In recent years, Mans van Manen his name and work have also been associated with our faculty. In his honour, the Dutch National Ballet and the Faculty of Humanities established a special Hans van Manen Chair for Ballet and Dance in 2022. It is the first professorship for dance studies in the Netherlands, which now also enables academic engagement with dance art and culture.

This chair is a tribute to Hans van Manen's outstanding importance for contemporary ballet. In the Netherlands, he was one of the leading figures of the generation of dancers since the 1950s. He choreographed for the Nederlands Dans Theater, of which he was also director for several years, and for the Dutch National Ballet, remaining loyal to these companies throughout his life and thus shaping the internationally acclaimed aesthetics of the largest Dutch ballet companies.

Until shortly before his death, he actively participated in the restaging of his pieces. His sense of form, clarity of dance language, omission of all that was decorative and superfluous, and his deep, intuitive understanding of music made him an extraordinary choreographer. His pieces deal with human relationships, desires, lust, power and distance. Hans van Manen choreographed approximately 150 works, which have been and continue to be danced by approximately 100 companies worldwide. 

His early life was not easy. His father died when he was 7 years old and his mother, a German, raised her two sons under the most adverse circumstances. But Hans van Manen emerged from this as a strong, self-determined person, someone who was open to life and the world, curious about people, sociable, affable, generous, courageous, headstrong and confident. He lived in an open, self-determined relationship with his partner and later husband, Henk van Dijk, for more than 50 years.

His keen interest in people, especially young people at the beginning of their professional lives, did not wane even in his old age. Unforgettable is the evening when Hans van Manen and Henk van Dijk, at the invitation of the chair holder Gabriele Klein, spoke with students about dance, music, his photography, his career, his coming out and his view of the current situation of young artists.

The Faculty of Humanities pays tribute to this extraordinary man and his artistic work.

Gabriele Klein, bijzonder hoogleraar Ballet en Dans, Hans van Manen leerstoel