Hans Van Manen

Abstract The Dutch avant-garde choreographer Hans van Manen (b. 1932) is frequently recognized as a game changer and pioneer for his fusion of ballet techniques with elements from dance theater, and for his scrutiny of ballet’s conventional use of authority, power, and patriarchy. Yet it still remains difficult to describe the “mysterious experience” one gains while watching his ballets, an experience characterized by an intriguing tension between formal austerity and dramatic expression—a type of “less is more.” In this chapter, Van Manen’s ballets are at once abstract and emotive; they are uncomplicated, tightly composed works of pure dance, and yet they are deeply social and political, with a clear emancipatory agenda. In short: Hans van Manen’s choreographies have an existential dimension, and can be described as abstract miniature dramas.