World Ballet Day - Dutch National Ballet

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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 Martin ten Kortenaar of the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company

Martin ten Kortenaar

Photo Robin DePuy

(c) Dutch National Ballet 2014

Reproduced with kind permission of the Dutch

National Ballet

Martin was born in Toronto. His mother introduced him to ballet. He used to figure skate and was always dancing around the house, so she thought he might like ballet. He was reluctant at first but she persuaded him to try a private class at one of the studios in his home town. “That's how it all started”, he said “although I don't think I really grew to love ballet until a year or so later.” At first he studied in a small studio called the Royal City School of Ballet, in Guelph, Ontario, which is where he grew up. After about half a year he entered Canada's National Ballet School, where he trained for 5 years.

When I asked him whether he had been inspired by a particlar dancer or choreographer he replied: “I'm not sure if I can say I'm inspired by one dancer, or one choreographer. Every time I see beautiful dancer or a beautiful ballet, I think I'm inspired. There is so much talent in the dance world, and whenever I get the chance to see an amazing dancer or ballet I feel that it fuels my passion for dance, and reminds me why I love to dance.” I also asked him whether he had a favourite dancer or choreographer. He said: “I think this is similar to the earlier question, because I don't think I can say I have absolute favourites. There are so many incredible dancers that I have been lucky enough to see, and I don't think that I can pick out just a few to call my favourites.”

I asked Martin whether he had been inspired by a teacher to which he replied: “I had a teacher while still at school in Toronto, named Sergiu Stefanschi, who was a real inspiration. He has been teaching for many years, and he has so much wisdom to impart on his students. He had a story for every single step you would do, and every story he would tell us always had so much history and inspiration in it.”

When I asked him what was his greatest achievement to date?, he replied modestly: “As I'm still at the beginning of my professional career I haven't had so many major achievements yet. I think one thing that I am very proud of was winning the Hnatyshyn Developing Artist's Grant, which is a grant that is awarded every year to the most promising young Canadian dancers.” I should add that Martin also won the Peter Dwyer Award in 2012 and the Glenn Gilmour Award in 2013.

Martin danced in a variety of roles at school, including Prince Albrecht in Giselle Act II and Prince Desire in Sleeping Beauty. As an apprentice with the National Ballet of Canada, he got to dance as a knight in Act I of Swan Lake, which he found a great role to do.

As for the future he replied:

“There are many many ballets that I hope to dance in, both classical and contemporary. One ballet that has always stuck with me is Onegin. I would absolutely love to dance either the title role, or the role of the young poet Lensky. I would really love to dance Romeo, in Romeo and Juliet.” 

He thought his immediate ambitions were probably very similar to those of most dancers of his age in that he hoped to reach the level of principal one day. However, his very first goal is to make it into the main and then take it day by day from there. He had not thought much about the longer term as he was just beginning his dance career. He had thought about teaching: 

“Whenever I've gotten the chance to assist a teacher or a colleague I've found it quite enjoyable. However I'm sure that as I grow older I will find inspiration in other things and maybe find a career completely separate from ballet. For now though I'm just focusing on my immediate career.”

Outside ballet he has always been quite interested, “possibly surprisingly” (his words not mine because I can think of many dancers who are also good sportsmen or sportswomen including one of the teachers at Northern Ballet who ran the London Marathon), in sports like American football, and soccer. 

“When I was still unsure as to whether I wanted to do ballet, my backup plan was actually that I would do football instead.” 

Another of Martin’s interests is drawing though he says that he is not very good. I am sure that is another example of Martin’s modesty.

I have yet to meet Martin but he comes over as a really good bloke. I can’t wait to see him dance and I wish him all the best.