Hans van Manen - Master of Movement

The modern ballets of the 65-year-old choreographer Hans van Manen originate in music. Directors Ad ‘s-Gravesande and Siewert Verster went to cities like Amsterdam, Bonn and Madrid to capture the working process of ‘the master of movement’. When Van Manen takes on a new ballet production, he first listens to the rhythm of the music at home. Then, the movements and themes present themselves almost spontaneously. Still being very vigorous, Van Manen demonstrates all steps himself and stays involved in the performance of his choreographies from first to last. Now that he has grown older, he works even better, so he says, because now he is able to get more out of the music and dancers. Although Van Manen is proud of his legacy, he does not want to stand still or look back. Therefore, except for a few remarks about the start of his career, this portrait mainly concentrates on the present.