The tens: meshes of magic

“It was an exciting period; we
all felt like pioneers. Nobody knew where we were going, however, we were
convinced it would lead to something.”

That
the experiments of those pioneers, as remarked by Glen Tetley, unfolded into
“something” is without peer and without question.[1] The group of sixteen
classically trained dancers had gradually grown into an established company with
a modern style and vision. Pointe work, still quite prominent in early
performances of the company, slowly faded to the background of the
repertoire.[2] What remained, however, was an amalgam of classical and modern
techniques, and, moreover, a spirit to go against the grain. Something, an
inheritance, that is continuing to pass from generation to generation.

As a choreographic duo, León & Lightfoot had built a rich repertoire characterised by a powerful, yet intimate aesthetic. In 2014 the couple celebrated their 25th anniversary as choreographers with two Dutch programmes and several of their pieces travelling around the world – to China, Russia and the United States among others. NDT 2 staged ‘Sad Case’ (1998), ‘Subject to Change’ (2003), ‘Schubert’ (2014), and ‘Some other Time’ (2014) – a programme in which the choreographers laid bare the vulnerability of human beings, as well as their own personal struggles. At the same time, NDT 1 re-staged ‘Sehnsucht’ (2009) and ‘Schmetterling’ (2010).[5] This double bill had already travelled around the globe, and would, following the attention of the international press, provide the audience with a sublime exploration of love, loss and memory, and with movements which resembled “crystals in a kaleidoscope”.[6] The ballets of León & Lightfoot, furthermore, distinguish themselves by a significant relationship with the minimalistic scores of Philip Glass and Max Richter. After creating several pieces on their musical pieces both composers were invited to collaborate with them; Glass for what became Swan Song (2010) and Richter for ‘Singulière Odyssée’ (2017) – a ballet dedicated to the extraordinary person Gérard Lemaître, who sadly passed away in 2016.

The repertoire of Van Manen, moreover, reveals a long list of renowned artists as Carel Willink, Jean-Paul Vroom, Benno Premsela, Nicolaas Wijnberg, Bob Bonies and, of course, Keso Dekker.[9] From the seventies onwards this list reveals a more international orientation. Paul Thek, for example, who created the costumes and decors for Glen Tetley’s ‘Arena’ (1970), or Donald Evans who created a series of his famed hand-painted postage stamps after watching Louis Falco’s ‘Journaal’ (1972).[10] And, of course, the many artists creating together with Jiří Kylián: William Katz; John Macfarlane; Michael Simon; Atsushi Kitagawara; Yoshiki Hishinuma; and Susumu Shingu.[11] Last but not least, the Dutch artist Walter Nobbe who created the exquisite costumes and decors of over thirty productions.[12]

For one thing, these artistic collaborations reveal that the past is connected to the future by many fine-spun threads – threads that cannot be captured by words, or words alone, but are enhanced by the stage experience. During this decade the company explored the possibilities of this stage experience by bringing its repertoire to unexpected locations. For example, León & Lightfoot’s ‘School of Thought’ (2013) or Ohad Naharin’s re-staging in 2018 of ‘The Hole’ (2013) – both breaking the gap between the auditorium and stage of Lucent Dans Theater; or León & Lightfoot’s site-specific work ‘Spiritwalking’ (2014) originally created for the Holland Festival in the old Market Halls in Amsterdam – with a new composition of Philip Glass performed by the spellbinding Kronos Quartet.[13] Other works, such as Alexander Ekman’s ‘Cacti’ (2011) and Johan Inger’s ‘I New Then’ (2012), were staged in an old building of the Dutch newspaper Trouw in Amsterdam.[14] Moreover, NDT brought its ballets straight into the homes of people with television broadcastings of MEZZO – among others of ‘Garden’ (2016) by Medhi Walerski, ‘Stop-Motion’ (2014) by León & Lightfoot and ‘Short Cut’ (1999) by Hans van Manen.[15]

The season celebrating the company’s 60th anniversary will expand on those many threads by bringing back old masters as Hans van Manen and Jiří Kylián, while also presenting a collaborative programme of León & Lightfoot together with the above-mentioned associate choreographers Crystal Pite and Marco Goecke. It will, moreover, continue to reinforce its international character by bringing its ballets once again to stages all over the world; little bits of magic performed over those ten years by remarkable artists as Jorge Nozal, Roger van der Poel, Menghan Lou, Prince Credell, Olivier Coëffard, César Faria Fernandes, Marne van Opstal, Myrthe van Opstal, Sarah Reynolds, Ema Yuasa, Aram Hasler, Chloé Albaret, Meng-Ke Wu – and many many others. All the while, the company has been facing major changes, of which the new building, shared with the Residentie Orkest and the Royal Conservatory, might be considered the biggest. An old and familiar mesh expanded by new and challenging threads.