New York City Center, New York, NY.
November 22, 2025.
Dutch National Ballet returned to New York City Center in November, after a 43-year absence from presenting work. Over the course of the four performances, the company showed two programs. On the eve of my attendance, they danced Program B, consisting of Adagio Hammerklavier (Hans van Manen), Thando (Mthuthuzeli November), Wings of Wax (Jiří Kylián), and 5 Tangos (Hans van Manen). A stacked evening of contemporary ballet lie ahead.
The acclaimed work of Adagio Hammerklavier by Manen honors the true idea of adagio, the perpetual slowness that unfolds without spectacle, until you realize it’s all been spectacle. The virtuosity of adagio is the calm with which it’s executed, and the technique required to do so.
The marriage of the understated (yet far from simple) choreography to the exquisitely clean technique from the dancers was a joy to watch. In such capacities, watching the true complexities of adagio, such as a simple développé à la second as a thing of a thousand parts, each displayed for examination, is a thrill of a slow burn.
In a striking departure, the duet Thando takes us on a much different ride through the complexities of human relationships. It was exciting and crisp, danced in gold costumes. There was a sharp musicality to dancing, perhaps because the composition was also by November, giving both the music and the choreography some insight into each other. I particularly enjoyed the sense of aggressive female movement that seemed driven by a quiet power.
In Wings of Wax, the curtain opened to a large leafless tree suspend upside-down from the ceiling. Industrial side lights illuminated the stage, adding to the sense of starkness, and a slowly traveling light rotated around the tree throughout the dance. It was a muted surrealism. The work was abstract in that I couldn’t grab onto a feeling, but I also couldn’t zone out. Again, the technical brilliance of the dancers buoyed the choreography – not to say the choreography was subpar, because it was not. Although I couldn’t fully buy into the world, I sure enjoyed window shopping.
Lastly, another Manen work, 5 Tangos. It was clean, it was lovely, and it was well executed (of course). To me, it lacked some of the messy passion associated with the tango and I’m generally less interested in the soemthing-else-but-make-it-ballet approach to dances, but it was easy to take it. Swapping program positions with Wings of Wax may have elevated each in their own rite, as 5 Tangos felt a little conservative with which to end the night. That said, watching the dancers of Dutch National Ballet do any of these dances was a technical and artistic treat I’ll not soon forget.
By Emily Sarkissian of Dance Informa.
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