Review: Dutch National Ballet Romeo and Juliet - Please give Juliet more space to shine

I watched Dutch National Ballet's Romeo and Juliet on 2nd November 2025 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Juliet was Anna Ol and Romeo was Jan Spunda. Both were absolutely fabulous dancers.

It was the first time for me to watch Rudi van Dantzig's Romeo and Juliet.

As a background, his version world-premiered in 1967, according to the Dutch National Ballet's online programme, This followed John Cranko and Kenneth MacMillan, who presented their versions in 1958 and in 1965, respectively.

The Dutch National Ballet had performed Serge Lifar's version in 1957. Sonia Gaskell, the artistic director then, wanted an original Romeo and Juliet so she asked van Dantzig to create one. He initially refused flat out. He ended up with making one later on, however, because Leonid Lavrovsky and MacMillan subsequently declined to stage their versions for the company.

As my own personal experience, I have seen Romeo and Juliet many many times and I cried pretty much every single time. I have seen the ballet by Cranko, MacMillan, Rudolph Nureyev and John Neumeier, and recordings of Jean-Christophe Maillot's (I have not gotten chance to see contemporary interpretations yet, i.e. likes of Matthew Bourne's, but hopefully in the future). So I was very much looking forward to watching the Dutch National Ballet production.

So here I was, feeling like a little girl once again.

-- SPOILER ALERT ---

Unfortunately, van Dantzig's Romeo and Juliet was not my cup of tea because Juliet's role was diminished. I am not sure what his message was. I do not enjoy writing this review. This review is all over the place.

In general, Juliet's emotions are the key storyteller, or the guide, in this Shakespeare ballet. But this Juliet was not given opportunity to shine. Rather, she was monitored and silenced. So the whole ballet fell flat. I kept comparing it to other choreographers' and could not get into it. The choreography for her comprised of lots of arabesques and renversés and looked flat. I did not see her in euphoria of the first love or a nosedive to dismay. She even looked being manipulated, preyed on and abused by other characters, especially by men--Romeo, Tybalt, Paris and her father. She had no independence. That might be the case if this were in a real life -- she is a child bride after all. But this is ballet, which casts a calibre of Anna Ol. Juliet deserves more respects.

Furthermore, I was distracted by miniscule details, some of which I found almost gimmicky.

 Cast sheet front - click to enlarge

To start with, I was confused because I did not see the Capulets or the Montagues in the cast sheet but the Capuletis and the Montecchis. Did I come to an opera?

Anyway, the curtain went up. Was it implied that Romeo briefly saw Juliet in the plaza, instead of after sneaking into the Capulet ball to see Rosaline, Juliet's cousin, who Romeo was initially infatuated with?

Bits and pieces, which are usually danced by Romeo and co. were danced by Tybalt and co. in this production. But I can handle that.

Then it came to my favorite part. Juliet's solo in the first act. This solo typically marks the most important moment of the ballet. It shows the fatal split second when the two fall in love with each other. However, she was supported by Romeo and Paris in this production. There was no solo but a pas de trois in a strict sense. So there was not this fatal moment on stage. What a shame. Also, I found it difficult to agree on the interpretation of the specific part of the music.

In the famous Dance of the Knights, the stage was used diagonally rather than en face to the audience. It was beautiful to watch, but, it may be just me, I did not feel any aristocratic snobbish pressure, with which Juliet was entangled with. It did not have any weight. By the time this part finished, I started worrying the balcony scene might be omitted altogether.

Cast sheet back - click to enlarge

It was not, to my relief. I could take the cheapish window curtains and symbolic roses. But again, they did not leave Juliet alone. Her nurse popped out her head. (Please do not get me wrong. The nurse was brilliantly danced by Kira Hilli throughout. She is a coryphee, not a character artist). This scene was supposed to be a secret meeting, a burst of pure euphoria of the lovers and it was spoiled.

Fast forward, the lovers went to the church to marry secretly. This was supposed to be the happiest and solemn moment in the ballet. Romeo arrived first and he seemed explaining and begging Friar Laurence to marry them with a frantic body language. Juliet finally arrived and while the friar was marrying them, a hooded figure walked in, prayed in the background and simply walked off stage. I thought this was meant to introduce Friar John, who in Shakespeare's play plays a important role. He is sent to deliver the message about Juliet's catatonic state to Romeo but cannot reach him in time. However, I am still not sure who he was. He only fetched the viral for Juliet later on.

The dance in the plaza was joyful and the sword fights were fine. The crying woman scene was a little subdued but it was okay. Juliet's friends were brilliant, too. Still, a prop, probably the Death, appeared and reappeared and that was a little too much.

Let's press on anyway. After learning Romeo was being expelled from the city, she went back to the church desperately to ask Friar Laurence for help. Here, the ghosts of Tybalt and Mercutio appeared and danced as though haunting her, fashioning bat-like black garments. Quite annoyingly, they kept coming back to stage.

Moving on to the mausoleum, Romeo was already there and peeping the funeral process as Juliet laid down on her tomb in a catatonic state. Then he just killed himself after the Capulets (or the Capuletis) left. Juliet woke up and kills herself. The end. There was no death dance, where Romeo typically tries to replicate the balcony scene with Juliet's seemingly lifeless body. I usually start sobbing here.

See, all turning points for Juliet were tarnished by other people's presence or cancelled. Intricate details in this ballet did not work for me. Is this because this ballet was created in 1960s? I am not sure.

Please do not get me wrong. Dancers were all amazing. However, the point of Romeo and Juliet as a ballet is its melodramatic quality and this version was so segmented and chopped into pieces. It was everything else but a melodrama and its focuses were put on elsewhere but Juliet. Every time she was on stage in the pivotal moment in the ballet, someone else stepped in and disrupt the moment. Thus the whole ballet fell flat.

And I did not cry. I felt as if I was climbing a slippery slope. As I thought I was reaching the summit, I slipped, fell and slid down to the starting point at the bottom. Repeat. Again. For three hours.

The movie clip and the pictures were taken by me.

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Updated on 20th November to remove repeated words.