A true ‘Spring Special’ from Dutch National Ballet

Live stream from Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam
April 5, 2021

Maggie Foyer

This Easter Monday livestreamed programme lived up to its name. It was definitely special. Since when did dancers select their own roles? It was also a smart choice as we saw seldom performed works alongside those we know well, all performed with a joy that transmitted across the internet in a gift of springtime optimism.

The production of Giselle, by Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamante, like a well-restored painting, strips away later affectations to restore the original colour and retains the Romantic style while subtly toughening up the dance content. The ‘Act 1 Pas de quatre’ ticks all the right boxes. The opening quartet is warm and friendly, followed by four satisfying solos and a cheerful coda. The female solos are newly choreographed, enlivened with stylish detail and were danced with joy by Salome Leverashvili and Nina Tonoli. The male solos, from Jan Spunda and Sho Yamada, are more standard classical fare, with well executed tours, pirouettes and plenty of bounding jumps.

The ‘Act 2 Pas de deux’ was the choice of Qian Liu and Semyon Velichko. Liu gave her reason simply: “It touches my heart.” The misty moon and tracery of foliage set the scene, timeless and other worldly, as two souls find redemption in love. The emotion was expressed through the extension of a développe, the power of a jump or the grace of a lift that floated on air, in a blissful interpretation.

Another gold standard dance, the ‘Grand pas de deux’ from Peter Wright’s production of The Sleeping Beauty, had spring freshness. Jessica Xuan is Aurora. Looking all of 16, with the sweetest of smiles, she can step up to pointe and effortlessly establish her authority as a great artist. In her solo, she underscores the music with footwork both supple and strong, softened with eloquent arms and torso. Jacob Feyferlik, matched in technical quality, his solo a masterclass in understated elegance. They brought warmth to the abstract classicism, then rose to the grandeur of the coda.

The modern works contrasted well. Former director, Wayne Eagling, wrote Duet in 1995 and it bridges the romantic and the modern. Set to Wagner’s Isoldes Liebestod, the epitome of heart-shredding emotion, it captures the ecstasy in the music in fluid organic choreography. The talents of Anna Ol and Artur Shesterikov are well suited to the soaring lifts that can instantly dissolve to a kneeling embrace and the entanglement of limbs in a maelstrom of emotion. It’s heady stuff and good to see it back on stage.

Vito Mazzeo has a special history with artistic director Ted Brandsen’s Replay. It was his first creation after joining the company in 2013 when it was danced with the established ballerina Igone de Jongh. Now paired with Yuanyuan Zhang, there is again a contrast in age that adds depth to the play of emotions. Set to music by Philip Glass, it’s a neoclassical study in minimalism where simple moves repeat and become layered without clutter. Written for tall dancers, in unadorned dancewear, the beauty of line and form defines the duet exquisitely.

Two and Only also contrasts youth and maturity. Wubkje Kuindesma’s work has won many accolades and it’s easy to see the attraction for Jozef Varga to step into this complex role. Michael Benjamin’s songs, played by the composer on guitar and piano, set the melancholic overtones. Timothy van Poucke steps into the role he created and together they follow a coming together of two men from different perspectives. It’s riveting watching as a strong hand clasp or an intimate hug finds different meaning in different context before a jazzy dance break pulls the relationship back on course.

The only premiere on the programme was Juliano Nunes’s Alignment to a score by Ezio Bosso. It encapsulates the vast difference between the outward show of form in nineteenth-century pas de deux to today’s inward angst. The adaptability of the ballet vocabulary, now more flexible and fluid, is still the medium but each move expresses just the tip of an iceberg that hides a mountain of emotional baggage beneath. Anna Ol and James Stout found the right pitch and form both emotionally and technically in a highly charged performance.

Anna Tsygankova and Constantine Allen chose Delibes Suite by José Carlos Martínez. It’s a deceptive duet, seemingly traditional but with a surprise at every turn. It never quite goes where you’d expect, wrapping pirouettes, jumps and balances in unpredictable forms. Tsygankova and Allen, appeared to enjoy every moment in an impeccably phrased performance of dazzling clarity.

For sheer love of dance, it would be hard to beat Remi Wörtmeyer’s performance in Gavotte, choreographed by Brandsen. If you thought the lockdown might slow dancers down, think again. ‘Up to speed’ wasn’t half of it as Wörtmeyer buoyed up by sheer happiness, was irrepressible.

Brilliance was also the keynote in the Talisman pas de deux choreographed by Pyotr Gusev and danced by Maia Makhateli and Young Gyu Choi. A somewhat unstructured piece, it is loved by dancers for its thrills and virtuosity and couldn’t be in better hands. Like thoroughbreds at the starting gate, they bounded into action. Makhateli’s pirouettes were a high-speed blur and Gyu Choi’s jumps seemed jet propelled. Most enjoyable was the ease and charm that accompanied every difficult step. It all seemed so possible, and the broad smiles showed the joy the dancers were experiencing.

I’m longing to see the company back in action in a full-length work. Technically they are in great form and what is particularly noticeable is the development of expression and artistry. Possibly we have all come to a greater appreciation of this most precious of the arts that has been so threatened.

Dutch National Ballet’s Spring Special is being streamed again on Saturday April 10, 2021 at 7.15pm (UK). Visit www.operaballet.nl for tickets.