Marijn Rademaker, principal dancer with Dutch National Ballet, is ending his dancing career. A chronic knee injury has prompted his decision to stop dancing straightaway. In April this year, Marijn Rademaker won the Grand Prix at the DANCE OPEN festival in St Petersburg, and in June he was nominated for the prestigious Russian dance award the Benois de la Danse, known as the ‘Oscar of dance’, in the category ‘best dancer’.
On Sunday afternoon, 16 September 2018, Marijn will give a farewell performance. He will dance one last time on the stage of Dutch National Opera & Ballet, immediately after the programme The New Classics. He will be performing Edward Clug’s Ssss… and joining dancing partner Igone de Jongh in the ‘white’ pas de deux from La Dame aux Camélias.
Following his dancing career, Rademaker will remain with Dutch National Ballet as assistant ballet master.
Marijn Rademaker: “Of course it’s a real shame that I have to stop dancing early because of a chronic knee injury. But I’ve had a long and wonderful career, on which I can look back with pride and pleasure. Now it’s time to move on, and I’m very happy and proud that I can pass on my experience as an assistant ballet master with Dutch National Ballet”.
Ted Brandsen, director of Dutch National Ballet says:
“Marijn is the most exceptional Dutch ballet dancer of recent years, and his forced resignation from the stage is a huge blow to me. He’s been extremely unlucky with his injury, which is very sad. I’ll miss his artistry on stage, but unfortunately this is a profession where that sort of thing can happen. But although he’s saying farewell to the stage and the audience, he’s not leaving the profession. I’m happy that Marijn is staying with us and with dance, and that he can pass on his special knowledge to a new generation of dancers. For him, it is a transition to another phase, in which he will be able to give a lot to the ballet world”.
Marijn Rademaker Biography
Marijn Rademaker was born in Nijmegen, Netherlands. He started his ballet training in Nijmegen and continued training at the National Ballet Academy in Amsterdam, Artez in Arnhem and completed his studies at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag in 2000. In 1999 he won the Grace prize of foundation Dansersfonds ‘79 from Alexandra Radius and Han Ebbelaar.
In 2000, Marijn Rademaker became a member of the Stuttgart Ballet. In 2004 he was promoted to demi soloist. In the season 2006 he was supposed to be promoted to Soloist but after his highly successful debut as Armand in The Lady of the Camellias (John Neumeier), Reid Anderson promoted him immediately to principal dancer on stage after the performance. His repertoire with the Stuttgart Ballet and the Dutch National Ballet include the principal roles in classical ballets like Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutracker, Don Quijote, Giselle and La Sylphide. Further he danced all the big Cranko ballets main roles like Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Onegin and Lenski in Onegin, Pertruccio and Lucentio in the Taming of the Shrew, the young man in Poeme de l’extase, E in Initials, Don Jose in Carmen, Hommage a Bolshoi, Legende and Brouillards. More of his repertoire include the principal roles in Balanchine’s Four Temperaments, Emeralds, Violin Concerto, Theme and Variations and Tchaikovsky pas de deux, Jerome Robbins’s Dances at a Gathering and Afternoon of a Faun, Glen Tetley’s Rite of Spring and Pierrot Lunaire, John Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias, Streetcar named Desire, Fratres and Jago in Othello, Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s The song of the Earth and Requiem, William Forsythe’s Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude and Work within Work, the melody in Maurice Bejart’s Bolero, and Hans van Manen’s Live, Corps, Frank Bridge Variations, Two pieces for HET, Sarcasm, On the Move, Déjà vu and Trois Gnossiennes, Jiri Kylian’s No More Play, Forgotten Land and Return to a strange land.
He worked together with many choreographers creating new work such as Wayne McGregor (Eden Eden, Yantra, Nautilus), Marco Goecke (Äffi, On Velvet), Mauro Bigonzetti (I Fratelli), Christian Spuck (Songs, Lulu, eine Monstretragödie, Der Sandmann, Sleepers Chamber, Das Fräulein von S.) and others.
In 2008 he was named several times in the category „Outstanding Dancer“ in Ballettanz, above all for his captivating performance of the villain Jago in John Neumeier’s Othello. Just one year later he was named again twice in the category “Best Dancer”. In 2006 he won the German theatre prize “Der Faust” in the category “Best Performer Dance”. In 2007 he received the honorable German dance prize “Future”. In July 2009 he was awarded the international dance prize “Premio ApuliArte” and in 2012 the “Special Prize” from Foundation Dansersfonds ’79. In 2018 he was awarded the ‘Grand Prix’ at the Dance Open Festival in St. Petersburg. That year he was also nominated for the ‘Prix Benois de la Danse’.
Marijn Rademaker joined the Stuttgart Ballet on tours all around the world. He guested with companies like The Tokyo Ballet, The Hamburg Ballet and the Zürich Ballet. Marijn Rademaker is invited to galas all over the world such as The World Ballet Festival in Tokyo, Men in Motion, Roberto Bolle and Friends, Malakhov’s Gift, Nijinsky Gala, Hamburg, Les Etoiles sous les Etoiles and others.
In January 2015 he joined the Dutch National Ballet as a principal dancer. He also worked with the Dutch National Ballet’s junior company and main company as a balletmaster. In 2016 he set Marco Goecke’s ‘Äffi’ with the Bundesjugendballett at the Hamburg Ballet.
Farewell program Marijn Rademaker at Dutch National Opera & Ballet
Sun. 16 September 2018, curtain up 14.00
Ssss…
choreography: Edward Clug
For performing this solo from Edward Clug’s ballet last April, Marijn received the Grand Prix, at the DANCE OPEN festival in Sint Petersburg.
La Dame aux Camélias, white pas de deux
choreography: John Neumeier
Straight after his debut as Armand in La Dame aux Camélias in 2006, Marijn was promoted to principal at Stuttgart Ballett. During his farewell program Marijn wil dance the ‘white pas de deux’ together with his dance partner Igone de Jongh.
The farewell program will be a one-off addition to the regular program The New Classics (11 until 25 September) consisting of the ballets Chroma (Wayne McGregor), Dances at a Gathering (Jerome Robbins) and Serenade after Plato’s Symposium (Alexei Ratmansky).
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