Dutch National Ballet - season 23/24 productions

[annamk]

A friend and I went to Amsterdam for a couple of nights lured by the prospect of Giselle with Olga Smirnova and newly joined ex Bolshoi principal the Italian Jacopo Tissi. 

 

We saw 2 performances on Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th October. 

 

The production of Giselle which I’ve not seen before is credited to Rachel Beaujean and Ricardo Bustamante - in addition to the usual acknowledgements to Petipa, Coralli and Perrot. And what a fine job Beaujean and Bustamante have done. It’s traditional, more or less what we’re used to seeing both in terms of scenery, costume and choreography with only some small changes, additions, and a few short passages of unfamiliar music. 

 

On Wednesday evening the leading roles were danced by Jessica Xuan and Davi Ramos. She has been a DNB principal since 2020 while he was making his Albrecht debut. He’s a tall, long limbed Brazilian who went to the Royal Ballet School upper school after being noticed at the Prix de Lausanne. On graduation in 2019 he joined DNB (junior company initially) where he’s been enjoying a swift rise, having danced Siegfried earlier this year and already the RB equivalent of a Soloist. 

 

Jessica Xuan was a sweet and delightful Giselle. She has a soft dance style, beautiful port de bras and a lovely musicality. 

 

Davi Ramos was equally Impressive. His solo dancing was tremendous and his partnering exemplary: secure, quietly confident, unshowy and courteous, always paying attention to his Giselle rather than falling into the young man’s trap of showing himself off. Quite remarkable for such a young, inexperienced dancer. The famous Albrecht solo choices in this production are a variable number of entrechats preceded by travelling brisees. 

 

Myrtha is this cast really impressed us although we didn’t get a cast sheet and can’t find a full one online so are sadly unable to credit her here. Similarly Hilarion was also notable although his story telling was perhaps slightly more muddied than his dancing. 

 

The corps were excellent on both nights. No noisy pointe shoes in evidence. We particularly liked the long length costumes for the Wilis which gave them a distinctly ghostly bridal air. 

 

On both nights the pd4 soloists gave clean and musical performances. The four on Thursday were Yuanyuan Zhang, Edo Winjen, Naira Agvanean and Sho Yamada. 

 

Thursday evening was much anticipated and more than lived up to our expectations. 

 

Olga Smirnova and Jacopo Tissi are an ideal physical match. Tall, slender, fine boned, elegant, they epitomise a classic classical dancer. And of course they can dance. Their white act pdd was stunning as were their solos: it’s all unshowy, understated, beautifully controlled and musical. 

 

For Albrecht’s solo, Tissi entered with a single series of travelling brisees the speed and beauty of which simply took my breath away. His subsequent entrechats were beautifully done and entirely in service of the story. 

 

In this cast Hilarion was danced by the explosive Giorgi Potskhisvili, like Davi Ramos he’s a young dancer who’s enjoying a stellar rise. Earlier in this run he made his Albrecht debut which we would love to have seen. He was a perfect foil for the classicism of Smirnova and Tissi and gave a superbly acted and danced performance. I’ve been following him digitally and this was the first time seeing him live in a major role, he will certainly be a big draw for future trips to Amsterdam. 

 

In summary the company looks in great shape with a number of principals at the top of their game, some hugely appealing up and coming young dancers and evident quality in the lower ranks.

 

It was interesting to note that much of the dancing particularly the soloists finished absolutely on the music. We wondered if the conductor had a better eye on the stage than is often the case. Certainly from our viewpoint he appeared to be higher up than for example the conductor at Covent Garden. But I could be wrong about this. 

 

The Smirnova/Tissi performance was being filmed and is due for a cinema release some time in the New Year I believe. Fingers crossed that we can catch it in the UK. 

Edited October 27, 2023 by annamk
Typo

[capybara]

Especially interesting to read about the rise of Davi Ramos who seemed destined for stardom when he arrived at the RBS.

I didn't understand why the RB didn't snap him up but, if they had, it is very unlikely that he would have been dancing Siegfried and Albrecht so early in his career.

[annamk]

49 minutes ago, capybara said:

Especially interesting to read about the rise of Davi Ramos who seemed destined for stardom when he arrived at the RBS.

I didn't understand why the RB didn't snap him up but, if they had, it is very unlikely that he would have been dancing Siegfried and Albrecht so early in his career.

 

My friend remembered him from the school and we were also wondering why the RB didn't take him given his obvious talent but like you @capybarawe thought he would not have had these opportunities so early. We were sitting quite near the stage for his performance and he showed no discernible sign of any nerves. Some of the lifts in the White Act are quite challenging: the point at which he has to support his partner at her waist with one hand as she turns from her deep backbend and the high presse lifts (not sure about my terminology) it all went incredibly smoothly. The audience were very enthusiastic, loud bravos at the curtain call, a standing ovation in the stalls and why not, they deserved them 😃

[Rachel H]

I was also there for the Thursday performance, and it was just what I needed after a rather fraught journey (cancelled flight from LCY, and a dash to Heathrow to catch an alternative one). I enjoyed the whole thing, and thought Olga Smirnova was fabulous in act 2 in particular. It was interesting to see Jacopo Tissi again after he guested a few years ago with the Royal Ballet as Romeo, and enjoyed his performance last night very much. Loved the pas de quatre in act 1, where we are used to seeing the pas de six in London. Also good to see Nina Tonoli as Monya in act 2 - I think I remember noticing her from her time at the Royal Ballet School. I agree the company was looking in good form, and I also noticed the orchestra seemed to be positined higher than we are often used to.

[Estreiiita]

I was lucky to visit Amsterdam last weekend and enjoy two great performances of "Giselle". I believe that nowadays the Dutch National Ballet is one of the best ballet companies in Europe and I would willingly see any of their principals dancing any main role.

  I liked the scenography of the performance, starting with the view of a peaceful bohemian village in a morning mist and immediately creating a medieval atmosphere.   

    On Saturday the main roles were danced by the principals Maia Makhateli and Victor Caixeta (I think it was his debut as Albrecht), and it was absolutely delightful. They both danced not only technically perfect but also interacted so well, that we just saw a young couple totally in love with each other, the innocent girl, willingly believing that she met her soulmate and the young prince, who was overwhelmed by love and tenderness and forgot all about his descent and family obligations. Maia Makhateli has been flowing around the scene like a feather, her beautiful eyes had never left her fiancee and Victor Caixeta had followed her with devotion and adoration - until the horrible moment when the truth about him was revealed. Illarion was danced by Sem Sjouke who created an image of the peasant strongly believing that he helps Giselle and saves her from the huge mistake.  

  It was nice to watch the pas de quatre performed by Connie Vowles - Joseph Massarelli and Luiza Bertho - Dingkai Bai; I liked most the first couple as the second seemed to be less harmonius to me. Connie Vowles danced Zulme also in the second act.

  It was entertaining to watch wine stampers - four good looking boys performing a short dance - this evening they were Rafael Valdez, Fabio Rinieri, Koyo Yamamoto, Soshi Suzuki.

   Nina Tonoli was  Myrtha and gave an impression of a truly unyielding leader ruling over the willis. Erica Horwood was Moyna.

  So the first evening almost couldn't be better!

  The next day I was attending the day performance that was filmed - so hopefully many of us will be able to watch it at some point. Here the main protagonists were Olga Smirnova and Jacopo Tissi and though their dancing was brilliant, they have still left the impression of two star performers dancing together and not that much of a young couple falling in love. I could have wished to see Olga more joyful while she still believed in her fiancee and Jacopo a bit less nobleman and a bit more absorbed by feelings. Here we had Giorgi Potskhishvili as Hilarion and he was very convincing both in his love and jealousy and Floor Eimers as Myrtha (beautiful lines, dancing and acting). Pas de quatre was almost impeccably danced by Yuanyan Zhang (she had some unstable moments on the scene) -Edo Wijnen and Naira Agvanean - Sho Yamada and again everybody was smiling watching the four wine stampers Sem Sjouke, Dingkai Bai, Koyo Yamamoto and Soshi Suzuki.

  Through all the performance there were "Bravo!" shouts and a lot of applauses, also at the first appearance of the main characters. Olga got a huge flower bouquet and in the end not only Ermanno Florio, the conductor came to the scene, but also Rachel Beaujean.