Character Act

Through its newly opened program, “Other Dances,” Dutch National Ballet kicks off the summer with a slate of lighthearted fare that varies in precise approach but altogether evokes an effervescent mood. Featuring five pieces total—four shorter works followed by a 48-minute one-act—this bill equally highlights the Netherlands’ homegrown talent and the ballet company’s excellence in engaging with the global ballet stage.

Performance

Dutch National Ballet: “Other Dances”

Place

National Ballet & Opera, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June 12, 2025

Words

Rebecca Deczynski

Olga Smirnova and Jacopo Tissi with pianist Ryoko Kondo in “Other Dances” by Jerome Robbins. Photograph by Altin Kaftira

The program altogether leans contemporary; four out of five featured choreographers are still living. It begins with Dutch choreographer Ted Brandsen’s “The Chairman Dances,” set to a bouncy composition of the same name by American composer John Adams subtitled, “Foxtrot for Orchestra.” Accordingly, there are references to ballroom dance within Brandsen’s 2023 piece, as dancers primarily move together in pairs. But this is no “Vienna Waltzes”—Brandsen’s choreography merely winks at this style of partnered dance, as it favors elongated movements, occasionally with a jazzy feel, especially when dancers gather in one central cluster and move rhythmically to the building percussive sound of the score.

The choice of costuming has a notable effect on the look of this piece: all dancers are dressed in a gender neutral combination of white bodice and long, white chiffon skirt. It is a distant cousin of the romantic tutus of “La Sylphide” and “Giselle,” but perhaps a closer relative to “Serenade.” But where that Balanchine piece is lingering and romantic, “The Chairman Dances” is sprightly and playful. Grand sujet Daniel Robert Silva particularly stands out in a brief solo, which launches him into a joyful petit allegro; in grand pas de chat, he drifts in the air, lightly, but with force.

Dutch National Ballet in “The Chairman Dances by Ted Brandsen. Photograph by Altin Kaftira

It’s an energetic start to the evening, which takes a humorous turn with “Trio Kagel,” the latest world premiere from Alexei Ratmansky. This 11-minute work, featuring dancers Giorgi Potskhishvili, Anna Tsygankova, and Elisabeth Tonev, is, in a sense, a romp. The accompaniment is an accordion solo, adapted from Mauricio Kagel’s “Rrrrrrr”—a work originally composed for organ. Positioned onstage, accompanist Vincent van Amsterdam functions as a set piece as the three dancers, at times, look to him for either a cue or a continuation of the music. From the moment they run onto the stage and pose, chests out, as if about to perform a character dance, this trio takes on a performative, intentionally exaggerated air.

Some light competition seems to arise between the women as they appear to fight for their turn at partnering—which leads, in one of the funniest moments of the piece, Potskhishvili to clumsily lift both ballerinas at once, each one dangling at his side, barely above the ground, before he releases them down, as if he’d been holding a suitcase in each arm rather than a dancer. They often move erratically, jumping into lifts or, when alone, pulling off a quick Kitri. The accordion often sounds dissonant, and the dancers through the music, rather than on it.

There are four parts to “Trio Kagel,” with Potskhishvili performing a solo with great bravado after the initial trio. He poses, often, with a hand behind his head, miming a sense of grandeur. The dancers, as a whole, have a marionettish quality to their movement. In their duet, Tsygankova and Tonev are like two Swanhildas who have, perhaps, joined forces to provoke the jealousy of the man they had earlier fought over. But in the end, the trio again unites, moving rapidly through difficult partnering sequences but passing through intentionally awkward transitional movements. This is a piece perhaps about self-seriousness: mocking it for all its delusion and performativity.

The sense of competition continues in Hans van Manen’s six-minute “Solo,” created in 1997 for NDT 2. Despite what the title suggests, the piece is yet another trio—though one which puts three male dancers in rivalry with one another. Robin Park, Edo Wijnen, and Daniel Robert Silva each take a turn in the literal spotlight—a circle of light in the center of the stage defining their apparent arena, within which they, individually, perform repetitive, athletic jump and turn sequences. There is plenty of character in this piece, too, as dancers’ heads bobble, reverberating from their fast movements, as they walk in and outside of the circle, chins high in demonstration of their showmanship, and as they occasionally lift their hands and shoulders up in a shrug to the audience. They end together, in a sequence of chaînés that brings them, finally, on an equal plane.

Olga Smirnova and Jacopo Tissi in “Other Dances” by Jerome Robbins. Photograph by Altin Kaftira

The titular piece for the program is Jerome Robbins’ “Other Dances,”a pas de deux set to Chopin: four mazurkas and one waltz. Dancers Olga Smirnova and Jacobo Tissi are joined onstage by pianist Ryoko Kondo, with whom they occasionally acknowledge, their active listening to the music an essential part of the choreography itself. While this piece is fundamentally balletic, it is peppered with playful character sequences and postures, particularly during the mazurkas. But far from folksy, Smirnova and Tissi have a liquid quality of movement that gives the piece the sensation of a pastoral reverie.

When Smirnova goes into a lift, it is as if she is simply taking a careful step—so patient and paced are her movements. The tenderness of the dancers’ musicality extends even beyond the steps of this ballet; as they finish their respective solos and move offstage for the other to take their place, Smirnova and Tissi both walk with boundless calm and presence. When they close the piece together, they seem to savor the music and regard one another with tenderness, particularly as they finish in a lovely, lighthearted pose: Smirnova held aloft on Tissi’s shoulder, her face cast down, smiling.

YuanYuan Zhang and Timothy van Poucke in “The Four Seasons” by David Dawson. Photograph by Altin Kaftira

The program closes with British choreographer David Dawson’s masterful and atmospheric “The Four Seasons,” set to Max Richter’s 2012 recomposition of Antonio Vivaldi’s original work. This is a Neoclassical piece on a monumental scale, thanks in part to the shifting, sculptural set design by Eno Henze, but also to the expansive and layered passages of Dawson’s movement. In a piece about rebirth, the 16 dancers seem to endlessly grow, whether held up in sweeping lifts or moving through partnered turns. They repeat a simple, yet affecting motif, holding their wrists together as they bring their arms overhead, sprouting once again.

Rebecca Deczynski

Rebecca Deczynski is a New York City-based writer and editor publishes the newsletter Thinking About Getting Into. Her work has appeared in publications including Inc., Domino, NYLON, and InStyle. She graduated from Barnard College cum laude with a degree in English and a minor in dance.

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