ODE TO THE MASTER

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Though his reputation as one of the world’s master choreographers is long-established, Van Manen lately seems to be enjoying a second international breakthrough, with premier companies like the Marijinski Ballet, Bolsjoi Ballet and Ballet de l’Opéra national de Paris recently adding his works to their repertoire. With this living legend as its resident choreographer, Dutch National Ballet is fortunate to be the leading stage for Van Manen’s work. The audience of Spoleto is treated to three masterpieces from his oeuvre.

ADAGIO HAMMERKLAVIER

chor Hans van Manen

music Ludwig van Beethoven

costume and set design Jean-Paul Vroom

lighting design Jan Hofstra

Adagio Hammerklavier is regarded worldwide as one of the classics of twentieth-century dance. Van Manen himself calls the ballet for three couples ‘an ode to deceleration’. Inspired by an adagio from a Beethoven piano sonata, Van Manen investigates just how slow a movement can be. He once described the result as ‘a wheel that is still just moving after a push, just before it falls’.

KLEINES REQUIEM

chor Hans van Manen

music Henryk Mikolaj Górecki

costume and set design Keso Dekker

lighting design Joop Caboort

In 1993, Dutch master choreographer Hans van Manen created his Kleines Requiem on the darkly mysterious third and fourth parts of Górecki´s Kleines Requiem für eine Polka. It opens with dancers criss-crossing the stage, flitting from one end to the other, and progresses to a series of duets that gently ebb and flow together. The tone of the work is at once sad and comforting, alluding to themes of parting, death and solitude. The set and costume design is by Van Manen´s long-time artistic partner Keso Dekker.

5 TANGOS

chor Hans van Manen

music Astor Piazzolla

costume and set design Jean-Paul Vroom

lighting design Jan Hofstra

The sensational 5 Tangos is perhaps the most widely performed of all of Van Manen’s creations. With this work, Van Manen introduced The Netherlands to Astor Piazzolla’s tango nuevo in 1977. Set to a sequence of five distinctive compositions, the choreography is a sultry duet between the veiled passion of the tango and the cool remove of ballet.

24/09/2019 - Rassegna stampa ODE TO THE MASTER

BIOGRAPHIES
THE ARTISTS

HET NATIONALE BALLET
Dutch National Ballet develops, produces and presents ballet at the highest international level. Read

HANS VAN MANEN
Hans van Manen has succeeded in bringing modern ballet – as a combination of classical ballet and modern dance and movement techniques – to a wide audience. Read

Hans van Manen has succeeded in bringing modern ballet – as a combination of classical ballet and modern dance and movement techniques – to a wide audience.

Van Manen´s international fame is widespread, illustrated by the fact that his ballets are performed by more than fifty companies worldwide. The international stars who have performed his ballets include Anthony Dowell, Marcia Haydée, Natalia Makarova and Rudolf Nureyev. To date, Van Manen has created more than 120 ballets. Besides being a choreographer, Hans van Manen has also been active as a photographer for ten years. His work has been included in international books and exhibitions.

Hans van Manen (1932, Nieuwer Amstel, the Netherlands) had his first ballet lessons in the late forties from Sonia Gaskell, who engaged him in her group Ballet Recital in 1951. Van Manen went on to dance with the Netherlands Opera Ballet and Roland Petit´s Ballets de Paris. In 1957, he made his debut as a choreographer with the ballet Feestgericht, which received the State Award for Choreography. From 1961 onwards, Van Manen has worked alternately with the two main dance companies of the Netherlands. After co-directing Nederlands Dans Theater, he became a resident choreographer – first with the Dutch National Ballet, then with Nederlands Dans Theater. Since 2005, he has held the post of resident choreographer with the Dutch National Ballet.

In 2007, the Dutch National Ballet organised the Hans van Manen Festival, as a tribute to the choreographer on the occasion of his 75th birthday. During the festival, Hans Van Manen was made a Commander in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. In June 2013, he was appointed a patron of the National Ballet Academy (part of the Amsterdam School of the Arts).Van Manen received the Erasmus Award (2000) and the Golden Age Award (2013). Since January 2015 he is a member of the Dutch Academie for Arts. In July 2017 he received the title of ´Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres´, which is the highest cultural state distinction in France in the field of art and literature.

PICTURES

09/07/2019 - Ode to the Master. Foto Maria Laura Antonelli/AGF

08/07/2019 - Ode to the Master. Saluti finali con Hans van Manen e Giorgio Ferrara. Foto Cristiano Minichiello/AGF

06/07/2019 - Ode to the Master. Foto Kim Mariani

06/07/2019 - Ode to the Master. Foto Cristiano Minichiello/AGF

18/04/2019 - Adagio Hammerklavier, credit Hans Gerritsen

18/04/2019 - 5 Tangos, credit Hans Gerritsen

18/04/2019 - Ode to the Master. Hans Van Manen, credit Petrovsky and Ramone

ODE TO THE MASTER

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INFORMATION

BIOGRAPHIESTHE ARTISTS

HET NATIONALE BALLET

HANS VAN MANEN

PICTURES

BIOGRAPHIES
THE ARTISTS