Hans van Manen, born in Amstelveen and died in Amsterdam on December 17, 2025, received his first ballet lessons in the late 1940s from Sonia Gaskell. She accepted him into her group, “Ballet Recital,” in 1951. Van Manen subsequently danced with the ballet company of the Nederlandse Opera and with Roland Petit’s troupe, “Les Ballets de Paris.” In 1955, he made his debut as a choreographer with “Olé, Olé, la Margarita.” In 1960, he joined the newly founded “Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT)” in The Hague, where he assumed the role of co-artistic director alongside Benjamin Harkarvy starting in 1961 and alongside Glen Tetley starting in 1969. In 1973, van Manen became resident choreographer at “Het Nationale Ballet”; from 1988 to 2003, he held the same position again at the “NDT,” and from 2005 onward, once more at “Het Nationale Ballet.” Van Manen also choreographed for the “Scapino Ballet” in Rotterdam, the “Royal Ballet,” the “Vienna State Ballet,” the “Stuttgart Ballet,” and the “Ballett am Rhein.” 

He has received numerous awards, including the “German Dance Prize” (1993), the “Prix Benois de la Danse” for his life’s work (2005), and the “Lifetime Achievement Award,” presented for the first time by the magazine “tanz” (2024). His choreographies often break with convention, such as the same-sex duets in “Metaforen” (1965) and “Situation” (1970), the dance-film hybrid “Mutations” (1979)—created in collaboration with Glen Tetley and incorporating nudity—and the piece “Live” (1979), which features the use of a camera.