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Hans van Manen (1932, The Netherlands) lives and works in Amsterdam

Hans van Manen always wanted to be a dancer. He managed to become a pupil of Sonja Gaskell, but discovered soon that his talent as a choreographer surpassed his dancing ambitions. In 1955 he made Swing, a choreography for the Scapino ballet. It was the prelude for his first independent ballet Feestgericht (1957) which was the starting point of a long and successful career. From 1961 till 1971 he was artistic director and choreographer of the Netherlands Dance Theater and in 1973 he became director/choreographer of the National Ballet in Amsterdam. His work is on the repertory of over fourty international ballet companies. In total he made almost a hundred ballets, of which the National Ballet is still dancing thirty-six.
Van Manen has always been careful with movement, putting emphasis on reduction and invention of passes and gestures. One of his most innovative ballets is Live/Live (1980) in which a dancer is followed by the camera outside of the theatre. In 2000 Hans van Manen received the Erasmus-prize for his entire oeuvre. To use the sound of dancing feet as a music composition for Loud & Clear must be seen as a tribute to the beauty of all the movements he has invented.

Dancer:
Yumiko Takeshima

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