Dates

5-6 July 2023

Location

Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Main Stage

Running time

2:30, incl. 1 interval

Tickets

From €22

Two dancers from the Dutch National Ballet Academy

End-of-year production by the Dutch National Ballet Academy

For several years now, the Dutch National Ballet Academy’s end-of-year performance has been an exciting, must-see closing event to the ballet season. Under the title Dancers of Tomorrow, the leading international classical ballet academy - the only Dutch dance academy to be affiliated with Dutch National Ballet – is once again presenting an extremely varied programme.



This year, students and pupils of the academy will be appearing in the Dutch premieres of works by David Dawson and Didy Veldman, and in brand new creations by Remi Wörtmeyer, Ken Ossola and Iva Lešić. The programme also includes two challenging classical ballets with large casts: Rachel Beaujean’s wonderful version of Paquita and Ernst Meisner’s vivacious finale ballet Poulenc Suite. The performances of Dancers of Tomorrow will once again have live accompaniment from the Dutch Ballet Orchestra, under chief conductor Matthew Rowe.

End-of-year production by the Dutch National Ballet Academy

Dutch premieres

A new acquisition for the Dutch National Ballet Academy is the pas de deux from David Dawson’s beautiful A Sweet Spell of Oblivion, which was created by the leading British choreographer in 2007 for Ballet Vlaanderen. For this dreamy duet, which he describes as an ode to dance and to the dancers, Dawson was inspired by some preludes from Bach’s Das wohltemperierte Klavier. The other Dutch premiere is Didy Veldman’s Is to Be, an impressive group work to music by Arvo Pärt. It was originally created for the Prix de Lausanne Choreographic Project 2019, but has since been performed with great success by The Royal Ballet School and the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz, in Dresden.

World premieres

For Dancers of Tomorrow, choreographer and former principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet, Remi Wörtmeyer, is creating a new, very rhythmical ensemble piece to the last movement of George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto. For the occasion, the Dutch Ballet Orchestra is joined by leading pianist Nicolas van Poucke (brother of Dutch National Ballet soloist Timothy van Poucke).

The second world premiere in Dancers of Tomorrow is by choreographer, teacher, répétiteur and former NDT dancer Ken Ossola. He, too, is making a work for a large cast, for which he has chosen a piece of music by the young Dutch composer Polle van Genechten, supplemented with a text by Martino Muller.

Classical repertoire

This year, the pupils and students will, of course, also take up the challenge of the classical ballet repertoire. Pupils of NBA 4 and students on the Bachelor’s programme will be performing Marius Petipa’s Paquita, in the highly acclaimed production staged by Rachel Beaujean for Dutch National Ballet, in 2012. Artistic director Ernst Meisner is reviving his successful Poulenc Suite, which he created in 2021 for all the Bachelor’s programme students. For this ballet, too, the ranks of Dutch Ballet Orchestra will be swelled by Nicolas van Poucke, as well as by Caspar Vos, who – like Van Poucke – is regarded as one of the best pianists of his generation.

World dance and recent creations by young choreographers

Furthermore, as is now tradition, world dance choreographer and teacher Iva Lešić will create a new work for Dancers of Tomorrow for the academy’s youngest pupils (NBA 1 to 4). Lešić’s new four-part creation, Blast from the Past, will consist of separate pieces, ranging from melancholy lyricism to exuberant, rhythmic fireworks.

In addition, this year’s Dancers of Tomorrow will include three works that stood out at the last edition of the Dutch National Ballet Academy’s Choreographic Project. The solos by Carla Reynés and Mathilde Valin and the group work by Gaya Hagemeier will be combined into one continuous work by Ernst Meisner, in collaboration with the three students.

Highlight

All the pupils and students of the Dutch National Ballet Academy are taking part in this new edition of Dancers of Tomorrow, from the ten and eleven-year-olds who have only just started their training to the exceptional dancers who have joined Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company as part of their studies. For all of them, Dancers of Tomorrow is the highlight of the school year. It is a chance to show audiences what they have been working so hard towards over the past months.

Credits

Choreographic works  David Dawson, Didy Veldman, Remi Wörtmeyer, Ken Ossola, Iva Lešić, Rachel Beaujean and Ernst Meisner

Musical accompaniment  Dutch Ballet Orchestra

Conductor  Matthew Rowe

Pianists  Nicolas van Poucke, Caspar Vos

In what must count as one of the toughest ever years to be a dance student, Dutch National Ballet Academy has somehow inspired their extensive troupe of dancers to produce a top-notch end of the year show (...) students have been kept in fine physical and technical shape and a whole host of new works have been specially created for the occasion


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Balletorkest

Dutch National 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 National 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 and is active 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) 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. 

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