"In the Future" - Junior Company's Fifth Anniversary Performance

Standard YouTube Licence

Dutch National Ballet Junior Company In the Future 15 April 2018, 19:30  Stadsschouwburg, Amsterdam

In the Future is a triple bill to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company.  It takes its title from Hans van Manen's masterpiece of the same name which in turn takes its name from David Byrne's setting of his own words:

"In the future everyone will have the same haircut and the same clothes.
In the future everyone will be very fat from the starchy diet.
In the future everyone will be very thin from not having enough to eat.
In the future it will be next to impossible to tell girls from boys, even in bed ....."

This is a visually arresting but also a very witty piece.  It opens to a repetitive, pulsating score suggesting an industrial process.  The dancers enter the stage in pairs coalesce into larger groups then separate into smaller ones again.  Each and every movement in completely synchronized just like the equipment and components on an assembly line.

Van Manen created In the Future in 1986 for the Scarpino Ballet of Rotterdam but it could have been tailored for the Junior Company. It requires 12 very special dancers with very sharp minds and very agile bodies.  The young men and women who performed at the Stadsschouwburg on Sunday night are among the best on the planet.  Their artistic coordinator, Ernst Meisner, scored the world looking for them at competitions like the Prix de Lausanne and the Youth America Grand Prix and elsewhere. Watching those artists was a mesmerizing, awe-inspiring experience that swept the audience to their feet.

Of the towering choreographic geniuses of my youth - Ashton, Balanchine, Béjart, Cranko, MacMillan, Petit - van Manen is the only one left and he is still busy.  He is one of the reasons why the Dutch National Ballet is special.  He symbolizes its willingness to innovate and thereby renew itself. Van Manen's muse is the great ballerina, Igone de Jongh, and she was the Junior Company's ballet master for Sunday's performance.   In the trailer. Ode to the Master, de Jongh and van Mann dance together.  There could have been no stronger collaboration for this work.

© 2018 Jane Elizabeth Lambert
All rights reserved

The colours red and green were also used by the brilliant Spanish choreographer Juanjo Arqués in Fingers in the Air.  Click on the link to the left to see the video as it is the best way to explain the work.  Lamps no more than an inch long were distributed to the audience and carried by the cast. One emitted red light and the other green.  At various stages of the performance groups of dancers competed with each other - three men against three women or a soloist against a duet - and the members of the audience were asked to vote on which performance they preferred, Celebrity Big Brother style using their lamps. On the first vote, the women won. The jubilant females punched the air and continued to dance as the dejected males slunk away.  Perhaps this was the beginning of a whole new art form - reality ballet.

Towards the end of the work the lights went down. The dancers continued to dance but all that was visible was the movement of the reds and greens just like fireflies. The effect was magical and captivating especially when members of the audience lit their lamps too

I discussed the work with the choreographer after the show.  "What if the audience had chosen the men in the first vote?" I asked.  "The audience had been guided" Juanjo added. "Just like we were in the Brexit referendum," I suggested, "or the Americans who voted for Donald Trump?" The choreographer did not deny the possibility of a political dimension to his work though I got the impression he was more comfortable discussing the analogy with reality TV where the viewers are consumers.

Though the Dutch National Ballet is innovative it is also strongly rooted in a tradition and looks beyond Petipa to Bournonville.  The Junior Company's homage to that tradition was the Pas de Six and Tarantella from Napoli.  Though notionally set in Italy Napoli is associated primarily with the Royal Danish Ballet - much in the same way as Ashton's La Fille mal gardée is quintessentially English even though it is supposed to be located in pre-revolutionary France.  In their swirling skirts the women were enchanting.  The men in their breeches and white shirts and stockings were so dashing. This is a feel good ballet if ever there was. Coached by Ernst Meisner and Caroline Sayo Iura the dancers were magnificent.

I cannot think of a better choice of work than those three ballets to show off the qualities of the Dutch National Ballet.  It is that combination of innovation and classicism that distinguishes that company from the others.  From time to time representatives of the company thank me for my support.  "But I don't think I do" I explain "other than by sitting in the audience and being one of the company's Friends." I am not, alas, an industrialist or aristocrat who could donate what I would like to give and that company deserves.  All I can do is cross the North Sea to see its shows whenever I can.  Why wouldn't I?   This company has a je ne sais quoi that makes it great.  I say that in all seriousness and with all sincerity.

Junior Company's New Season

Last year I was lucky enough to see the opening night of the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company at the Stadsshouwburg in Amsterdam (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 25 Nov 2013). Tomorrow is the opening night of their new season in the same theatre and I hope to be in the audience tomorrow to cheer them.

This year's programme seems at least as good as last year's. It begins with excerpts from Swan Lake and Napoli, (yum) and is followed by works by Hans van Manen (Visions Fugitives) and Embers by Ernst Meisner. Next comes Milena Sidorova's Full Moon. The evening closes with spectacular new works by Juanjo Arques (Blink) and Robert Binet (Surfacing).

Tomorrow's opening is followed by a tour of the Netherlands and in June they are coming back to London as part of Sprinboard.  As a foretaste of their visit enjoy the pas de deux of Nancy Burer and Thomas van Damme at Amsterdam Central Station last month.

The Junior Company

Dutch National Ballet Junior Company

Photo Robin DePuy

(c) Dutch National Ballet 2014

Reproduced with kind permission of the Dutch 

National Ballet

As in the previous interview, my words are in italics and Ernst Meisner’s are in plain text.

“You had some brilliant young dancers last year. Some, such as Michaela DePrince, were already well known before they joined you. How did you recruit them?

"Michaela is indeed a very special dancer and she has now joined the main company and is already dancing nice roles, like the pas de trois in Swan Lake. I also cast her in my ballet for the Back to Bach programme and she did a fine job!

We have an open audition every year. About 700 dancers apply each year and between 100 and 150 are invited to actually come and take a class with us in Amsterdam. This is one way of recruiting. However our school is the first port of call and I prefer to get to know a dancer a bit longer and see how they work in classes over a period of time. So we always hope to get some talent that comes through our own school.

I also attend competitions like the Youth American Grand Prix and the Prix de Lausanne to scout for other talent.”

“How did you become the Junior Company's Artistic Co-ordinator?”

“Once I had heard about plans of having a Junior Company, I approached Ted Brandsen and mentioned that I was ready to make a new step in my career and wanted to focus more on choreographing, managing and teaching. All three things are part of the job.  I was offered the job a few months later.”

“What does the role of Artistic Co-ordinator involve and how does it differ from that of Artistic Director?”

“Ted Brandsen is the Artistic Director of both the main company and the Junior Company.

My job entails the daily running of the Junior Company, planning, contact with choreographers, designers, programming, rehearsing dancers, teaching class, watching shows and so much more that comes along…!
It is a very diverse job and teaches me so much every day! I work very closely together with Ted and aim to achieve his vision for the Junior Company on a daily basis.”

“Tell me something about a Junior Company dancer's day - class, rehearsals, touring etc."

“A Junior Company dancer’s day is much the same as any dancer’s day in the sense that he or she will do class, rehearse and sometimes have performances or tour the Netherlands to do performances. What is different is that because there are only twelve of them. We can give them all a lot of attention and coach them individually. Not just in solos and repertoire, but also how to behave in a big company.

Three times a week they do class with the main company (to get inspired!), but the other three times we give them a separate class so we can focus on their individual needs. They also get more individual guidance from our health team and we organize special classes on whatever we feel they need to spend some more time on. Last year we even did a cooking class for the young ones! That was great!”

“It sounds a lot of fun as well as a lot of hard work. I am sure they all enjoy it.”

“Your dancers come from all over the world and not all of them speak Dutch or Flemish. Do you require recruits from other countries to master Dutch or do you allow them to use English?”

“The language in the main company and Junior Company is English. Almost everyone in Amsterdam speaks fluent English, so it isn’t difficult for foreign dancers to fit in.”

“I see that Nathan Brhane, Mert Erdin, Michaela DePrince, Wentao Li, Daniel Montero Real, Sho Yamade and Jessica Xeian are now apprentices. Are these long term appointments? Will they be invited to stay with the Company and allowed to rise as far as their talent takes them?”

“All our dancers receive one year contracts for the first four years they are with the company. Once they pass their first four years they receive what we call a permanent contract and can stay until they are 38.”

“By the way, they are all beautiful dancers and I wish each and every one of them all the best in his or her career.”

“Me too! And it is great to see them do so well already in the main company!”

“Will there be another grand opening night for the Junior Company like the one I attended last year at the Stadsschouwburg?”

“Yes on 6 Feb 2015 we will open the second season of the Junior Company officially at Stadsschouwburg again. So that promises to be a nice evening again!”

“Are there plans to tour the Netherlands and other countries? Shall we see them again in England?”

“Yes we will have about 20 performances around Holland again. They are now all on our website http://www.operaballet.nl/en/doublebill/2014-2015/show/junior-company.

I am also really pleased that our relationship with The Royal Opera House continues and we will be back at the Linbury Studio Theatre in 2015 as part of the Springboard Series Season again.”

In the next few posts I introduce each of the new members of the Junior Company.