Dancers of Tomorrow 2023

Dutch premieres

A new acquisition for the Dutch National Ballet Academy is the pas de deux from David Dawson’s beautiful A Sweet Spell of Oblivion, which was created by the leading British choreographer in 2007 for Ballet Vlaanderen. For this dreamy duet, which he describes as an ode to dance and to the dancers, Dawson was inspired by some preludes from Bach’s Das wohltemperierte Klavier. The other Dutch premiere is Didy Veldman’s Is to Be, an impressive group work to music by Arvo Pärt. It was originally created for the Prix de Lausanne Choreographic Project 2019, but has since been performed with great success by The Royal Ballet School and the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz, in Dresden.

World premieres

For Dancers of Tomorrow, choreographer and former principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet, Remi Wörtmeyer, is creating a new, very rhythmical ensemble piece to the last movement of George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto. For the occasion, the Dutch Ballet Orchestra is joined by leading pianist Nicolas van Poucke (brother of Dutch National Ballet soloist Timothy van Poucke).

The second world premiere in Dancers of Tomorrow is by choreographer, teacher, répétiteur and former NDT dancer Ken Ossola. He, too, is making a work for a large cast, for which he has chosen a piece of music by the young Dutch composer Polle van Genechten, supplemented with a text by Martino Muller.

Classical repertoire

This year, the pupils and students will, of course, also take up the challenge of the classical ballet repertoire. Pupils of NBA 4 and students on the Bachelor’s programme will be performing Marius Petipa’s Paquita, in the highly acclaimed production staged by Rachel Beaujean for Dutch National Ballet, in 2012. Artistic director Ernst Meisner is reviving his successful Poulenc Suite, which he created in 2021 for all the Bachelor’s programme students. For this ballet, too, the ranks of Dutch Ballet Orchestra will be swelled by Nicolas van Poucke, as well as by Caspar Vos, who – like Van Poucke – is regarded as one of the best pianists of his generation.

World dance and recent creations by young choreographers

Furthermore, as is now tradition, world dance choreographer and teacher Iva Lešić will create a new work for Dancers of Tomorrow for the academy’s youngest pupils (NBA 1 to 4). Lešić’s new four-part creation, Blast from the Past, will consist of separate pieces, ranging from melancholy lyricism to exuberant, rhythmic fireworks.

In addition, this year’s Dancers of Tomorrow will include three works that stood out at the last edition of the Dutch National Ballet Academy’s Choreographic Project. The solos by Carla Reynés and Mathilde Valin and the group work by Gaya Hagemeier will be combined into one continuous work by Ernst Meisner, in collaboration with the three students.

Highlight

All the pupils and students of the Dutch National Ballet Academy are taking part in this new edition of Dancers of Tomorrow, from the ten and eleven-year-olds who have only just started their training to the exceptional dancers who have joined Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company as part of their studies. For all of them, Dancers of Tomorrow is the highlight of the school year. It is a chance to show audiences what they have been working so hard towards over the past months.