The nineties: a little piece of eternity

“LIFE COULD BE A DREAM”

Thousands
of small papers falling from the sky – stating in black capitals that life
could just as well be a dream. And not just a dream - a dream with a promise of
possibilities. This shower of promises marks the closing of ‘SH-BOOM’ (1994)
one of the earliest pieces by Sol León and Paul Lightfoot. Over the years this
choreographic duo, who both started as dancers with NDT 2 during the eighties,
would emerge as phenomenal performers, house choreographers and artistic staff.
Their artistic journey intertwines with creative encounters in the nineties and
institutional endeavours to reach beyond conventional boundaries of time and
age.

Their first premiere, November 8, 1991, comprised choreographies created for this small ensemble – Gérard Lemaître, Sabine Kupferberg, Niklas Ek, and Alida Chase – by William Forsythe (‘Marion Marion’ – with costumes by Gianni Versace), Jiří Kylián (‘Obscure Temptations’), Hans van Manen (‘Evergreens’), and Mats Ek (‘Journey’). This group of impressive dancers and theatre personalities would continue to exist until 2006 and would, over the years, perform in different kind of formations – with Jeanne Solan, Gary Chryst, Egon Madsen, David Krügel and Gioconda Barbuto for instance. During those years of existence it created with other acclaimed artists, such as Christopher Bruce, Ohad Naharin, Maurice Béjart, León & Lightfoot, Nacho Duato, Meryl Tankard and Robert Wilson.[3] In quite a remarkable way, Arlette van Boven acted as a conduit between this older generation of dancers and the younger ones. While she had made a significant contribution to NDT 3 from the beginning, and was artistic director of this ensemble from 1994-1998, she had joined the company as a young dancer in 1969 in order to become the leader of its junior division in 1981.

This preparation dwelt more generally on encouraging young artists to be creative. To accommodate their artistic needs, Kylián introduced the Christmas Cabarets, which served as a platform to humorously address ones opinions, and, moreover, from 1988 onwards the Choreographic Workshops. These were non-profit evenings, nowadays known as Switch, with choreographies created and programmed completely by dancers of the NDT. ‘SH-BOOM’ was included as part of those evenings in 1994 and exemplifies the potential of the workshops to function as a stepping stone for future choreographers and artistic directors. Not only to León & Lightfoot, but many others as Nacho Duato, Martin Müller, Jorma Elo, Lukáš Timulak, Johan Inger, Medhi Walerski and Karine Guizzo.[6] The above-mentioned supportive atmosphere would, furthermore, be visualized by many influential names of the nineties – Brigitte Martin, Elke Schepers, Lorraine Blouin, Cora Bos-Kroese, Nancy Euverink, Jean Emile, Jorma Elo, Mário Radačovský and Stefan Żeromski – returning to different layers of the company. Over the years they would explore other (artistic) possibilities and occupations, and pursue their careers as outstanding ballet masters, rehearsal directors or assistants to choreographers.[7]

At the threshold of the century another pivotal person resigned. Jiří Kylián handed over the artistic direction in 1999, while remaining as a house choreographer until 2009. By this time the subtleties and lyricism of his ballets were deeply ingrained within the company and, moreover, had touched the lives of so many. From his body of works the impressive black and white ballets, performed as a programme at the beginning of the nineties, are impossible to overlook. Each of these ballets – ‘Sechs Tänze’ (1986), ‘No More Play’ (1988), ‘Falling Angels’ (1989), ‘Sweet Dreams’ (1990), ‘Sarabande’ (1990), ‘Un Ballo’ (1990), ‘Petite Mort’ (1991) – are a unique play with bodies, mind, sound and light. Like black and white sketches, however, they all combine to produce a unique palette for the spectator.[10]