Sat another note in the post. One of many, these weeks. About a club that had only just been set up by the government. With the accompanying millions, which because of the PVV's vindictiveness have now been dumped in the local ditch. Its creators have already found a new purpose for themselves a few months ago: to improve the well-being of Parkinson's patients. But Dance House Station South is now thus a thing of the past. We quote:
Dear relation Dance House Station South,
Last Friday, 21 December, I closed the door of Dance House Station South behind me for good! The end of a crazy journey that began in September 2005 at the request of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the three Southern provinces.
Over the past seven years, I have been allowed to build an institution that ultimately served only one purpose:
Creating a new environment to touch and inspire as many people as possible with dance!
With my wonderful colleagues, we have managed to create that new environment, driven by a similar passion for dance and a vision beyond the eternal competition in our world.
Danshuis Station Zuid is the realisation of a dream in which artists and audiences meet at the 'station': a place where the boundaries between the professional and the amateur, between dance and other art disciplines, between the dance world and other social sectors, between the 'local' and 'global' interest, were settled: a travelling inflatable theatre (mobile Dance House), on-line dance coaching, guerrilla street acts, excavators as dancers, an old sea fort as a stage, move your mind sessions for managers, a whole city as a stage during Dance Night, a whole month dedicated to dance during the Dance Month festival, a city profiling itself as Dance City!
But of course also 'just' many wonderful performances like the swan-nominated performance 'MONO' by home choreographer Itamar Serussi.
With Station South standing like a house, this journey is coming to an abrupt and unreal end after seven years.The same government that initiated its creation has now decided to end the subsidy relationship. Incomprehensible but true! With increasing amazement and disappointment, I have had to watch the short-sighted, visionless and, perhaps worse, uninterestedness of our culture portfolio holders over the last period. Even new plans that emerged from the resilience, creativity and innovative power of dance art literally found no hearing. Resulting not only in the end of Danshuis Station Zuid but also in the definitive closure of perhaps the best dance studio facility in the Netherlands, which opened barely two years ago after a €2,000,000 renovation!
With the end of Danshuis Station Zuid, thankfully the passion and vision has not disappeared. It is taking shape again in future projects. I recently started a new adventure with my colleague Andrew Greenwood: Dance for Health.
From our new organisation Dance for Health, we are committed to using dance to improve the well-being of people with Parkinson's disease. We are already giving classes in Tilburg and Rotterdam (in cooperation with Scapino Ballet) and will expand across the rest of the Netherlands next year, to be within reach of the 50,000 or so Parkinson's patients in the Netherlands. In cooperation with UMC Radboud Nijmegen, we will also start medical research into the promising effects of the classes.
A impression of what we do
I would like to thank very much everyone who contributed to the realisation and success of Danshuis Station Zuidheel as colleagues, audiences, makers, dancers, stages, festivals, training or otherwise, for their input, faith and trust.
Sincerely,
Marc Vlemmix
Director of Dance HouseStation South
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