“The ballet is performed in a room 8 meters wide, 6 meters deep and 4 meters high with a door on the right and a digital clock up on the back wall that indicates the actual time. Situation is about aggression and violence.” – Hans van Manen

“An impressive, unusual expressionist ballet about aggression and violence.” - NRC ★★★★

“What a delightful surprise that Situation is performed again by the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) after fifty years.” - Trouw ★★★★★

“The restrained tension in Van Manen's later ballets is explosively present, his austere style of movement is still raw and direct here. "Situation is about aggression and violence," Van Manen said about the work. Great to see that he manages to elevates the duet form, in essence a relationship between two people, to a universal plan.” - Trouw ★★★★★

Title Situation
Subtitle For Gérard Lemaître
Choreographer Hans van Manen
Performers NDT 1 Lydia Bustinduy, Prince Credell, César Faria Fernandes, Jorge Nozal, Jianhui Wang, Fay van Baar, Amanda Mortimore, Rinako Iida, Aram Hasler, Chuck Jones
Music Soundrecordings for amateurfilms and soundchasers 
Light design Oliver Wood, Joop Caboort
Set design Jean-Paul Vroom 
Costume design Jean-Paul Vroom
Staged by Mea Venema, Stefan Zeromski
NDT Rehearsal director Lucas Crandall 

VIDEO
Recording location Zuiderstrandtheater, Den Haag
Recording date  29-11-2019
Camera operator  Harmen Straatman
Audiovisual post-production Harmen Straatman
Graphics Liz Klaver
Length 33 minutes

We have made every effort to identify and contact all rights holders. Should anyone have been omitted, we kindly request that they contact us.

Premiere date 20 April 1970, Circustheater Scheveningen, The Hague

Polish Pieces by Hans van Manen explores the tension between the sexes. A group of six female dancers and a group of six male dancers are set in direct opposition to one another. When they come into contact, a series of duets emerges.

Title Polish Pieces
Choreographer Hans van Manen
Performers NDT 1 Fiona Lummis, Sol León, Jean Emile, Paul Lightfoot, Carolina Armenta, Bregje van Balen, Tessa Cooke, Paula Sanchez, Sébastien Mari, Dylan Newcomb, Mario Radacovsky, Urtzi Aranburu
Music Henryk-Mikolaj Górecki: Konzert für Klavier und Streichorchester opus 40 (1980), Drei Stücke im alten Stil, für Streichorchester (1963). © Chester Music, Londen
Light design Joop Caboort
Set design Keso Dekker
Costume design Keso Dekker
Assistent to the choreographer Brigitte Martin

VIDEO
Recording location  AT&T Danstheater, The Hague
Recording date 23-2-1995
Audiovisual post-production  Harmen Straatman
Graphics Liz Klaver
Length 20 minutes

We have made every effort to identify and contact all rights holders. Should anyone have been omitted, we kindly request that they contact us.

Premiere date 18 October 1990, AT&T Danstheater, The Hague (NDT 1) and 11 November 1994, AT&T Danstheater, The Hague (NDT 2)

A surprising pas de deux by grand master Hans van Manen. For Van Manen, the meaning of the duet in dance is crystal clear: “a ballet for one dancer is a solo, a ballet for two dancers a story” [Balanchine]. Déjà Vu premiered during the Holland Festival in 1995. Set to music by Arvo Pärt, two black-clad dancers make a striking entrance from the wings. The tension between the two sexes is palpable, yet their sense of connection repeatedly comes to the fore.

"Van Manen captures the essence of human relationships.". - NRC Handelsblad, 1995

"A virtuosic duet in which two dancers probe each other’s limits." - Het Parool, 2009

"In Déjà Vu from 1995, they move for more than ten minutes within a breathtaking field of tension between power struggle and intimate connection, phenomenally danced…" -  De Telegraaf, 2009

"Déjà Vu by Hans van Manen is and remains the textbook example of building dramatic tension within a highly distinctive signature". - Trouw, 2009

Title Déjà Vu
Choreographer Hans van Manen
Performers NDT 2 Jin Young Won, Roger van der Poel
Music Arvo Pärt, Fratres for violin and piano (1980). © Universal Music, Wenen
Light design Joop Caboort
Set design Keso Dekker
Costume design Keso Dekker
Staged by Gerald Tibbs 

VIDEO
Recording location Lucent Danstheater, The Hague
Recording date  25-2-2009
Audiovisual post-production  Harmen Straatman
Graphics Liz Klaver
Length 12 minutes

We have made every effort to identify and contact all rights holders. Should anyone have been omitted, we kindly request that they contact us.

Premiere date 1 Juni 1995, AT&T Danstheater, The Hague (NDT 2)

The Old Man and Me is Hans van Manen's third duet for NDT III. Earlier he created Evergreens (1991) and Different Partners (1993). This newest creation, named after a song by bluesrock singer J.J. Cale, is danced by Sabine Kupferberg and Gérard Lemaitre.

Van Manen choreographed this duet specifically for these two dancers, placing the clownesque and the dramatic in direct opposition. The starting point was a simple form: a bench. With it, he explores how a story can be told using minimal means, carried by musicality and craftsmanship.

The choreography unfolds to three contrasting musical pieces: The Old Man and Me by J.J. Cale, Circus Polka by Igor Stravinsky, and the Andante from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23. In a sixteen-minute duet, humour, memory and resignation are interwoven. Rather than relying on virtuosic technique, the work demands great physical and theatrical control — a challenge Kupferberg and Lemaitre fully embrace.

“Van Manen gives old dancers wings.” — NRC (1996)

“Van Manen still surpasses himself with The Old Man.” — Trouw (1996)

Title The Old Man and Me
Choreographer Hans van Manen
Performers NDT 3 Sabine Kupferberg, Gérard Lemaître
Music J.J. Cale: The Old Man and Me (1973)
Igor Stravinsky: Circus Polka (1942). © Schott Music, Mainz
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Pianoconcert nr. 23 in A Majeur, KV 488, Adagio (1786)
Light design Caboort
Set design Keso Dekker
Costume design Keso Dekker
Assistent to the choreographer Arlette van Boven 

VIDEO
Recording location AT&T Danstheater, The Hague
Recording date 29-02-1996
Audiovisual post-production  Harmen Straatman
Graphics Liz Klaver
Length 14 minutes

We have made every effort to identify and contact all rights holders. Should anyone have been omitted, we kindly request that they contact us.

Premiere date 29 Februari 1996, AT&T Danstheater, The Hague (NDT 3)

Kleines Requiem is a work for seven dancers by NDT 1. For this piece, Hans van Manen chose music by the Polish composer Henryk Mikołaj Górecki (Kleines Requiem für eine Polka), which was composed on commission for the Holland Festival and premiered there in 1993 by the Schönberg Ensemble under the direction of Reinbert de Leeuw. Three couples dance their sensual and melancholic duets in constantly shifting combinations. When a furious polka suddenly erupts, all six merge into a single, swirling movement. At its premiere in 1996, the piece was hailed as one of the highlights of Van Manen’s already highly impressive oeuvre.

“Van Manen moves with a dramatic and deeply moving requiem” - De Volkskrant (1996)

Title Kleines Requiem
Choreographer Hans van Manen
Performers NDT 1 Mario Radacovsky, Elke Schepers, Paul Lightfoot, Fiona Lummis, Jean Emile, Sol León, Jorma Elo
Music Henryk Mikolaj Górecki; Kleines Requiem für eine Polka, Opus 66 [1993] for piano and 13 instruments, movement I. Tranquillo; III. Allegro - deciso assai; IV . Adagio cantabile. © Boosey & Hawkes, Londen
Live music performed by  Het Balletorkest (formerly known as Nederlands Balletorkest) conducted by Jac van Steen/Walter Althammer
Light design Joop Caboort
Set design Keso Dekker
Costume design Keso Dekker
Assistent to the choreograaf Glen Edgerton 

VIDEO
Recording location Lucent Danstheater, The Hague
Recording date 14-11-1996
Audiovisual post-production Harmen Straatman
Graphics Liz Klaver
Length 20 minutes

We have made every effort to identify and contact all rights holders. Should anyone have been omitted, we kindly request that they contact us.

Premiere date 14 November 1996, Lucent Danstheater, The Hague (NDT 1)

Hans van Manen created Solo for three NDT 2 dancers who portray a single man reexamining his place in the world. The high pace movements on Bach’s violin partita require an extraordinary timing, and can therefore only be performed by the dancers interchanging one another.

"Solo splashes and swings and makes you chuckle at the scurrying feet, the raised arms as exclamation points, the flashy turns, the impending bent knees and the fun, the mischievous, the speed and momentum with which the NDT 2 dancers present this choreography." - NRC Handelsblad (1997)

“You can almost study every muscle and every minute difference, such as the three energetic boys in Solo (1997, Hans van Manen): the elegant Gregory Lau dances sharply, daredevil Helias Tur-Dorvault enhances Van Manen’s style athletically and water swift Miguel Duarte accentuates playful head nods and slaps on the thigh.” -  de Volkskrant ★★★★

Title Solo
Choreographer Hans van Manen
Performers NDT 2 Jianhui Wang, Fernando Troya, Quentin Roger
Music Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita nr. 1 voor viool solo in D mineur BWV 1002: Correnta and Double (presto) - violist: Sigiswald Kuijken
Light design Joop Caboort
Set design Keso Dekker
Costume design Keso Dekker
Staged by Gerald Tibbs, Urtzi Aranburu 

VIDEO
Recording location Lucent Danstheater, Den Haag
Recording date 15-09-2012
Camera operator Harmen Straatman
Audiovisual post-production   Harmen Straatman
Graphics Liz Klaver
Length 7 minutes

We have made every effort to identify and contact all rights holders. Should anyone have been omitted, we kindly request that they contact us.

Premiere date 16 Januari 1997, Lucent Danstheater, The Hague (NDT 2)

Hans van Manen created this dynamic quartet in 2001 for the young dancers of NDT 2. It is a remarkably natural-seeming creation for two couples. The ballet opens and closes with an overwhelming duet for two men, in which one watches while the other dances. In between, they perform various pas de deux with two women, expressing the relationships between two people through movement. With this work, Van Manen proves himself a master of simplicity.

“With Van Manen’s clarity and musicality, and the incredible lightness and strength of the NDT 2 dancers, this story could not be clearer.” - De Volkskrant (2001)

“A delight of music and choreography.” - NRC Handelsblad

“Unparalleled in the perfect coherence of music and dance (…) It is wonderful to see yet another new generation of young dancers devoting themselves wholeheartedly to such masterpieces.” - De Telegraaf

Title Simple Things
Choreographer Hans van Manen
Performers NDT 2 Cristina Gallofré Vargas, Parvaneh Scharafali , Lukas Timulak, Pierre Pontvianne
Music Guy Klusevsek & Alan Bern (accordeon), Scarlatti Fever (2000), © Bern, Berlijn.
Joseph Haydn, piano trio Nr. 28 in E-major, Hoboken 15, Allegretto (1797).
Peteris Vasks, Weiße Landschaft for piano (1980)
Light design Joop Caboort
Set design Keso Dekker
Costume design Keso Dekker

VIDEO
Recording location Lucent Danstheater, The Hague
Recording date 14-11-2001
Recording by Henk van Dijk
Audiovisual post-production  Harmen Straatman
Graphics Liz Klaver
Length 17 minutes

We have made every effort to identify and contact all rights holders. Should anyone have been omitted, we kindly request that they contact us.

Premiere date 14 November 2001, Lucent Danstheater, The Hague (NDT 2)