Dutch National Ballet

Dancing Dutch

Jiří Kylián / Hans van Manen / David Dawson / Milena Sidorova

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Dates

30 March - 14 April 2024

Location

Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Main Stage

Running time

2:15, incl. 2 intervals

Tickets

Dancing Dutch Floor Eimers Timothy van Poucke Nederlandse dansers

Kylián / Van Manen / Dawson / Sidorova

Dancing Dutch brings together four choreographers who despite their different origins have roots in our country, where they celebrated their first big successes. For the first time, Dutch National Ballet is dancing a creation by Jiří Kylián, the choreographer who brought international success to Nederlands Dans Theater for over thirty years. The programme also comprises a masterpiece by the most famous choreographer of the Netherlands, Hans van Manen, and premiere ballets by Associate Artist David Dawson and Young Creative Associate Milena Sidorova.

Photo: Marta Syrko

Kylián / Van Manen / Dawson / Sidorova

The Dutch National Ballet premiere of Wings of Wax fulfils the dream of many a dancer with the company: finally getting the chance to dance a work by Jiří Kylián, one of the greatest choreographers of our time. In this ballet, inspired by the workings of gravity and the famous myth of Icarus, Kylián conjures with movement. It is never predictable and never looks forced, yet the eye can barely follow all that happens.

Humour and agression

Hans van Manen's Concertante is a fascinating ballet, interpersed with humour and aggression, set to Petite symphonie concertante, by the Swiss composer Frank Martin, who, in 2024 died fifty years ago. Even in the most dynamic solos and intense pas de deux, the work demonstrates the refined simplicity, visual logic and musicality so typical of Van Manen's work.

Idealist ballet

Another important new acquisition is ANIMA ANIMUS, created by David Dawson in 2018 for San Francisco Ballet. The mesmerizing ballet, set in Dawson’s unique style, explores various contradictions: virtuosity versus humanity, light versus dark, individual versus group, and animus versus anima (the male aspect of women versus the female aspect of men).

Milena Sidorova – who has already created several successful works for Dutch National Ballet as a Young Creative Associate – is treating us to the world premiere of Tenzij as the fourth piece in Dancing Dutch.

Credits

Concertante
Choreography Hans van Manen
Music Frank Martin - Petite symphonie concertante
Set and costume design Keso Dekker
Lighting design Joop Caboort

Piano Ryoko Kondo
Harpsichord Goska Isphording
Harp Jet Sprenkels

Tenzij
World premiere
Choreography Milena Sidorova
Music Caroline Shaw
Costume design François-Noël Cherpin
Lighting design Wijnand van der Horst

Wings of Wax
Premiere for Dutch National Ballet
Choreography Jiří Kylián
Music
Heinrich Biber – Mystery (Rosary) Sonata: Passacaglia for solo violin (1676)
John Cage – Meditation Music for prepared piano (1946/48)
Philip Glass – String Quartet no. 5: third movement (1991)
Johann Sebastian Bach – Goldberg Variations BWV 988: Variatio 25 (1741)
Staging Elke Schepers, Stefan Zeromski
Set design Michael Simon
Costume design Joke Visser
Lighting design Michael Simon

ANIMA ANIMUS
Premiere for Dutch National Ballet
Choreography David Dawson
Music Ezio Bosso – Violin Concerto no. 1 (2017)
Set design John Otto
Costume design Yumiko Takeshima
Lighting design James F. Ingalls
Staging Rebecca Gladstone, Christiane Marchant, Alessandra Pasquali

Violin Hebe Mensinga

Musical accompaniment Dutch Ballet Orchestra conducted by Thomas Herzog

Online programme

Along with the printed programme book, we also offer online programme information for this performance. The online programme will take you behind the scenes with in-depth stories, articles, and interviews with the creators and cast.

Check out the online programme

Jiří Kylián

Hans van Manen

David Dawson

Milena Sidorova

ANIMA ANIMUS - David Dawson - Dancing Dutch - DNB (2024) | Photos: Altin Kaftira

Wings of Wax - Jiří Kylián - Dancing Dutch - DNB (2024) | Photos: Altin Kaftira

Concertante - Hans van Manen - Dancing Dutch - DNB (2024) | Photos: Altin Kaftira

Tenzij - Milena Sidorova - Dancing Dutch - DNB (2024) | Photos: Altin Kaftira

Behind the scenes - Dancing Dutch - Wings of Wax

Behind the scenes - Dancing Dutch - ANIMA ANIMUS

Interview with choreographer Jiří Kylián

Read the article here

Dutch Ballet Orchestra

Dutch Ballet Orchestra’s mission is ‘to inspire movement in dance’. Since its inception in 1965, the orchestra has been the proud musical partner of Dutch National Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater. In every performance, the orchestra searches for inspiring synergy between music and dance, in order to give the audience a magical experience.

Dutch Ballet Orchestra

Led by principal conductor Matthew Rowe, Dutch Ballet Orchestra is the leading orchestra for dance in the Netherlands. The orchestra accompanies performances ranging from traditional ballet to modern dance, alongside its activities in music education and talent development.

Besides performances with Dutch National Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater, Dutch Ballet Orchestra has a long tradition of innovative – and award-winning – family performances. For instance, Creatures (in collaboration with ISH Dance Collective) received the international Young Audiences Music Award, and the production Hansel and Gretel (in collaboration with Orkater) won various Musical Awards. In these productions, the musicians play from memory, without a conductor and in costumes, so that they form an integral part of the performance.

And finally, Dutch Ballet Orchestra has a long-term partnership with the Dutch National Ballet Academy. They are therefore involved in the music curriculum for pupils and students, facilitate student visits to orchestra rehearsals and provide music for the academy’s end-of-year performance, where possible.

hetballetorkest.nl/en

Podcast

This podcast by Lin van Ellinckhuijsen looks at the Dancing Dutch programme and begins with an interview with Elke Schepers, ballet master of Wings of Wax. The music fragment to Anima Animus can be heard by courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada Orchestra conducted by David Briskin and featuring Aaron Schwebel as first violinist. Concertante is performed by the Dutch Ballet Orchestra and the music fragment to Wings of Wax is a recording of Movement III from string quartet No 5 by Philip Glass.

For the first time, Dutch National Ballet is performing a work (Wings of Wax - ed.) by choreographer Jiří Kylián, with a constantly palpable, shimmering energy. Concertante by his former nemesis Hans van Manen also convinces with its sublime interplay of lines and light melancholy.

4 April

An impressive example of dance art. (...) Wings of Wax enchants, conquers and touches the heart (...) and this sculptural choreography (ANIMA ANIMUS) is of such an unprecedented quality that you would never want to long for it to end.

4 April

An impressive picture of Dutch classical dance (...) Where Tenzij relies heavily on the seductive and at times humorous interaction between the dancers, Concertante by (...) Hans van Manen instead presents an abstract play of forms.