The history of Dutch National Ballet

This season marks the 60th anniversary of Dutch National Ballet. For the occasion, the company presents an extremely varied programme that consists – in line with group’s history – of a combination of famous classics, highlights of 20th-century and recent dance, and world premieres. One important feature is that all the works have been created especially for the company. The cherry on top of the cake is the new, full-length production of Raymonda (see below). Due to the corona measures still in place, the premiere is moved from February to April 2022.

For the same reason, the gala to celebrate the 60th anniversary is also moved, from the beginning of the anniversary season to the end. Performing in the gala alongside Dutch National Ballet and the Junior Company are dancers from Stuttgarter Ballett (in Hans van Manen’s Solo), Polish National Ballet (in Krzysztof Pastor’s Toccata) and Staatsballett Berlin (in David Dawson’s Voices). Especially for the occasion, the Dutch Ballet Orchestra commissions a new composition by Jacob ter Veldhuis, Lucina Divina, which the orchestra performs at the gala with great verve. The festive evening is described by Theaterparadijs as follows: “The annual Gala by Dutch National Ballet is one of the highlights of the theatre season (..) We have a world-class company to be proud of.”

Photographer Erwin Olaf makes portraits of all the choreographers whose ballets are being danced in the anniversary season.

For Black Achievement Month, Dutch National Ballet and Dutch National Opera combine forces for the first time in the programme Celebrating Diversity, under the curatorship of pianist Djuwa Mroivili and choreographer Sedrig Verwoert. On 17 October 2021, different generations of opera, music and ballet artists share the stage, ranging from budding talent to established artists of colour. This year’s Black Achievement Month ambassador, Sebia Plantefève-Castryck, dances a new work by Verwoert, whose dance film I Feel It Too is also shown in a separate performance. 

Principal dancer Anna Tsygankova and soloist Timothy van Poucke are both nominated for the 'Dancer of the Year Award' in the annual Critics' Choice of the British magazine Dance Europe. The jury praises Tsygankova for her wonderfully sensitive, affecting and genuinely felt performance” of Christopher Wheeldon’s The Two of Us, Hans van Manen’s Variations for two couples and José Carlos Martinez' Delibes Suite. According to the jury, Van Poucke showed “verve and charisma” in Hans van Manen’s Sarcasmen and in Prometheus by Wubkje Kuindersma, Ernst Meisner and Remi Wörtmeyer. Dutch National Ballet is nominated 'Company of the Year' by three of the 12 jury members and Ted Brandsen receives three nominations in the category 'Best Director of the Year'.

In May 2022, for the occasion of Dutch National Ballet’s 60th anniversary, professionals and amateurs celebrate the future of dance with a specially developed education project: In the Future. In a festive performance at Dutch National Opera & Ballet, nine amateur dance groups – specialised in world dance, lindy hop, fusion, modern, Irish and Indian dance – present works they have choreographed themselves. In addition, the Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company dances the closing section of Hans van Manen’s In the Future. Prior to the performance, the dance groups get to know one another and each other’s dance styles in three workshop weekends. The project is led by the artistic team Wubkje Kuindersma, Marco Gerris, Raquel Tijsterman and Lucinda Wessels.

In July 2022, the animation and ballet film Coppelia is screened in Dutch cinemas, with new choreography by Ted Brandsen, inspired by his ballet of the same name. Filming started already in 2019, directed by Jeff Tudor, Steven de Beul and Ben Tesseur. The main roles are danced by former Dutch National Ballet principals Michaela DePrince and Daniel Camargo. Alongside many other dancers from the company, the film also features stars like Igone de Jongh, Irek Mukhamedov and Darcey Bussell.

Coppelia also forms the source of inspiration for a new, educational digibord-app that is introduced this season. The app introduces primary school pupils in groups 5 and 6 to dance. In a fun and active way, they learn how to tell a story without words. They are also given work sheets to develop their own ideas for a ballet, to design scenery in a peep show and to pitch their plans. The app was created in collaboration with Uitgeverij Follow a Muse, The Dutch Ballet Orchestra, Ton Meijer and Kajsa Blomberg, with financial support from The Cultural Participation Fund, the VSB Fund, Janivo and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds.

Click here for the trailer and the link to the app.

On 30 September 2022, at the Nederlandse Dansdagen Gala in Maastricht, Young Gyu Choi is awarded the ‘Zwaan’ for ‘Most Impressive Dance Achievement’. He receives the award for his impressive interpretation of Toer van Schayk’s 7th Symphony, in particular. The jury writes, “With apparent effortlessness, Young Gyu Choi switches between the different worlds of modern classics and contemporary ballets, and excels in the works of world-famous choreographers. His enormous power of elevation is exceptional. But his phenomenal technical control and virtuosity is even surpassed by the pleasure and freedom he demonstrates in his dancing (..) Young Gyu Choi thus has a magnetic effect on his audience. He is generous, towards the spectators and also towards his partners, allowing them to shine and infecting them with his joy of dance.”

At the beginning of October, four dancers from Dutch National Ballet take part in the American Fall for Dance Festival. For the first time in decades, the company presents a work by Hans van Manen in New York. In two completely sold-out performances at New York City Center, Maia Makhateli, Olga Smirnova, Constantine Allen and Jakob Feyferlik enthral the audience with an impeccable rendition of Variations for Two Couples. The master choreographer and the dancers are showered with resounding applause from a delirious audience. Broadway World writes, “The two couples, with their exquisite partnering, performed the classic dance impeccably with its fascinating romantic and playful elements. It was a joy to witness ballet at its best with Dutch National Ballet’s signature grace and style.” And CriticalDance says, “A finely-crafted, crystalline little ballet that was very well danced by all four of its dancers (..) Van Manen is now 90, and his prolific body of work is well-recognized in Europe. It’s long overdue for his simple but pristine dances to be featured in programs by American companies.”

At the beginning of October 2022, the British dance magazine Dance Europe nominates principal dancers Olga Smirnova and Young Gyu Choi in the category ‘Dancer of the Year’, along with ten other leading international dancers. A month later, Olga Smirnova is voted the winner of the category. Dance critic Valentina Bonelli, one of the 12 jury members, calls Smirnova “one of the greatest ballerinas of her generation”. Bonelli also writes that in Rachel Beaujean’s version of Raymonda, Smirnova showed her “delicate beauty, strong technique and intense character”.

In this year’s Critics’ Choice, Dutch National Ballet received no fewer than 21 nominations in various categories. Besides ‘Dancer of the Year’, they included ‘Best Company’, ‘Director of the Year’, ‘Best Premiere’ and ‘Outstanding Performance by a male/female dancer’.

Levensdans is published by Uitgeverij Brandt on 10 November 2022. In this lavishly illustrated book, Astrid van Leeuwen records the memoirs of the most famous dance couple ever in the Netherlands: former principals Alexandra Radius and Han Ebbelaar. In Levensdans, they talk freely about their youth, about the highlights and ordeals of their exceptionally long career and about their continuing love over the past sixty years or more. Indirectly, their stories also shed light on the history and development of dance in the Netherlands, particularly with regard to Nederlands Dans Theater and Dutch National Ballet.

The renovation of the Boekmanzaal begins in March 2023, to transform the former meeting and presentation hall of the City of Amsterdam into Studio Boekman, a new small auditorium for the sole use of Dutch National Opera & Ballet. Through this new auditorium, which opens in September 2023, Dutch National Opera & Ballet aims to provide space for new talent, experiment and education. General director Stijn Schoonderwoerd says, “We will enter into new partnerships and work with young makers, choreographers, writers, singers, thinkers and composers on developing exciting projects that explore the significance of opera and ballet today.” A crowdfunding campaign is set up for the renovation and 40,000 Euros is raised already in the first two weeks of the campaign.

Soon after the premiere of Frida, at the beginning of 2020, there was already international interest in Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's colourful and compelling production about the life of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. This prompts an American tour for Dutch National Ballet in July 2023, where Frida is performed at The Music Center in Los Angeles three days in a row – to resounding success. 

L.A. Dance Chronicle writes: “The Dutch National Ballet gave a love letter to the city of Los Angeles in their presentation of Frida. It was one of the finest examples of heroic artistry and collaboration seen in many years; Columbian-Belgium choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s combination of concept and leadership can only be described as brilliant (..) The dancers were technically amazing with both their versatility and their ability to translate ballet to contemporary movement and drama, making exemplary the powerful undercurrents and aesthetics of Khalo’s life. It was done so boldly, yet gently, as to arrest time from the chaos of our own lives today.”

Prior to the performances of Frida, Dutch National Ballet presents two programmes (including a complete Van Manen programme) at the Ballet Sun Valley festival, after which the company makes its ‘historic’ debut at the renowned Jacob’s Pillow festival in Massachusetts. The American online art magazine The Arts Fuge writes: “While schooled in traditional ballet, the company is notable for having expanded that discipline with bright, complex, demanding contemporary dances that raise the barre: formidable execution is rendered with effortless power and athleticism, leavened with a soupcon of wit (..) The Dutch National Ballet’s first visit to Jacob’s Pillow offered a deep immersion in classical ballet, past and present. On every level it belongs to the top tier of dance in the Berkshires.”

On Saturday 21 September 2023, the Petipa Heritage Foundation presents the Diamond Petipa Award to Ted Brandsen, director of Dutch National Ballet, on behalf of the whole company, at the annual Petipa Awards Gala, held at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. The Petipa Awards are given to dancers, choreographers, critics and dance institutes that have made a significant contribution to conserving and continuing the rich cultural heritage of classical ballet. 

Ted Brandsen says, “We are very happy and extremely honoured to receive this award (..) The fact that a relatively young company like ours has received an award particularly for our contribution to classical ballet shows the wonderful development undergone by Dutch National Ballet, and the high performance level of our dancers, who are counted among the very best in the world.”

At the Petipa Awards Gala, principal dancers Maia Makhateli and Giorgi Potskhishvili dance duets from Raymonda and Le Corsaire, and both receive an 'Artistic Excellence Recognition' on the occasion. 

In the autumn of 2023, the soloist Giorgi Potskhishvili, aged 22 at the time, receives two major dance awards: the Alexandra Radius Prize and the ‘Zwaan’ award for ‘Most Impressive Dance Achievement’. The jury of the Dutch Association of Theatre and Concert Hall Directors (VSCD), responsible for presenting the ‘Zwaan’ awards, writes, “As if by a magnet, the jury’s eye was drawn to the powerful earthiness of Giorgi Potskhishvili’s crystal-clear interpretation of Death in The Green Table. Implacably, he comes to collect everyone who must die; with almost sensual tenderness, or stealing out of the dark, or with a great display of power – yet always equally formidable.”

Shortly afterwards, Potskhishvili, like principal dancer Victor Caixeta, is nominated for the 'Dancer of the Year Award' from the British dance magazine Dance Europe. In the magazine’s annual Critics' Choice, Dutch National Ballet and Ted Brandsen also receive a mention, for ‘Company of the Year’ and ‘Director of the Year’ respectively. One of the jury members sums up his appreciation as follows: “The quality of the principals plus impressive growth of young talent ensures excellent performances, also the encouragement of new choreography while sustaining the heritage.”

During a new series of performances of Raymonda presented by Dutch National Ballet in December 2023, both Potskhishvili and soloist Timothy van Poucke are promoted to principal dancer.

In January and February 2024, in collaboration with Pathé Live, Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamante’s production of Giselle (revived for a series at Dutch National Opera & Ballet in November 2023) is screened at cinemas throughout Europe and in several countries in America, Asia, Africa and Oceania. The main roles in the film version are performed by principal dancers Olga Smirnova (Giselle) and Jacopo Tissi (Count Albrecht), with Giorgi Potskhishvili in the role of Hilarion and Floor Eimers in the role of Myrtha. 

Smirnova's impressive performance is one of the reasons for the Alexandra Radius Prize jury to award her this prize in September 2024. The jury says, “Her classical purity, clean lines and great musicality were even more apparent on screen, and particularly in the second act of the ballet her fragile appearance was deeply moving”.

The international ballet world is greatly dismayed at the news that ballerina Michaela DePrince has passed away on Tuesday 10 September 2024 at the age of 29. In 2013, DePrince was one of the first crop of dancers in Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company. Just one year later, she moved up to the main company, where she eventually became a soloist and stood out for her athletic dancing style, her powerful jumps and her ever-radiant stage personality. Her most important roles include that of Clara in The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (she was the first black dancer in the world to perform the role) and that of Zwaantje in both the theatre and film versions of Ted Brandsen’s Coppelia. 

Her extraordinary life story also generated great interest internationally. DePrince, born Mabinty Bangura, grew up in war-torn Sierra Leone, where she lost both her parents at the age of four and ended up in an orphanage. She was adopted by the American DePrince family and it was in America that her dream of becoming a ballet dancer came true, even though she was repeatedly told that she had neither the right physique nor the right skin colour. Her moving story was recorded by her adoptive mother in the book Taking flight: From war orphan to star ballerina, for which Madonna bought the film rights. 

From 2016, DePrince devoted herself to supporting War Child. She visited projects by the organisation in Uganda and Lebanon, as well as helping children in asylum seekers’ centres to deal with their war traumas. In addition, DePrince appeared in music videos by Beyoncé and the Dutch band Chef’Special. From 2021 to the spring of 2024, she danced with Boston Ballet.

On 1 October 2024, Queen Máxima opens the Dutch National Ballet Academy’s new building at Nicolaas Tetterodestraat in the Amsterdam-Overamstel district. The new premises bring all the academy’s pupils and students together under one roof for the first time in many years. The building has fantastic facilities, including seven big dance studios, one of which can also serve as a theatre. 

“Our new home”, says artistic director Ernst Meisner, “will become a place where ballet is celebrated in every possible way and where everyone is welcome. And it will be a place where we look to the future, try things out, dare to make mistakes and explore what’s needed to let ballet and ballet education flourish even more in the Netherlands and to offer even more people the opportunity to come into contact with ballet.”

At the opening ceremony, the pupils and students dance a festive programme, especially compiled for the occasion.