The history of Dutch National Ballet

In February 2002, Dutch National Ballet devotes a programme to the composer Louis Andriessen. Hans van Manen’s Symphonieën der Nederlanden is accompanied by two premiere works: Tao by Krzysztof Pastor and Slag by the celebrated contemporary choreographer Krisztina de Châtel, who is making her debut with the company. 

In March and April 2004, Dutch National Ballet celebrates the centenary of the birth of George Balanchine (1983†), the Russian-American grand master of 20th-century ballet. Besides Theme and Variations and Agon, the company presents the Dutch premiere of the 27th Balanchine ballet it has acquired: Who Cares?, to music by George Gershwin. The costumes are designed by François-Noël Cherpin. "Who Cares? is a real asset for Dutch National Ballet (..) At every jump and every turn, you think 'Oooohhhh yessss, Balanchine loves showbiz'", writes de Volkskrant. 

In December 2004, Dutch National Ballet presents the programme Russian Fairy Tales, a tribute to impresario and Ballets Russes leader Serge Diaghilev on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of his death. Fokine’s masterpieces Les Sylphides and Petrushka are accompanied by the world premiere of Ted Brandsen’s Firebird. De Volkskrant writes, “The biggest trump card in Firebird is the main role Brandsen has created for Sofiane Sylve (..) Brandsen gives her the chance to excel in her fiery approach, majestic control and warm presence (..) Along with the colourful spectacle Petrushka and the poetic Les Sylphides, this is an entertaining and magical programme.” After the performances in Amsterdam, Brandsen’s Firebird is also danced at the large-scale Diaghilev Festival, in Groningen.

In February 2005, the premiere takes place of the second full-length production by resident choreographer Krzysztof Pastor: Don Giovanni, set to an instrumental arrangement of Mozart’s famous opera, by Rob Zuidam. “Pastor’s choreography is lively and energetic (..) His duets are brimming with passion, with sweet pleasure, with impetuous bravura and with desperate desire”, writes NRC Handelsblad. Rüta Jezerskyte is nominated for the ‘Zwaan’ award for “Most impressive dance achievement’ for her role in the ballet.

In the programme Master Moves, the return of Hans van Manen as resident choreographer is celebrated with the world premiere of Frank Bridge Variations. "Van Manen immediately comes up with a direct hit (..) The choreographer succeeds in forging the nine variations by Benjamin Britten into a masterly unity of diversity”, writes De Telegraaf about the new work. Another important premiere in Master Moves is William Forsythe’s The Second Detail. De Volkskrant writes, "The dancers of Dutch National Ballet make this newly acquired piece of repertoire powerfully their own, by contrasting the angular lines of the hips with the sometimes seductive knock knees or unexpectedly lyrical pointework jumps.”

In the programme Ballet Now, in June 2005, Dutch National Ballet dances its first work by Christopher Wheeldon, who is the first official resident choreographer with New York City Ballet at the time. Continuum, as the ballet is called, lays the foundations for a long-term collaboration between Wheeldon and Dutch National Ballet. Ballet Now  also comprises new works by Jacopo Godani and Adrian Burnett, and the revival of David Dawson’s The Grey Area. The opening night is dedicated to ballet mistress and former principal dancer Maria Aradi, who is returning to her homeland of Hungary after 33 years with the company. 

In the double programme Lines 1 and 2, Dutch National Ballet adds Hans van Manen’s Solo, created in 1997 for Nederlands Dans Theater, to the repertoire. Seldom was so much praise heaped on such a short piece (over six minutes). “Solo sparkles, crackles and swings (..) Dance can be so delightful”, writes NRC Handelsblad. The double programme also sees the addition of Dutch National Ballet’s 28th Balanchine ballet to its repertoire: Square Dance. Besides praising Igone de Jongh and Boris de Leeuw, the press also commends the ensemble, which according to Trouw, “makes a wonderful contribution to the sparkling, danced joie de vivre that Balanchine had in mind”.

In the spring of 2006, on the occasion of its 45th anniversary, Dutch National Ballet presents another double programme: Dutch School 1 and 2. It includes a selection of works by current and former resident choreographers Rudi van Dantzig, Toer van Schayk, Hans van Manen, Ted Brandsen, David Dawson and Krzysztof Pastor, with world premieres of Van Manen’s Six Piano Pieces and Dawson’s The Gentle Chapters. “A love of austerity links the six gentlemen of the Dutch School. A fantastic ballet enterprise”, writes de Volkskrant. For his new work, Dawson receives both the Prix Benois de la Danse and the Choo San Goh Award.

In May and June 2006, there are ten performances of Swan Lake Bijlmermeer, in which urban dancers from Don't Hit Mama join dancers from Dutch National Ballet in shedding new light on the ‘ballet of ballets’. The production is directed by Nita Liem, artistic director of Don't Hit Mama. Antonie Broek creates the soundtrack, which combines Tchaikovsky’s music with ‘modern urban mystic’. The production is performed at Augustinus College Zuidoost and in the opera studio of the Music Theatre, thus reaching a new, young audience. A follow-up to this first edition, Swan Lake Bijlmermeer II, is presented in 2009. 30 performances of the second edition are given throughout the Netherlands, each in collaboration with a local secondary school.

The 2005/2006 season is closed with His Master's Choice, presenting four works chosen by Hans van Manen. Alongside Balanchine’s Kammermusik No. 2, the programme includes a world premiere by Ted Brandsen, Stealing Time, and the Dutch premieres of Jerome Robbins’ A Suite of Dances and Martin Schläpfer’s Streichquartett. “Fantastic dance evening by Hans van Manen", reads the heading in NRC Handelsblad, and Trouw writes, "Robbins created A Suite of Dances for star dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov (..) Now it’s the young dancer Cédric Ygnace who delivers a thrilling ballet miracle in his perfect balance between nonchalance and technical precision.”

In February 2007, Dutch National Ballet expands its repertoire with its first integral production of Marius Petipa's masterpiece La Bayadère, in the version by the famous Russian ex-ballerina Natalia Makarova, who comes to Amsterdam herself to give the dancers intensive coaching. “Enchanting (..) Nearly three hours of amusement and top-level pure dance”, writes De Telegraaf. And NRC Handelsblad writes, "La Bayadère is an asset for Dutch National Ballet (..) it contains all the ingredients that make a ballet romantic (..) As a whole, Makarova's Bayadère has momentum and dynamics, and the dancing is exceptionally colourful. The ballet will keep the company going for years.”

To celebrate the 75th birthday of Hans van Manen (1932), Dutch National Ballet organises a large-scale Hans van Manen Festival. In the space of just under three weeks, no fewer than 21 works by the master choreographer are performed, not just by Dutch National Ballet, but also by San Francisco Ballet, Stuttgarter Ballett, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Balletmainz, Nederlands Dans Theater, Introdans and the Dutch National Ballet Academy. There are also guest performances by Uliana Lopatkina, Ivan Kozlov and Sofiane Sylve. The opening night is attended by Queen Beatrix and Princess Máxima. Prior to the performance, students of the Amsterdam University of the Arts dance Hans van Manen’s clog dance Clogs on the square outside the Music Theatre. Trouw writes, “At the end of all the programme premieres, the maestro laid his flowers at the feet of the ensemble (..) The Hans van Manen Festival thus became not just an ode to the most important Dutch choreographer, but also an ode to dance and its practitioners.” And the prominent German dance critic Jochen Schmidt notes in Die Welt, "Als sich nach dem letzten Vorhang der Jubilar selbst zu seinen Darstellern auf die Bühne gesellte, erhob sich das Publikum wie ein Mann in einer einzigen großen Bewegung zur spontansten ‘standing ovation’, die der Kritiker je erlebt hat. Wohl jeder im Theater war sich bewusst, an einem tanzhistorischen Ereignis teilgenommen zu haben."

The big new full-length production of this season is Ted Brandsen’s Coppelia. The ballet, based on a libretto by Janine Brogt, is a contemporary adaptation of the narrative classical ballet of the same name, set to the original music by Léo Delibes. Artist and illustrator Sieb Posthuma (2014†) designs the sets and the concept for the costumes, which are then designed by François-Noël Cherpin. The main roles in the ballet are taken by principal dancers Igone de Jongh (Swanhilda), Artem Yachmennikov (Franz) and Matthieu Gremillet in the role of the malicious Dr. Coppelius. “It was just short of an ‘Oooohhh’. The premiere audience received Dutch National Ballet’s big new production with two lots of curtain calls, writes de Volkskrant. And the French magazine Danse writes, "Quelque chose d'unique, d'important, de nouveau se passe sous nos yeux." 

In February 2009, following the first production by Sir Peter Wright from 1977, Dutch National Ballet presents a completely new version of the Romantic ballet Giselle. The production is directed, with additional choreography, by the head of the artistic staff Rachel Beaujean (who was a wonderful Myrtha during her dancing career) and former star dancer Ricardo Bustamante, who often danced the leading male role in the ballet. The sets and costumes are designed by Toer van Schayk. At the premiere performance on 10 February, the main roles are danced by principals Anna Tsygankova and Jozef Varga. NRC Handelsblad writes, “Tsygankova triumphed at the premiere. It was incredible how she suggested ultimate lightness through cast-iron control. Her partner Josef Varga floated her expertly through the air and demonstrated polished technique himself.” And De Groene Amsterdammer writes, “This new Giselle is sure to last as long as its predecessor. We’re all set for the coming thirty years.”

For the first time, Dutch National Ballet dances an integral version of Marius Petipa’s famous classic Don Quixote, in version created especially for the company by Alexei Ratmansky. The production receives accolades in the Netherlands and abroad, and is also presented in China in November 2010. The beautiful sets and elegant, stylish costumes are designed by the Frenchman Jérôme Kaplan. At the premiere performance on 13 February 2010, the main roles are danced by Anna Tsygankova and Matthew Golding, who both receive nominations for a ‘Zwaan’ award for ‘Most impressive dance achievement’ for their interpretations. “Alexei Ratmansky’s new staging of Don Quixote has been thought out, measured and directed down to the last detail”, according to NRC Handelsblad. And De Telegraaf writes, “It is a great experience to see how the Music Theatre is slowly but surely set ablaze by the spectacular dancing (..) Alexei Ratmansky’s production is the best version of this classical ballet around today.” The leading British dance magazine Dance Europe votes Ratmansky's Don Quixote one of the ten 'Outstanding Productions of the Year'.

Much attention is paid this season to the influence of the choreographic genius George Balanchine on choreographers like Hans van Manen and William Forsythe, and the influence these two masters had in turn on the new generation of dance makers. Besides various works by this famous trio – including the Dutch National Ballet premieres of Van Manen’s Concertante and Forsythe’s In the middle, somewhat elevated – this leads to the Dutch premieres of Christopher Wheeldon’s Tryst and David Dawson’s Reverence, and the world premiere of Nicolo Fonte’s Record of Joy. Dawson originally created Reverence for the Mariinsky Ballet, as the first British choreographer to make a ballet for this famous company. In Russia, Reverence was honoured with the prestigious Golden Mask Award.

The Frenchman Benjamin Millepied, known for his choreography for the Hollywood film Black Swan, makes his debut with Dutch National Ballet in the programme Strong Voices with the world premiere of One thing leads to another, to new music especially composed for the occasion by Nico Muhly. Most of the reviews are critical of Millepied’s new work, whereas Hans van Manen’s Without Words – premiered in the same programme – receives extensive praise. “Words fail (..) Rather than just having the music danced to, Hans van Manen actually adds something to it”, writes De Telegraaf. And in the opinion of Noordhollands Dagblad, “Hans van Manen keeps on surprising us. Once again the 78-year-old choreographer has succeeded in creating a poignant and gripping work.”