Premiere 12/6/2025 Subsequent performances: 18, 19, 22* June 2025 | Curtain-up: 20:15 / *14:00 | Ticket sales start on: 22 August 2024 | Price Category: A | Location: Main Stage, Dutch National Opera & Ballet Holland Festival Other Dances Dutch premiere Choreography Jerome Robbins Music Frédéric Chopin The Chairman Dances Choreography Ted Brandsen Music John Adams The Four Seasons Choreography David Dawson Music Max Richter Violin soloist Isabelle van Keulen Musical accompaniment Dutch Ballet Orchestra conducted by Koen Kessels In the Holland Festival 2024, Dutch National Ballet is presenting an ode to pure, abstract dance. New to the company is Other Dances, by the American grand master Jerome Robbins. This choreographic gem will be combined with two recent highlights: Ted Brandsen’s The Chairman Dances and David Dawson’s The Four Seasons. Jerome Robbins created Other Dances in 1976 for the international stars Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The exquisite Chopin duet was intended as an occasional work, but was so successful that both American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet took it into their repertoire that same year. The fact that Dutch National Ballet is now following suit is no coincidence, says artistic director Ted Brandsen. “Our company has several principal couples at the moment for whom this special work is not only a wonderful gift, but whose talent and skill will make it a true gift for the audience as well.” Graceful and compelling The premiere duet is preceded by Ted Brandsen’s highly acclaimed The Chairman Dances (2023), to the compelling music of the same name by John Adams. Like the composer, Brandsen gives a nod to ballroom dance in his creation. Swathed in transparent, gender-neutral white dresses, the dancers perform the graceful choreography for an ensemble, from which individuals regularly break free. “As if they dance the spotlight for a moment, while the others make way for them.” Bordering on the impossible The grand finale of Other Dances is David Dawson’s The Four Seasons (2022), which was received at its premiere with standing ovations. To Max Richter’s atmospheric re-interpretation of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, Dawson explores the cycles of life in a work that combines all the elements of his unique artistry: lyricism, emotion, ecstasy and a movement idiom that borders on the physically impossible. Other Dances From lyricism to ecstasy: the power of pure dance “In a whirlwind of seasons, the dancers show off their prowess (…) The arms that just keep on moving; the legs so high and extended. Sometimes, the dancers look like butterflies, in the way they fly over the stage” Theaterparadijs about The Four Seasons 97
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