Hans van Manen awarded an honorary membership of Ballett am Rhein

On Saturday 6 November 2021 during 50 Jahre Hans van Manen, the special gala in honour of his 50-year engagement with Ballett am Rhein, Hans van Manen was awarded the honorary membership. 

Hans van Manen created his first ballet outside the Netherlands 50 years ago for the present-day Ballett am Rhein. His piece Keep Going for the company marked the beginning of an international career that is still ongoing. In the past 50 years, 22 of his 150 choreographies have been performed on the stages of the Opera-house Düsseldorf and Theatre Duisburg.

The golden stage wedding featured star principals Maia Makhateli and Remi Wörtmeyer of Dutch National Ballet. They performed the duet Two Pieces for HET together. The company from Düsseldorf then danced Dances with Piano and Solo. American film-maker Daisy Long made a film portrait of Van Manen to celebrate the golden anniversary. Together with archive material from the Theatermuseum Düsseldorf, it was screened at the gala. An in-depth laudation was held by Martin Schläpfer, choreographer and former artistic director of Ballett am Rhein, after which Christoph Meyer handed over the “Ehrenmitgliedschaft” to Hans van Manen.