it for Alexandra Radius and Han Ebbelaar as they approached the peak of their careers. A lyrical piece to a piano composition by Chopin it was danced delightfully by Qian Liu and Semyon Velichko.
One of my favourite moments of the evening was Joela short solo by Remi Wӧrtmeyer that he had created for himself to the music of Jacques Offenbach. It was a humorous piece but also one that required strength, stamina and enormous skill. The company has recently announced Wörtmeyer's retirement, In his valedictory, Brandsen said:
"Remi’s positive energy, fabulous technique and engaging personality onstage and off have made him one of the most beloved dancers in our company. I will miss Remi and his dancing enormously and I wish him lots of success with his new artistic adventures.”
I shall also miss him and I add my best wishes.
My other favourite piece was Riho Sakamoto'sMy One and Only from Balanchine's Who Cares. I interviewed her when she joined the Junior Company and have marvelled at her meteoric rise. This is a solo that charms her audience. The applause loved her and exploded in applause.
I had seen van Manen's Variations for Two Couplesthe previous night and discussed it in my review of that performance. Jozef Varga, who has also announced his retirement, had appeared in the first performance of that ballet. He was joined by Tsygankova who had also been in the first show, The other dancers were Jessica Xuan and Constantine Allen. This performance is likely to have been Varga's last with the company. He will also be missed and I wish him well.
The last piece before the interval was Grand Pas Classiqueby Viktor Gsovsky. It is not performed very often if at all in the United Kingdom and the only time that I had seen it before was as part of the Dutch National Ballet's Christmas Gala which was live streamed on 19 Dec 2021. The work is spectacular even on screen but it is even better on stage. The dancers were Jakob Feyferlik who had performed the work in the Christmas Gala and Olga Smirnova.
There was an interval after Grand Pas Classique. After we had returned to our seats, Matthew Rowe, the Director of Music, rose and addressed the King and Queen of the Netherlands. He said that the Dutch Ballet Orchestra had commissioned some music from the Dutch composer, Jacob ter Veldhuis, as a 60th anniversary present for the company. Mr Ter Veldhuis was in the audience and a spotlight picked him out immediately after the conductor's announcement. The piece that Mr ter Veldhuis had written was entitled Luce Divina inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy on which he had already written an oratorio. The orchestra then played the commissioned work.
Although Rowe conducted the orchestra for most of the evening, he handed the baton to Jonathan Lo for De Chimaera
van L.A and the finale. Lo is the Director of Music of Northern Ballet and I have also seen him at Covent Garden. Lo was with Brandsen when I congratulated him on his honour and Brandsen kindly introduced me to Lo. I expressed my delight that through Lo there was now a personal link between Leeds and Amsterdam. I was even happier when Lo told me that Northern's new Director, Federico Bonelli, had also attended the gala which means that there is now a direct link with my local company at the highest level.
Every year an award is presented by Alexandra Radius to the year's most outstanding dancer. This year it was won by Salome Leverashvili. She came to my attention when she and Timothy van Poucke published a vlog which I featured in Missing Amsterdamon 17 Feb 2017.Those talented young artists have risen through the company's ranks very quickly. Van Poucke won the Radius prize as early as 2018. Leverashvili accepted her prize with a short but witty speech in English which may well have won her even more fans.
A part of any gala to which the audience particularly looks forward is the Junior Company's piece. This year the Junior Company danced the last part ofIn the Future. I discussed the piece in detail in my review of the previous night's performance. The Junior Company did not disappoint their fans. They were as exciting and vivacious as always. Yet another triumph for their artistic coordinator, Ernst Meisner. The programme did not name them individually but I have done so in my review of the previous night's show.
After the performance, the audience spilt out onto the lobby and terraces for the reception. The reception welds the company and its audience into a family which does not happen with most other companies. It is one of the reasons why I love the Dutch National Ballet. Of course, I have a lot of respect for the world's other great companies and I am a member of many of their Friends' schemes and support them in every way I can. But, with the exceptions of Scottish Ballet, Ballet Cymru and, very recently, Northern Ballet, I do not feel as close to them as I do to the Dutch National Ballet. It was at the reception that I met van Manen. My brief handshake and greeting enabled me to express my admiration and gratitude for his lifetime's work. I doubt that I could have done that in any other way.
Dutch National Ballet and Guests Hans van Manen Festival IV National Opera and Ballet auditorium 29 June 2022 20:15
I would argue that Hans van Manen is the greatest living choreographer and one of the greatest of all time. I have been a fan ever since I first saw his work some 50 years or so ago. In that time he has made over 150 ballets and I have seen a fair number of them. His works are performed regularly by the world's leading ballet companies including those of the United Kingdom.
Earlier this month van Manen celebrated his 90th birthday. To mark the occasion, the Dutch National Ballet ended its 2021-2022 season with a special Hans van Manen Festival. Between 8 and 29 June 2022, the Dutch National Ballet and companies from Austria and Germany performed 19 of van Manen's works arranged in four separate programmes.
I attended the fourth of those programmes on 29 June 2022 which consisted of Four Schumann Pieces, In the Future, Variations for Two Couples, Solo and Concertante. I chose that programme for three reasons. It was an opportunity to see the latest recruits to the Junior Company which I had followed closely since 2013. They were to perform In the Future which I had previously seen at their 5th-anniversary celebration at the Stadsschouwburg on 15 April 2018, the 2018 gala and in London on 5 July 2019. Secondly, one of the works was to be performed by the Vienna State Ballet and another by the Stuttgart Ballet which had been Cranko's company. These are companies that rarely visit this country and it was a chance to see them. Finally, the fourth programme included Concertante which is the work by van Manen that I know best.
Van Manen had created Four Schumann Piecesfor the Royal Ballet. It was first performed at Covent Garden on 31 Jan 1975 with Sir Anthony Dowell in the leading role. The music is Robert Schumann's String quartet in A opus 41 no. 3. The ballet revolves around the leading male and there is some YouTube footage of Dowell in that role. It was part of a mixed bill which I attended. I can't remember much about it but it would have been one of the reasons why I began to admire van Manen. According to the programme notes, the male lead was later performed by Rudolf Nureyev, Hans Ebelaar, Wayne Eagling and Matthew Golding each of whom interpreted it in a different way. The company that performed the piece on 29 June was the Vienna State Ballet. Davide Dato was the lead male He was supported by Hyo-Jung Kang and Arne Vandervelde, Liudmila Konovalova and Francesco Costa, Elena Bottaro and Igor Milos, Sonia Dvořák and Géraud Wielick and Aleksandra Liashenko and Andrey Teterin. The company danced Four Schumann Pieces for the first time in the Vienna Volksoper on 4 June 2022. For them, it was a brand new piece which they danced with appealing energy and freshness.
In the Futurewas created for the Scarpino Ballet Rotterdam in 1986, a company that is even older than the Dutch National Ballet. The piece was inspired by music that the Scottish composer David Byrne had written as a soundtrack for Fritz Lang's film Metropolisthe previous year. As striking as the music are the set, costume and lighting designs of Keso DekkerEach dancer wears a garment that is green at the front and red at the back. The dancers pulsate to the music as if they were beams of light. It is a perfect piece for the Junior Company which is now a completely different cohort from the one I saw in Amsterdam in 2018 and London in 2019. The members who danced on 29 June were Luca Abdel-Nour, Koko Bamford, Lily Carbone, Mila Caviglia, Sven de Wilde, Lauren Hunter, Nicola Jones, Gabriel Rajah, Guillermo Torrijos,Louisella Vogt and Koyo Yamamoto. They were as impressive as their predecessors and I look forward to watching them develop as a troupe and blossom as artists of the Dutch National Ballet and other leading companies.
Variations for Two Couplesis one of van Manen's latest works. It was created for Anna Tsygankova, Matthew Golding, Igone de Jongh and Jozef Varga and first performed on 15 Feb 2012. It is a very short piece that packs in music by Benjamin Britten, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Stefan Kovács Tickmayer and Astor Piazzolla. The programme states that for van Manen it was all about the personalities of the dancers that he wished to draw out. Varga danced the role that van Manen had created for him on 29 June. but instead of Tsygankova, Golding and de Jongh he was joined by Riho Sakamoto, Young Gyu Choi and Jessica Xuan. Van Manen intended this to be a very understated ballet. He said, "everything is 'low down' – even the dancers’ lifts." That is echoed by Dekker's costumes and backdrop. The result is a work of refinement and elegance.
There was an interval after Variations for Two Couples. On returning to my seat I noticed that van Manen was sitting in my row. Several of his fans were talking to him and one gave him a hug. He stood up to allow me to pass and for a moment I felt impelled to introduce myself and shake his hand. However, the curtain was about to rise and I let the moment slip. The very next day my friend Gita Mistry button-holed him in the lobby of the National Opera and Ballet auditorium as we gathered for the Gala. She introduced me to him and I had the opportunity to tell him how much I had enjoyed his work over the last 50 years. However, Gita went one better and actually took a selfie of herself with the great man. In her interview with Judith Mackrell, Laura Esquivel compared the art of the chef with that of the choreographer (see Like Water for Chocolate23 July 2022). Gita offered to cook for van Manen and as she is an artist in spice he would enjoy one of the best meals of his life were he ever to take her up on the offer.
Solodanced by Henrik Erikson, Alessandro Giaquinto and Matteo Miccini of the Stuttgart Ballet won the loudest and most sustained applause of the evening. It is a very short piece set to Bach's Violin Partita. Keeping up with the music requires great virtuosity and equal stamina. It was danced with energy, flair and fluidity. - an altogether brilliant display.
The first time I sawConcertanteit was performed by Northern Ballet. I wrote in Terpsichore:
"What can one say about a masterpiece? Especially when there is a YouTube video of the great man himself discussing his ballet. According to the clip van Manen staged the work for the Nederlands Dans Theater junior company (Dans Theater 2). He spoke very highly of the Leeds dancers (Bateman, Batley, Leebolt, Contadini, Lori Gilchrist, Nicola Gervasi, Prudames and Isaac Lee-Baker) as well he might for they were good."
The evening had begun under the baton of Matthew Rowe, a compatriot and (I believe) an old boy of St Paul's School. It ended under that baton of Northern Ballet's Director of Music, Jonathan Lo. As he was led onto the stage the applause was deafening. I felt very proud of him as well as Matthew Rowe. But the loudest cheers and most vigorous clapping were reserved for van Manen himself. They were in appreciation of the works that we had seen that night but also for his lifetime's achievement.
Dutch National Ballet 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 Ballet21 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 Prometheusby 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 Fugefor 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.
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 Rosewhich 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 ever7 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.
When I first took an interest in ballet as an undergraduate at St Andrews at the end of the 1960s, I subscribed to Dance and Dancers and the Dancing Times. Although both publications carried reviews and news stories from around the world, four great names seemed to dominate. Balanchine in the USA, Ashton and Macmillan here and Hans van Manen in the Netherlands. Sadly, Ashton, Balanchine and Macmillan are no more but van Manen remains with us.
On 27 and 28 Feb 2021, the Dutch National Ballet held two special matinees in his honour. They were danced in an empty theatre but screened to a worldwide audience. It was, of course, a celebration of van Manen's genius, but with two separate casts, it was a showcase of the strength and depth of one of the world's great companies..
Six works were presented:
27 Feb
28 Feb
Adagio Hammerklavier
Anna Ol, Semyon Velichko, Qian Liu , Jakob Feyferlik Maia Makhateli, Artur Shesterikov
Luiza Bertho, James Stout, Maria Chugai, Daniel Silva, Elisabeth Tonev, Vito Mazzeo
Sarcasmen
Floor Eimers, Jozef Varga
Salome Leverashvili, Timothy van Poucke
Déjà Vu
Erica Horwood, Young Gyu Choi
Floor Eimers,
Edo Wijnen
Trois Gnossiennes
Anna Ol,
James Stout
Qian Liu,
Jakob Feyferlik
Two Pieces for HET
Maia Makhateli, Remi Wörtmeyer
Anna Tsygankova,
Constantine Allen
Variations for Two Couples
Anna Tsygankova, Constantine Allen, Jessica Xuan, Martin ten Kortenaar
Riho Sakamoto, Young Gyu Choi, Jingjing Mao, Jared Wright
The programme opened with Adagio Hammerklavier which is the longest and most dramatic of the 6 works. It was created for the Dutch National Ballet in 1973 but it has been performed by many of the world's other leading companies including the Royal Ballet in 1976 and the Maryinsky in 2014. In a short introductory speech, the company's director, Ted Brandsen, said that van Manen had worked with some 60 companies around the world.
The score is by Beethoven and I once heard someone who really should have known better that Beethoven is impossible to choreograph (see My Thoughts on Saturday Afternoon's Panel Discussion at Northern Ballet21 June 2015). There are, it is true, not many ballets by Beethoven and it can't be easy to create dance from his music but van Manen succeeded spectacularly as indeed did Ashton with his Creatures of Prometheusin 1970. This is a challenging ballet which is why companies field their best dancers. In the London premiere, for instance, it was danced by Makarova, Mason, Penney, Wall, Eagling and Silver.
Both casts for this piece were brilliant. The Saturday one was majestic. A cast that included Maia Makhateli and Artur Shesterikov, Anna Ol and Semyon Velichko, could not be otherwise. Shesterikov has been my dancer of the year and Makhateli is another favourite. I had not seen Jakob Feyferlik before but I shall certainly look out for him in future. He partnered Qian Liu who never fails to impress. The Sunday cast brought energy and freshness to the work. It was good to see Daniel Silva whom I have followed closely since I saw him in No Time Before Time on 14 Feb 2016 (see Ballet Bubbles16 Feb 2016). He is particularly graceful and partnered Maria Chugai confidently but sensitively. She was, as ever, a delight to watch in a role to which she is particularly well suited. Save for Ernst Meisner's class on World Ballet Day I had not seen Elisabeth Tonev before but I shall certainly look out for her in future, I also enjoyed the performance of Luiza Bertho. I had, of course, seen the principals, James Stout and Vito Mazzeo many times before. As was to be expected, their performances were masterly.
Nowhere was the contrast between the two casts more striking than inSarcasmen. This is a sexy (if not slightly risqué) duet to Prokofiev's Cinq Sarcasmes, Opus 17. It is about a man who can't resist showing off and a woman who can't resist puncturing his ego. At one point she grabs his unmentionables. The ballet was introduced to the audience by Rachel Beaujean in a short interval between stage changes.Her comments were particularly interesting because she had premiered the female role of this ballet in 1981. On Saturday Jozef Varga, who has been in the company since 2007, and Floor Eimers, one of its most admired soloists, danced with sophistication. On Sunday, Timothy van Poucke and Salome Leverashvili danced with flair. I have been a fan of those artists ever since they were in the Junior Company. They used to run a delightful vlog that I mentioned in Missing Amsterdamon 18 Feb 2017. Van Poucke won the Radius Prize, which is usually awarded to principals, just 2 years after he had joined the company.
Eimers performed again with Edo Wijnen in Déjà vu, a work that he had created for the Nederlands Dans Theater to Fratres, a striking composition for violin and piano by Arvo Pärt. I enjoyed her performance in this piece even more than her performance in Sarcasmen. The dancers on Saturday were Erica Horwood and Young Gyu Choi who impressed the audience with their virtuosity. During the interval, Beaujean explained that the title was a gentle reproach from the choreographer to critics in the mid-1990s who complained that his ballets had become much or a muchness.
After Adagio Hammerklavier my favourite work of both shows was Trois Gnossiennesand that is at least partly down to the score. As far as I am aware, Erik Satie did not compose for the ballet but his work has been the basis of two masterpieces, van Manen's and Ashton's Monotones.They are quite dissimilar in the number of dancers, set design and, in the case of Monotones, orchestration but they are both works of genius. I first saw Trois Gnossiennes in Ballet Bubbles on my birthday in 2016 when it was performed by Melissa Chapski and Giovanni Princic and I could not have wished for a better birthday present. It was performed elegantly by Ol and Stout on Saturday and Qian Liu and Feyferlik on Sunday.
The other piece that I had seen before wasTwo Pieces for HET for Rachel. The artist to whom that work had been dedicated was of course Rachel Beaujean. "Het" is a definite article in Dutch, It is used by lazy, anglophone, monoglot and possibly in some cases brexiteer journalists as an abbreviation for Het Nationale Ballet instead of "HNB" or even "DNB". It is, however, a beautiful work which was danced by Makhateli and Wörtmeyer on Saturday and Anna Tsygankova and Constantine Allen on Sunday. In other companies, they might be called "Etoiles". Tsygankovawon many hearts in London which her performance of Cinderellaand she reduced many of us to tears with her portrayal of Mata Hari. She is an accomplished pianist which perhaps accounts for her musicality.
In an interlude shortly before the programme ended, we were treated to a screening of the film Hans van Manen Performer - Dutch National Balletwhich the company had commissioned for the choreographer's 75th birthday. Van Manen was born in 1932 yet he marched onto the stage of the auditorium on Friday ramrod straight like a guardsman to acknowledge the internet's applause and affection.
The finale was Variations for Two Coupleswhich is one of van Manen's most recent works. Tsygankova had danced in the first performance of that work with Matthew Goulding, Igone de Jongh and Jozef Varga. She danced the piece again on Saturday but this time with Allen, Jessica Xuan and Martin ten Kortenaar. I have been following Xuan and Kortenaar ever since I first saw the Junior Company for the first time in 2013 (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 201325 Nov 2013). They have soared since then which makes me very happy. Another dancer I have followed from the time she joined the Junior Company is Riho Sakamoto. She performed on Sunday with Young Gyu Choi, Jingjing Mao and Jared Wright. Both casts did justice to this work which was set to an eclectic score that included pieces by Benjamin Britten, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Stefan Kovács and Astor Piazzolla. It was a perfect way to end a delightful weekend.
As the vaccination rollout accelerates and the accuracy of testing and tracing improves in the Netherlands and the rest of the world there is hope that this pandemic will retreat. It will take some time for social distancing to end but at least there is at least a chance that theatres around the world will re-open soon. I look forward to returning to Amsterdam just as soon as it is safe to travel.
inplayer Dutch National Ballet Live10 Oct to 7 Nov 2020
Hans van Manen made it very clear that he does not do story ballets in a discussion that followed the first screening of the latest filming of Live. To emphasize the point he added that that was why he had never created a full-length ballet. It is true that there is no synopsis or libretto but you don't need a plot for a narrative ballet. That was about the only point upon which a panel of experts on narrative dance was agreed when I asked that question at the "State of the Art Panel Discussion: Narrative Dance in Ballet"in Leeds some years ago. For me, Live tells the story of a relationship at least as eloquently as any ballet.
It is also much more real and immediate. Unlike the storybook ballets, Live is not confined to the stage. It starts there bit spills into the audience's world. It proceeds into the lobby of the Music Theatre and finally the streets. The last scene shows the woman in red walking slowly along the banks of the Amstel towards the Waterlooplein underground station.
Van Manen's Live is therefore just as much a work of cinema as it is of ballet. On his foundation's website, van Manen listsLiveas a "video ballet" rather than simply as a ballet. He gives the cameraman equal billing with the dancers. That is likely to be because the cameraman is very much part of the action. The interplay between dancer and cameraman is best appreciated in Altin Kaftira's film Diana Vishneva in 'LIVE' of Hans van Manen. The cameraman is in the dancers' faces, particularly the woman's. At one point, she repels him by pressing her palm against the camera lens. The other important element of the film is the music. Van Manen chose the following pieces by Liszt: Sospiri, Bagatelle sans tonalité, Wiegenlied, Vier kleine Klavierstücke and Abschied.
Live was filmedfor the first time in 1979 Colleen Davis and Henny Jurriëns were the original dancers and Henk van was the cameraman. It was filmed in the Carré because the Music Theatre had not been constructed at that time. The video has been remade several times with different dancers including, of course, Vishneva. The film that has been released between the 10 Oct and 7 Nov 2020 casts Maia Makhateli as the woman in red and Artur Shesterikov as her partner.
I have long admired Shesterikov and Makhateli for their virtuosity but in the film I also saw superb acting. There were moments when sparks seemed to fly. The drama was heightened by the accompaniment of Olga Khoziainova. After the screening, there was a short conversation about the film between van Manen, Rachel Beaujean and Davis. Clips from the 1979 film were shown. I was amazed to learn that Davis was only 19 when she danced the lady in red. Particularly as her successors in the role have included Vishneva and Makhateli.
Though he was much younger than the other choreographers and his work was very different, van Manen was one of the recurring names in the 1960s when I first started to follow ballet. His works were reviewed in almost every issue of Dance and Dancers and The Dancing Times which I devoured when I was at university. His name was mentioned as frequently as those of Ashton, Balanchine, Cranko, Darrell, MacMillan and van Dantzig. All those great choreographers have gone. Only van Manen is left. He must be well into his 80s but he still knows how to excite, surprise and delight.
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 Chinaand Paddy Fieldsit 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 2and 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 Performance17 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,
