The history of Dutch National Ballet

In October 1971, at the request of Alexandra Radius and Han Ebbelaar, the company dances its first work by Hans van Manen: the duet Vijf schetsen, created for the couple in 1966. It is followed eight months later by Van Manen’s first creation for the company, Twilight, which gains international success for Radius and Ebbelaar – and many generations of principal dancers after them. Van Manen already has more than 35 ballets to his name, mostly made for Nederlands Dans Theater. Even before the creation of his third ballet, Feestgericht, he had already received the State Prize for Choreography.

Following the 1968 version of The Sleeping Beauty by Conrad Drzewiecki, the company presents a second production of The Sleeping Beauty, rehearsed by ballet master Roland Casenave, who based it on the version created in 1960 by Bronislava Nijinska and Robert Helpmann for the legendary Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas.

The first work Van Manen creates as a resident choreographer, Adagio Hammerklavier, is an absolute hit. On tour to London, the Beethoven ballet is also a triumph for the three couples performing it: Monique Sand and Henny Jurriëns, Sonja Marchiolli and Francis Sinceretti, and Alexandra Radius and Han Ebbelaar.

The company presents its second production of Swan Lake, this time in a version by the Croatian ballet master Zarko Prebil. Unlike the production by Igor Belski (1965), Prebil’s version reinstates the original unhappy ending: Odette and her beloved Prince Siegfried are drowned in the waves of the lake. The sets and costumes are designed by Toer van Schayk, as is also the case for the later version by Rudi van Dantzig (1988). 

Following a previous version from the 1963/1964 season (by Elena Chikvaidze), Dutch National Ballet presents a second version of Act III of Marius Petipa's La Bayadère, this time rehearsed by Marina Shamsheva of the Kirov Ballet (now Mariinsky Ballet). The ballet is a personal triumph for principal dancer Maria Aradi, who dances the role of Nikiya at the premiere in February 1975. “Her interpretation has set an unprecedentedly high standard for the Netherlands”, writes the Volkskrant.

On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the city of Amsterdam, Rudi van Dantzig, Hans van Manen and Toer van Schayk are commissioned by the municipality to create their first – and only – joint work: Collective Symphony, to Stravinsky's Symphony in C.  The ballet is very successful, and not just for the way it challenges ballet fans to work out who choreographed which sections. Also for the 700th anniversary, Dutch National Ballet dances David Lichine’s Graduation Ball, for six consecutive evenings at the RAI, in Amsterdam, during the MOKUM-700 event.

Hans van Manen creates his first work for a company abroad: Four Schumann Pieces,  made for The Royal Ballet, in London, with star dancer Anthony Dowell in the main role. A few months later, the ballet has its premiere with Dutch National Ballet, with Han Ebbelaar in Dowell’s role. Another important Van Manen acquisition this season is Metaforen, originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater, in 1965. Both works are still regularly performed to great acclaim in the Netherlands and abroad.

For the first time, Dutch National Ballet dedicates a complete programme to Russian-American grandmaster George Balanchine. It includes Donizetti Variations, The Four Temperaments, Symphony in C and new for the company, Le tombeau de couperin, the 15th Balanchine ballet on the Dutch National Ballet repertoire. Later this season, the company also acquires Capriccio (better known as Rubies), which features a starring role for soloist Jeanette Vondersaar.

Rudi van Dantzig impresses with his new ballet Vier letzte Lieder, set to Richard Strauss' swan song of the same name. The choreography is still performed in the Netherlands and abroad today. At its world premiere, the ballet was danced - according to the press, ‘with an unbeatable commitment’ - by Monique Sand and Francis Sinceretti, Valerie Valentine and Wade Walthall, Alexandra Radius and Han Ebbelaar, Sonja Marchiolli and Henny Jurriëns, and Clint Farha in the role of the Angel of Death.

Englishman Peter Wright, director of Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (now Birmingham Royal Ballet), is creating a new production of Giselle for Dutch National Ballet. The production, for which Peter Farmer designs the sets and costumes, has been one of the great classical success productions on the Dutch National Ballet repertoire for 20 years. At the premiere in 1977, Alexandra Radius dances the title role ‘very moving to downright moving’, according to Het Parool, and her partner Han Ebbelaar's performance is ‘of the same high level’, according to the newspaper.

In the autumn of 1977, Hans van Manen creates the world hit 5 Tangos. The ballet, starring principal dancers Clint Farha and Sonja Marchiolli at the premiere, is still danced by companies all over the world today. Through 5 Tangos, Van Manen also introduces the Netherlands to the music of Astor Piazzolla, king of the tango nuevo. 

Following The Ropes of Time and Blown in a Gentle Wind, Rudi van Dantzig creates another ballet for Rudolf Nureyev, About a Dark House. Toer van Schayk also creates a premiere work for the Russian star dancer, Faun. And Nureyev dances the main role in Hans van Manen’s Four Schumann Pieces for the first time.

The Dream, by the British choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton, who is regarded as one of the most important founders of the traditional English ballet style and technique, is the first of his ballets to be taken into Dutch National Ballet’s repertoire.

One of the biggest crowd-pullers of the seventies is the double bill Live/Life. The six performances in the Carré Theatre draw audiences of over 7200, and when the production is revived in the 1979/1980 season, the total rises to 10,180 – divided over ten performances. The large-scale, politically engaged (and therefore linked to current events) Life, created by Rudi van Dantzig and Toer van Schayk, is never performed again. But over 40 years later, the success of Hans van Manen’s iconic video ballet Live is undiminished.

Toer van Schayk creates his second ballet for a foreign company. Following The Art of Saying Bye-Bye in 1973 (originally created for Scottish Theatre Ballet), he now makes a ballet for the Norwegian National Ballet, En gjengrud have (A garden unkempt), which also premieres with Dutch National Ballet in March 1980 as Een verwaarloosde tuin. NRC Handelsblad calls the ballet “a very important acquisition”. 

A milestone in Dutch National Ballet’s history is Sir Peter Wright’s Sleeping Beauty, which premieres on 2 July 1981 at the Stadsschouwburg, in Amsterdam. Costing over 600,000 guilders, it is the most expensive production the company has presented to date.

Of an entirely different order is Dutch National Ballet’s premiere of Hans van Manen’s Situation, originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater in 1970. For this work, the choreographer deliberately opts for irritating sounds – a volley of gunshots, the roar of fighter jets, the whine of mosquitos – “because”, as he said recently, “the whole ballet is about aggression and violence”.