He made many assumptions that don’t correspond to reality and might be regarded as offensive today. So now we’re staging our own production, with Rachel Beaujean in charge of the choreography. The concept has been formed in close collaboration with co-directors Kalpana Raghuraman (choreographer and anthropologist), Dr. Priya Srinivasan (scholar and choreographer), and myself. Petipa’s choreographic gems will remain largely intact, but as we’ve radically reworked the libretto – following extensive research – Rachel will be choreographing additional sections where necessary. Few people know, for example, that Petipa took inspiration at the time from Indian dancers travelling around Europe. We want to restore that element. We’ve also situated the ballet in the seventeenth century, at the time of the Dutch East India Company, when there were several Dutch trading posts in South East India and the region was a multicultural society. Ballet is a living art form, and not a painting alongside which you can hang an informative label. So we deliberately choose not only to cherish our heritage, but also to reinvent it where necessary.” Furthermore, Romeo and Juliet returns, as does The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Why these two classics? “If you had to choose ten milestones in Dutch National Ballet’s history, they would certainly include these two. Rudi van Dantzig created his emotionally charged Romeo and Juliet in 1967, making it the oldest full-length ballet created in the Netherlands. Yet it still looks fresh and it works every time. It keeps giving people – including myself – goose bumps and moving them deeply. So I want to give a new generation of dancers the chance to prove themselves in this masterpiece. We danced The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, by Toer van Schayk and Wayne Eagling, recently, in December 2024. But there was such a run on tickets that we decided to programme this festive ballet again in the new season.” Van Dantzig and Van Schayk, along with Hans van Manen, formed the ‘three Van’s’ who brought world fame to Dutch National Ballet in the past. How much did they influence you and other choreographers of your generation? “Enormously. I, and also Krzysztof Pastor and David Dawson, for example, really stand on the shoulders of these choreo- graphic giants. In Krzysztof’s case, you see the expressionism of the contemporary works of Rudi and Toer, as well as the clarity and musicality that typify Hans’ oeuvre. David, of course, has now develo- ped a totally individual style, but his work, too, shows elements of the ‘Dutch school’: the clear construction, the great musica- lity and the huge power of dance as an autonomous art form. As for me, my choreographic work probably wouldn’t even have existed without that of Hans. So I’m really happy we’re presenting his video ballet Live at Carré again, as part of a Van Manen programme: Hans in Carré, including some new works for our company. In the programme Monument, we’re also reviving major successes by the two other ‘Van’s’: Rudi’s expressionist, poignant Monument for a Dead Boy, which was groundbreaking at the time it was created (1965 – ed.) and Toer’s jubilant, whirling 7th Symphony. As homosexuality is an important theme in both works, we are presenting them as part of Pride Amsterdam, alongside a new work by Juanjo Arqués, who takes a contemporary perspective on gender identity and queerness in the piece, in collaboration Photo: Altin Kaftira Ted Brandsen at a rehearsal for Classical Symphony (2024) 70 Ballet
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