Like Ailey II, the Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet is celebrating this season. The group, which is now ten years old, was founded in 2013 to bridge the gap between training and professional practice by providing young dancers who have just graduated or are about to graduate with intensive coaching and plenty of flying hours.
However, not even the initiators could have predicted that the company would be so successful. The ensemble, led by Ernst Meisner, is in demand on Dutch and international ballet stages (last summer they caused a furor in Indonesia) and dancers from all over the world are trying to secure a place in the group. As Holland Dance Festival, we would like to celebrate this special success by presenting an exclusive anniversary program specially created for the occasion. With this unique, one-off performance, which brings together several highlights of the Junior Company repertoire, we are presenting a 'calling card' of how the company has developed over the past ten years.
From ballet to hip-hop
The Junior Company currently has seventeen dancers, from fourteen different countries. They follow a training and rehearsal schedule that mirrors the daily routine of an adult ballet company. Furthermore, the juniors not only dance in the Dutch National Ballet's large full-length production, but also present their own collage program each season, featuring both (neo)classical ballets and new choreographers created especially for them. In addition, the Junior Company now has three 'hip-hop meets ballet' hit productions to its name, released in collaboration with ISH Dance Collective: Narnia, GRIMM and the recent, critically acclaimed Dorian.
Stars of the future
After one or two years, Junior Company dancers move on to professional companies; most of them to the Dutch National Ballet, others to companies abroad. Over the past ten years, for instance, more than forty former Junior Company dancers have joined the Dutch National Ballet, and of these, two have already been appointed principal and no fewer than eight second soloists. You can therefore justifiably say that a performance by the Junior Company is an excellent opportunity to meet the stars of the future.