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Ruben Brugman

writing ex-dancer

Miho Hazama

Conductor turns out to be dancer: Miho Hazama leads KC Jazz Big Band

On Friday 20 September, Grammy-nominated composer Miho Hazama led the Royal Conservatory of Music's big band at the Conservatory Hall in Amare. And how. Dancer in nowhere A leap. A plié on one leg. A relevé on the toes. A plié on two legs. The head to the side and rhythmically to the other side and back like clockwork. A half arabesque... 

Gala Dutch National Ballet photo Altin Kaftira

Grand Gala of The National Ballet zooms in on duets

On Friday 28 June, the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam closed the season festively with a gala. In it, the company of some 80 dancers takes a particular look at relationships. Of the 12 works, you will see no fewer than nine duets. A love letter, a relationship in troubled waters, a truce, an anticlimax, a conflict, a wedding dance party, a life journey, an unattainable happiness, a... 

Photo: Marc Haegeman

Tchaikovsky rules over Swan Lake at the National Ballet

You can see it right from the first portrait prominently displayed on the front screen during the prologue. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky looks towards the audience like a czar of ballet music, exactly as choreographer Rudi van Dantzig and master designer Toer van Schayk intended. Here is a man who struggled with his identity, his desires and the obligations that his... 

Benefit Ukraine: Light and Darkness

No easy task in dance performance Benefit Ukraine: Light in Darkness

Dancers are extraordinary creatures. Take Vlad Detiuchenko and Veronika Rakitina. Fled from Kyiv to The Hague last year, they are now both dancing in the performance of former prima ballerina of the Dutch National Ballet Igone de Jongh. They travel with it from Den Helder to Eindhoven, single-handedly organising the performance on 21 March Benefit Ukraine: Light in Darkness. I looked for the... 

There is still romance in the Royal Conservatory of Dance's dance performance. But for how long?

Amare hosted for the first time the final performances of one of the new residents of The Hague's cultural colossus: the dance department of the Royal Conservatoire. What stands out. The pandemic over Last year, in the old conservatory, a maximum of 50 visitors could attend the final performance, with mouth caps on and with two chairs away from each other. The new dance theatre in Amare... 

Emotions at the launch of the new United Ukrainian Ballet in The Hague

Emotions at the launch of the new United Ukrainian Ballet in The Hague

On Tuesday 31 May, the new ballet company The United Ukrainian Ballet was presented to the public at the old Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Ukrainian dancers who fled to the Netherlands have found a new home in this company under the direction of ballerina Igone de Jongh. When I walked into the conservatory before the presentation, I could immediately make out a crying Ukrainian girl... 

Watching Toer van Schayk's 7th Symphony during a pandemic does wonders for your spirits

Hope for liberation during a dark period of war threat and political oppression; a masterpiece by Beethoven sublimely expressed in dance by Toer van Schayk. Everything gets into an uproar Creating an abstract and layered classical ballet for a large ensemble of a top company to a Beethoven symphony: few can do it and Toer is one of them. His ballet stems from... 

Patrick Dupond danced in No Man's Land (5 March 2021)

Patrick Dupond danced in No Man's Land (5 March 2021)

Male ballet dancers have heroes. Ever since ballet training. A few of them are timeless, like Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. After that, tastes vary, depending on which period you danced in and which style particularly suits you: Anthony Dowell, Peter Martins, Carlos Acosta, or more recently Sergei Polunin and Daniil Simkin. Last week, one of my dance heroes passed away: Patrick... 

Why I get nostalgic seeing Variations by Hans van Manen at the Dutch National Ballet

Why I get nostalgic seeing Variations by Hans van Manen at the Dutch National Ballet

If every ballet is about discipline, it is certainly something that applies to Hans van Manen's ballets. Discipline in the music, in the beat, in the simplicity. How ballet creates order in movement, measures space, establishes relationships: you will find it all in the works of Holland's most renowned dance maker. The six parts of the programme Variations... 

Two unique (dance) productions created in pandemic Tears of Peter and the National New Year's Blessing

Two unique (dance) productions created in a pandemic: Tears of Peter and the National New Year's Blessing

It is remarkable to see two productions bringing together dance and faith in a short time. Dancer Marijn Rademaker (former soloist Het Nationale Ballet) portrays the suffering of the apostle in Di Lasso's Tears of Petrus by Nederlands Kamerkoor and Dance Company Nanine Linning, dancer and recently assistant artistic director of The Dutch Don't Dance Division Kiran Bonnema portrays the change in the life of the still-young patriarch Jacob in EO's National New Year's Blessing.

Dance film The Garden shows the very bearable lightness of existence

Dance film The Garden shows the very bearable lightness of existence

The Garden is a new dance film by Sem, now also a dancer with the Dutch National Ballet, which premiered last week. The choreography is by British dancer Pascal Johnson, with five dancers dancing on the roof of artist Jean Dubuffet's famous artwork Jardin d'émail in the sculpture garden of the Kröller-Möller Museum. That in itself is special enough, however, it is the optimism of the dance film that impresses.

Soon - Rahi Rezvani

Dutch dance world back on stage in September with these performances

From small dance schools to big dance companies, the Dutch dance world is daring to expose itself on a stage again. Dance lovers can get back into the studios or theatres, or both, thanks to protocols, and bookings are being made enthusiastically as many performances are already sold out. After all, nothing beats dance art in the flesh. In the words of dance dramaturge Jochem Naafs: 'If you... 

The sneaky demolition of the National Theatre in Tirana during Corona is just the beginning

The sneaky demolition of the National Theatre during Corona: This is just the beginning.

Albania's National Theatre, recently declared a protected monument by Europa Nostra, was unexpectedly destroyed on Sunday, 17 May, after two years of protests. Early in the morning, when it was still dark, the bulldozers came. A sudden wave of policemen wearing mouth caps chased activists and artists out of the theatre and formed a cordon around the audience.... 

OFF Projects photo Milena Twiehaus

Three well-known dance companies get nothing more in The Hague's new arts plan

The Advisory Multi-Year Policy Plan Arts and Culture 2021-2024 for The Hague was presented online on Friday 24 April. What stands out for dance in this City of Dance? Inclusion and diversity What at least stands out is that in the plan, the word 'inclusion' appears 110 times and 'diversity' 96 times. Then you know what time it is. Yet the Advisory Committee also gives... 

Departing Lightfoot and Léon and Stacz Wilhelm, it's hard to be nice to each other in the dance world

Departing Lightfoot and Léon and Stacz Wilhelm, being nice to each other in the dance world remains difficult

'The world around us is changing, after this period we will speak about a period BC and AC'. Words from a wise dance maker from the Hofstad, referring to the period before and after the Coronavirus. However, you can also relate it to the news from the Hague dance world. What is the news? Sol Léon and Paul Lightfoot decided that... 

Albania-the-civic-duty-of-protecting-the-National-Theatre

Artists show Albania the way to EU accession

An artists' protest in Albania deserves extra attention. Especially as EU accession negotiations resume. Indeed, the protest action is impressive and offers a view of EU accession from an interesting perspective. That of a people who are committed to democratic values, who value their own history and culture, who do not want to give way to... 

Frida, poignant images of a tormented soul. Or vice versa.

Full-length classical ballet Frida once again creates the Annabelle effect

How many female choreographers do you know who create a full-length ballet for a top classical ballet company? - I thought. Before going to Frida, I get word that a Latin American young woman has been hospitalised. Loss of a lot of blood, and unborn child. The cheerful girl I know weakly raises a thumb from the hospital bed on WhatsApp.... 

A Christmas Carol by Carl Davis and The Dutch Don't Dance Division

A deep bow for Gesamtkunstwerk A Christmas Carol by Carl Davis and The Dutch Don't Dance Division

So this: 'It is not easy to compete with YouTube, Netflix and other entertainment giants lying at our fingertips...' Wise words from Jiří Kylián in the foreword to the programme booklet of A Christmas Carol. The renowned choreographer sees The Dutch Don't Dance Division at the Zuiderstrandtheater creating something magical with their latest production: with limited resources in this multimedia... 

A good artistic director is an invisible Emily Molnar to NDT

A good artistic director is an invisible one: Emily Molnar to NDT

Canadian Emily Molnar is the new artistic director of Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT1) from season 2020/2021. Looking at her track record, she has everything going for her: a loyal ten years as artistic director of Canadian BC (British Columbia) Ballet, a good reputation as a choreographer, acclaimed as a visionary, innovator and coach and she has a... 

The true Picasso of ballet are Franck Chartier and Gabriela Carizzo

The true Picasso of ballet are Franck Chartier and Gabriela Carizzo

Amsterdam is once again spoilt for choice with Julidans, an international festival packed with impressive dance. The second festival night features Child by Peeping Tom. The work of this Brussels-based company is a phenomenon and I am a fan of it. Ever since its dance trilogy at NDT1: The missing door (2013), The lost room (2015), The hidden floor (2017) (reviews under... 

Why Conny Janssen Danst will win this year. Dance award nominees Swans 2019 announced.

The nominations for the 2019 Swans have been announced. Here is my annual prediction of who will win one. Spoiler alert. This year, it will be a cautious prediction. Even though in past years I wasn't far wrong (sometimes completely right) in guessing the winners, now when it comes to the dancers, you have to choose from superlatives: 'let them be on a... 

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