Dancers of Tomorrow 2024

Dream scene from Don Quixote and Hans van Manen’s 5 Tangos

Dancers of Tomorrow opens this year with the complete dream scene from Alexei Ratmansky’s Don Quixote, the colourful, virtuoso production with which Dutch National Ballet has triumphed at home and abroad since its premiere in 2010. Another highlight will certainly be the performance – by the Associate Degree students of the academy – of Hans van Manen’s 5 Tangos, still one of the most highly acclaimed and most often performed works by the grand master of Dutch dance, set to five tangos by the ‘king of tango nuevo’, Astor Piazzolla.

Forsythe, Bigonzetti and new works

The students will also appear in excerpts from William Forsythe’s masterpiece Artifact and perform the dazzling and humorous finale from Mauro Bigonzetti’s Rossini Cards. Remi Wörtmeyer (former principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet) is creating a new neoclassical work for the younger dancers, NBA 3 - 7. And for the youngest of all, NBA 1 - 4, teacher Iva Lešić is choreographing a new piece, this year in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Raquel Tijsterman, who was not only a dancer with Dutch National Ballet, but also appeared in various hiphop productions by ISH Dance Collective.

Triumphant climax

In Dancers of Tomorrow, the Junior Company will be dancing Krzysztof Pastor’s Toccata, the fiery finale of the anniversary programme Ten, described by Het Parool after the recent premiere as follows: “Athletically spinning and leaping, the dancers whirl in constantly changing formations across the stage (..) a brazenly triumphant climax.” 

Once again this year, Dancers of Tomorrow is presenting some of the contributions to the Dutch National Ballet Academy’s Choreographic Project, in which students from the school are challenged to develop their own creations. The festive finale of Dancers of Tomorrow will be a Grand Défilé, performed by all the pupils and students, culminating in choreographic fireworks for the higher classes of the school, compiled by artistic director Ernst Meisner.

Leading international academy

The Dutch National Ballet Academy is one of the leading international classical ballet academies and is also the only Dutch dance academy to be affiliated directly with Dutch National Ballet. Now more than ever before, pupils and students of the Dutch National Ballet Academy are performing in the full-length productions by Dutch National Ballet.

Dancers of Tomorrow is therefore not just a sparkling, enchanting performance by the youngest generation of dancers, but also an opportunity to become acquainted with the stars of the future. And it all comes with the added attraction of the big stage of Dutch National Opera & Ballet, with live accompaniment from Dutch Ballet Orchestra!