This year, the National Ballet Academy is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary. Especially for the occasion, the Dancers of Tomorrow performances will be devoted to the Dutch Masters of dance.
The end-of-year production, which will be presented on 4 and 6 July in Dutch National Opera & Ballet, will include works by Hans van Manen (patron of the academy), Rudi van Dantzig, Toer van Schayk, Nils Christe and Ted Brandsen, alongside special creations by the international master choreographers John Neumeier and Christopher Wheeldon, whose ballets have occupied a prominent place in the repertoire of Dutch National Ballet in recent years.
All the pupils and students of the National Ballet Academy will be taking part in this festive edition of Dancers of Tomorrow – from the nine and ten-year-olds who have just started their training this year to the exceptionally talented young dancers who are part of the Dutch National Ballet’s Junior Company.
The programme includes the following works:
Van eigen bodem
choreography: Iva Lešic - music: Flairck
World dances choreographed by teacher Iva Lešic, freely inspired by the landscapes and skies of Dutch painting, the Dutch capacity for perseverance, and the forms and rhythms of indigenous folk dances, such as the Horlepiep and the IJsselmeer.
Ephebe
choreography: Toer van Schayk - music: Ton Bruynel and Georg Böhm
Created by Toer van Schayk in 2002 especially for five graduate boys of the National Ballet Academy. The starting point of the ballet was the fact that these boys had been together for years and had made their mark on each other, but now they had to part and go their separate ways.
Replay
choreography: Ted Brandsen - music: Philip Glass
Ted Brandsen, artistic director of Dutch National Ballet, originally created Replay for star principals Igone de Jongh and Vitto Mazzeo. The duet is set to the ‘more transparent’ solo piano arrangement of a composition from Philip Glass’ The Hours. Brandsen opted for this because he wanted to emphasise the mystery of the music, rather than its drama.
Tabula Rasa
choreography: Nils Christe - music: Arvo Pärt
Nils Christe’s Tabula Rasa comprises two sections from Cantus, a very successful work that he created for Introdans in 2015. Although the newly arranged work lasts only about fifteen minutes, Christe says it is ‘an extremely difficult piece and a real challenge for young dancers. It’s very poetic and lyrical, with an incredible amount of pas de deux work’.
One in a million
choreography: Ahmad Joudeh and Robin van Zutphen - music: Max Richter
The 27-year-old Syrian dancer Ahmad Joudeh has been studying at the Academy of Theatre and Dance since September 2016, where he is taking a combined programme of classes at the National Ballet Academy and on the Modern Theatre Dance and Urban Contemporary courses. For Dancers of Tomorrow, he is collaborating with dancer/choreographer Robin van Zutphen in creating a solo to music composed by Max Richter.
Gottschalk Demo
choreography: NBA teachers - music: Louis Moreau
One of the highlights of Dancers of Tomorrow 2016 is returning to the programme this year: Gottschalk Demo, a virtuoso choreographic demonstration, created by the NBA teaching team to Gottschalk’s dazzling, high-spirited Grande Tarantelle. The piece gives the performers an opportunity to show off their technical capabilities to the full.
INTERVAL
Unisono
choreography: Hans van Manen - music: Joseph Haydn and Johann Sebastian Bach
Hans van Manen created Unisono in 1978 for the pupils on the dance course at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. The subtitle – ‘an exercise in concentration, collaboration and musicality’ – sums up what the piece is about: minimal choreographic elements like walking, standing still and moving the arms, which have to be done precisely together and on the beat and are therefore – in the words of a dancer from the first cast – ‘damned difficult’.
Yondering (excerpt)
choreography: John Neumeier - music: Stephen C. Foster
Last year, John Neumeier’s Yondering was the special closing piece of Dancers of Tomorrow. Due to its great success, the Bachelor’s students and trainees of the National Ballet Academy are once again performing an excerpt from the ballet, entitled River. It is a wonderful ‘dance tableau’, which celebrates youthful energy and spirit.
Autumn Haze
choreography: Rudi van Dantzig - music: Samuel Barber
Autumn Haze is a poignant duet about love, loss and hope. Rudi van Dantzig, former director of Dutch National Ballet, created it in 1984 for principals Jane Lord and Barry Watt, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Canada’s National Ballet School.
No Time Before Time
choreography: Ernst Meisner - music: Alexander Balanescu
Artistic coordinator of the Junior Company Ernst Meisner created No Time Before Time in 2016 for the twelve dancers of the Junior Company. The dazzling, energetic work to the music of the same name by Alexander Balanescu is tailor-made for young people on the threshold between youth and maturity
Scènes de Ballet
choreography: Christopher Wheeldon - music: Igor Stravinsky
Christopher Wheeldon’s Scènes de Ballet, involving 62 dancers, closes Dancers of Tomorrow 2017 in festive style. The challenging piece, inspired by pure classical ballet technique, mimics life in the ballet studio, whereby the performers are divided into ‘real dancers’ and their mirror images. Following The School of American Ballet and the school of Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, the National Ballet Academy is the third ballet academy to receive permission to perform Scènes de Ballet.
The performances of the anniversary edition of Dancers of Tomorrow will take place on Tuesday 4 and Thursday 6 July at 20.00 in Dutch National Opera & Ballet, Amsterdam.
For more detailed info and reservations: http://www.operaballet.nl/nl/doublebill/2016-2017/voorstelling/dansers-van-morgen
Ticket prices
Category 1: € 30.00 (€ 5 of which will go towards talent development)
Category 2: € 22.50 (€ 2,50 of which will go towards talent development)
Category 3: € 17.50
€ 2.50 discount for CJP/stadspas/pas 65 and children under 16.
