Briton David Dawson looks back on his years in Holland with melancholy

A violin sounds at the start of Legacy Variations, the new ballet by British David Dawson. The instrument sets the tone for the three dancers who, motionless, their gaze lifted, one arm behind their back, the other folded towards the sky, listen to the melancholy sound that will swell more and more. When the transparent gauze is pulled up, they start moving.

In his new choreography, Dawson looks back on his years with Dutch National Ballet, where he danced from 1995 to 2000, the year in which he A million kisses to my skin made for the group. Afterwards he was associated with the company as house choreographer until 2006. Today, the ‘associate artist’ of Dutch National Ballet (a looser relationship) is one of the bigger names in the world of contemporary international classical ballet. Rightly so that the group honors him with an evening devoted to two of his works, and it is very nice that Dawson looks back with gratitude on this occasion on the group that formed him as a dance artist.

Dance language

The transparent gauze cloth seems to be the materialization of a haze of memories. Three dancers with whom Dawson often collaborated, Edo Wijnen, James Stout and Joseph Massarelli, give shape to Dawson’s reminiscences. His dance language is classic and clear as always, with large open shapes, strong swings and spirals, high legs and long lines that are scooped up from the floor to be taken to the extreme. Together or solo, sometimes synchronously, then one by one, the three whirl through the space on Alex Baranowski’s composition of the same name, which is enclosed by a back wall on which a beautiful, Dutch cloudy sky rises (Altin Kaftira). The mirrors on either side are a reference to the collaboration in the dance studio.

The almost uninterrupted euphoric mood of the choreography often contrasts with Baranowski’s melancholic composition: the arms wide welcome the full life, the heads are raised expectantly, the dancers trot and jump energetically through space. In beautiful, decorative tableaux, Dawson sometimes stops the three, their heads resting on each other’s shoulders, or in a sculptural pose, like three male graces.

The visual ‘rest’ of three dancers changes after the break into a swirl of sixteen dancers. In the recent The Four Seasons, set to Max Richter’s ingenious reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s well-known composition (with Isabella van Keulen on violin), they depict the circle of life. Excellently danced by, among others, Floor Eimers, Constantine Allen and, fantastic, Joseph Massarelli again.