Has anyone seen a performance of the Dutch National Ballet lately? A friend of mine was involved in a recent piece, somehow involving (as she phrased it) "fat people" dance. The dancers, I believe wore special costumes to distort their figures... Her description made it sound quite interesting and a fun piece. I was just hoping to hear a spectators point of view? Thanks, Koshka

I've not seen those performances, but in case you're interested, the web site of the Dutch National Ballet is:
http://www.het-nationale-ballet.nl/

I suspect that the photo on the main page (a jumping person with a fat-looking costume and a hat) comes from the work you mention. It is called
"Groosland" and is by the French choreographer Maguy Marin. It was created in 1989, and I remember the Lyon Opera Ballet danced it a few years ago. I didn't see it, most of the reviews found it amusing, while some found it a bit offensive or tasteless. Maguy Marin is quite popular in France; I've only seen a few works by her and didn't like it much.

The rest of the program included Balanchine's "Capriccio" (Rubies), Robbins' "The Cage", and Ashton's "Symphonic Variations": that sounds quite interesting! Pity the Dutch National Ballet never tours to France, they seem to have an interesting repertory...

Groosland is one of the most funniest balletpieces ever!!!!! i've seen it on videotape

~SKIP~

Hi! I've also seen Groosland on videotape, and it is a very funny piece! the costumes are very funny, they make the dancers very very fat.
Lately I've seen Cinderella of the Dutch National Ballet and it was very beautiful.

*Elf*

elf, could you tell us a bit more about the "Cinderella" you saw? Was it Frederick Ashton's version? I'd be interested in knowing more about the Dutch ballet scene: there isn't anything about it in the French press, and one of the enjoyable things of this board is that it provides opportunities to know more about what's happening in other countries...

Estelle-I'm sure you could find this much off the website, but my friend told me that they (like most of the world) had just started rehearsals for Nutcracker. I, too, would like to hear about their dance scene. Dance seems so much more personal once you know of someone who is involved...

There was a post on alt.arts.ballet about a new website devoted to ballet in the netherlands, including a message board. Here's the URL to the message board. (There's probably a link to the main site at the bottom of the message board. The software will look familiar [img]smile.gif[/img] )

http://www.dancenow.nl/forum/

Estelle, the Dutch National Ballet dances Ashton's Cinderella. They also have/had his Symphonic Variations in their repertoire as well as a huge number of Balanchine ballets - at one time more than any company other than New York City Ballet. They also have a number of interesting works by Dutch choreographers.

Estelle, you could also go to the following website:

http://www.het-nationale-ballet.nl/english/index.html

not everything is in english yet [img]frown.gif[/img] , but you can see what performances they do this year

~SKIP~