Dates

25 Jan-15 Feb 2023

Location

Tour, The Netherlands

Running time

1:40, incl. 1 interval

Tickets

n.a.

Ballet Bubbles

A mix of modern and classical ballet

Since its foundation in 2013, Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company has secured a remarkable place in the international dance world. This season, the company is going on another tour of the Dutch theatres, presenting an extremely varied programme that includes world premieres by Wubkje Kuindersma, Joshua Junker and Sedrig Verwoert, alongside a wellknown classic - the 'Pas de quatre' from The Sleeping Beauty - and Blink, a contemporary work full of energy and emotions by Juanjo Arqués



Photo: Marta Syrko

Premieres by Dutch choreographers

Talented young dancers from all over the world audition each year for a highly coveted place in the Junior Company. The group forms a major stepping stone to a successful professional career, demonstrated by the fact that forty percent of Dutch National Ballet now consists of ex-Junior Company dancers, including two principals and six soloists. 

 

The Sleeping Beauty – Pas de Quatre

Just like the complete Sleeping Beauty, this Pas de quatre is full of challenges for its performers. The two female variations feature elegance and delicate ports de bras (arm movements), as well as dazzling pointe work. Particularly striking in the two male variations are the virtuoso leaps and neat batterie (where the dancer beats his legs together in the air). And apart from that, the choreography also requires perfect teamwork, great musicality and flawless technique.

 

Promise

In his brand-new work Promise, Sedrig Verwoert wants to emphasise the maturity of the Junior Company talents, rather than their light-heartedness and youthful character. The eight-minute duet is a powerful and very physical dialogue between a male and a female dancer, full of dynamic partnering and pointe work. To music by American jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and the British composer Floating Points, Verwoert challenges the young dancers to bring out the maturity in themselves and each other, and to search for the balance between freedom and responsibility that is necessary for this.

 

Blink

Juanjo Arqués created Blink in 2015 especially for the Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company. At the time, his aim was to create a work that was geared towards the young dancers’ stage of life, which would therefore suit the group really well. The result is a light, fresh and theatrical ballet about adolescence and everything involved in it. Set to the first part of Max Richter’s recomposition of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons – the aptly named SpringBlink is a cheerful and affectionate reflection on what it means to be a young adult.

 

nosotros

nosotros. This title was not quite the first one that Wubkje Kuindersma came up with for her new ballet, but it was very close. “What I really like about this Spanish word is that it seems to be a contraction of we (nos) and the others (otros).” The piece, set to several compositions that are all linked to Bach, is about the strong mutual bonds between a group of people. It is about we and the other, and how the two are ultimately interchangeable, but also about the different sides contained in each individual. In the work, Kuindersma uses shadows and echoes, which can represent the other, but also a part of ourselves, and she consciously plays with gender equality.

 

Remembrance

The human body today, and the human body around 200,000 years ago. There is intrinsically little difference between the two bodies, but how do you deal with your ‘primal body’ in a world full of technological innovations? In Remembrance, the 24-year-old choreographer Joshua Junker involves the audience in the physical development undergone by mankind throughout history, in which a role is played by outside influences as well as the return to our individual world of experience. Rhythmic group sections, instinctive pas de deux and a variety of solos alternate, set to a driving percussion piece by Hidden Orchestra, and Remembrance by the ensemble Balmorhea – combined especially for Junker’s work with a new composition by DJ Bas Ibellini.

Credits

Pas de quatre - The Sleeping Beauty

Choreography  Sir Peter Wright

Music  Pjotr Iljitsj Tsjaikovski



Promise (world premiere)

Choreography  Sedrig Verwoert

Music  Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders and The London Symphony Orchestra 



Blink

Choreography  Juanjo Arqués

Music  Max Richter

nosotros (world premiere)

Choreography  Wubkje Kuindersma

Music  Johann Sebastian Bach

Remembrance (world premiere)

Choreography  Joshua Junker

Music  Hidden Orchestra, Balmorhea

Eager, talented young dancers are the attraction of 'Ballet Bubbles' ... In the performance 'Ballet Bubbles', members of the Junior Company get to showcase their skills. With his organic style and subtle hip-hop elements, Joshua Junker delivers the surprise of the evening.

31 January

French-Egyptian dancer Luca Abdel-Nour steals the show in the compilation programme 'Ballet Bubbles' ... Young Dutch choreographer Joshua Junker also proves to be a surprise, with his energetic, hip piece Remembrance.

30 January

Kuindersma allows [in nosotros, ed.] young dancers to come together as one breathing organism and tear open the skies ... The most memorable performance is the premiere Remembrance by the very young choreographer Joshua Junker (24). His premise, "the career of humanity" ...
 

27 January

Beautiful young talents with personality ... For five ballets, the enthusiastic Junior Company (JC) of Dutch National Ballet knows how to entertain its audience superbly. ... [Remembrance] A dynamic finale to a very successful evening by a company with wonderful dancers in development, personalities sometimes already.

27 January

Junior Company dancer Luca Abdel-Nour (19) is going to be a great dancer ... You cannot get around his [Joshua Junker, ed.] theme: how to reconnect with our bodies, the base of our existence, in our fast-paced technological society. Relevant and entertaining; the youngsters know how to do that.

30 January
Ballet Bubbles - nosotros | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - nosotros | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - nosotros | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - nosotros | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - nosotros | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - nosotros | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Promise | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Promise | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Promise | Foto: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Promise | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - pas-de-quatre | Foto: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Pas-de-quatre | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Blink | Foto: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Blink | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Blink | Foto: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Blink | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Remembrance | Foto: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Remembrance | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Remembrance | Foto: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Remembrance | Photo: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Remembrance | Foto: Michel Schnater
Ballet Bubbles - Remembrance | Photo: Michel Schnater
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Blink | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Blink | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Blink | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Blink | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - nosotros | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - nosotros | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - nosotros | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - nosotros | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Promise | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Promise | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Promise | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Promise | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Remembrance | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Remembrance | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Remembrance | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Remembrance | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Pas de quatre | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Pas de quatre | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Pas de quatre | Photo: Altin Kaftira
Rehearsal Ballet Bubbles - Pas de quatre | Photo: Altin Kaftira

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