What is wisdom on the first day of 2011? Should we look back or not? And make good resolutions?
I think you should just do what suits you best. Or what’s most enjoyable. So that means looking back, as 2010 was a really enjoyable year for the Dutch National Ballet, and in all objectivity a very successful one too.
There were plenty of highlights. Our new Don Quichotte turned out to be a top hit and was nominated one of the best productions of 2010 by the international press. For the first time in years, the company went on a big tour again. Our new principals surpassed expectations, we were on television more often than before, we sold more sponsor tables at our corporate dinner, our Facebook and Twitter sites were booming, Hans van Manen made another hit ballet – and I could go on to list several more highlights.
And 2011 also looks very promising. For instance, there’s John Neumeier’s Sylvia, our performances in London and the premieres by David Dawson and Sidi Larbi Cherkoui. And of course our 50th anniversary, which we’ll be celebrating in style from September onwards. So despite the crisis, the VAT increases, cultural cutbacks and a supported minority government, we have an exciting year ahead. Once again, we will be showing what the Netherlands has to offer. Because, as one of our nation’s greatest philosophers, footballer Johan Cruijff, rightly said: “If you don’t shoot, you can’t score”. And we certainly developed a taste for scoring in 2010!