Travel Tip: Dance in Netherlands
Bill & Mr. B

They are regarded as the two greatest dance innovators of the twentieth century: George Balanchine (1904-1983), who was called Mr. B. by his dancers, and William – Bill – Forsythe (1949). Whereas the former transformed classical ballet into an abstract art form filled with dynamics and sharpness, the latter went one step further by turning ballet technique and logic completely upside down. Balanchine’s masterpiece Symphony in Three Movements is a brilliant visualisation of the complexity and variation in Stravinsky’s music. Forsythe’s The Second Detail starts out as a classical piece, but gradually pushes the body to new extremes. His piece Steptext is a caleidoscope of movement which was once described by prima ballerina Sylvie Guillem as “coming dangerously close to the impossible”.

Het Nationale Ballet

Holland Symfonia 
Otto Tausk, conductor