Het Nationale Ballet presenteert
WORLD PREMIERE
electrifying, edgy and inventive ballet
In Four Seasons Dutch National Ballet presents the state of the art in today’s dance landscape, with three new creations by three world-class choreographers. Injecting classical ballet techniques with new influences and impulses, they reveal just how electrifying, edgy and inventive twenty-first century academic ballet can be.
Yugen: Profound beauty
A Dutch first in Four Seasons is Wayne McGregor’s Yugen (‘profound beauty’ in Japanese), a co-production with The Royal Ballet. Enthusiastically hailed by audiences at its early 2018 première in London, this new creation was inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s resounding Chichester Psalms, an eclectic mix of Hebrew texts, Broadway jazz and Christian choral music sung by the Chorus of Dutch National Opera. McGregor’s choreography is a unique and impressive translation of the music, alternating gorgeous, lyrical dance scenes with powerful and dynamic group pieces.
Manoeuvre: World premiere
Spanish choreographer and Dutch National Ballet young creative associate Juanjo Arqués closes the triple bill with a world première. Since leaving his dance career Arqués has enjoyed tremendous success a freelance choreographer, commissioned to create pieces for top companies including the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Moscow Ballet Theatre and former dance star Carlos Acosta’s company Acosta Danza. For his new choreography for Dutch National Ballet, MANOEUVRE, Arqués used John Adams' composition 'Shaker Loops'.
The Four Seasons: Athletic work
In its Dutch première is Associate Artist David Dawson’s The Four Seasons, a co-production with Semperoper Ballett. Dawson began his career 25 years ago as a dancer with the Dutch National Ballet. Inspired by Max Richter’s ethereal adaptation of Vivaldi’s famous composition, it is a monumental and emphatically athletic work that explores the cycle of life. As always, Dawson demands his dancers hold nothing back, immersing both themselves and the audience in an otherworldly, poetic and sublime reality. The sparkling music is performed by the Dutch Ballet Orchestra and the world-famous violinist Isabelle van Keulen.
Creative teams
All three choreographers featured in Four Seasons attribute the success of their work in part to their special, intense collaborations with composers and set, costume and lighting designers. David Dawson even refers to his work as gesamtkunstwerken, produced with a fixed creative team of Dutch lighting designer Bert Dalhuysen, Japanese costume designer and former Dutch National Ballet principle dancer Yukimo Takeshima, and German set designer Eno Henze, whose set for The Four Seasons uses a different geometric shape to embody each season. For Yugen, Wayne McGregor worked with British-Dutch ceramic artist Edmund de Waal and renowned British-Iranian fashion designer Shirin Guild.
Yugen
Dutch premiere
Choreography Wayne McGregor
Repetiteurs: : Antoine Vereecken, Amanda Eyles
Music Leonard Bernstein
MANOEUVRE
World premiere
Choreography Juanjo Arqués
Music John Adams
The Four Seasons
Dutch premiere
Choreography David Dawson
Music Max Richter
Musical accompaniment
Chorus: Chorus of Dutch National Opera
Violin: Isabelle van Keulen
Orchestra
Conducted by Matthew Rowe
Dutch Ballet Orchestra
Since its inception in 1965, the orchestra has been proud to accompany its partners, Dutch National Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater. The working method is unique in the Netherlands. Dutch Ballet Orchestra, with Matthew Rowe as principal conductor, consists of a regular core of 45 musicians, supported where necessary by highly qualified guest performers. This gives the orchestra its unique character: flexible, dynamic and high-quality. Dutch Ballet Orchestra combines music and dance into a magical experience: from classical ballet to modern dance, and from music education to talent development. The orchestra’s mission is to create an optimal synthesis between music and dance, in order to reach dance-lovers and ballet music enthusiasts, as well as children and youngsters. The orchestra has received several international awards for its educational projects, including the Young Audiences Music Award in 2016 for Creatures, a collaborative project with dance company ISH.
More information:
do 31 jan
The Guardian over Yugen, 2016
‘(…) revelation of the evening is Yugen, Wayne McGregor’s setting of the earthy, ethereal masterpiece Chichester Psalms.’
do 31 jan
The Londonist over Yugen, 2018
‘Wayne McGregor’s Yugen is set to Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and has a wondrous aesthetic as dancers appear silhouetted in luminous boxes before bursting out of them.’
do 31 jan
The Stage over Yugen, 2018
‘A generous, beautifully balanced work ending in an harmonious duet’
do 31 jan
The Times over Yugen, 2018
‘The dancing is voluptuous and uplifting; so too are the performances of every member of the cast, who seem at times to melt into the hope of Bernstein’s music, sensitively conducted by Koen Kessels.’ ‘The visuals for Yugen are equally stunning. The artist Edmund de Waal has designed a row of giant display cases at the back of the stage, serving, as he says, as “places of refuge and pause” for the 11 dancers who step in and out of them. It’s a simple idea, and gorgeous to look at, while Shirin Guild’s casual red costumes are the perfect complement.’
