Skip to content

DANS

Usually without lyrics, often with music, always with movement

Subtle but dull Fokine fine lead to Van Manen's 'Corps' and promising premiere of EGPC at the Dutch National Ballet

The bodies of Fokine, Van Manen and EGPC in the Dutch National Ballet's new programme 'Corps' are vastly different, though they all dance a form of ballet. It is the differences in stakes (decorative or expressive, stylised control or individual surrender, full of symbolism or stripped of it) and the key role for the ensemble that make the programme extremely interesting. Besides the fact that EGPC seems to be on its way to an artistic breakthrough.

Read More "Subtle but dull Fokine fine lead to Van Manen's 'Corps' and promising premiere of EGPC at the Dutch National Ballet
The Red Piece - photo by Maarten Vanden Abeele

Oppressive (audience) manipulation in The Red Piece

'Don't let anyone leave the room without having experienced or felt something.' That is surely and surely the mission with Flemish Ann Van den Broek's work. If the mood swings in The Red Piece don't do much to you, your retinas will burn out from the changes in lighting design. You might just think you are being manipulated as an audience. But you gladly allow it.

Read More "Oppressive (audience) manipulation in The Red Piece

Armando Navarro (1930-2013): Scapino Ballet for more than just children

Armando Navarro (Argentina, 1930 - Amsterdam 2013), former artistic director of Scapino Ballet, passed away last Sunday. Together with his wife Marian Sarstädt formed Navarro one of the Netherlands' best-known dance couples, alongside Han Ebbelaar and Alexandra Radius (Het Nationale Ballet) and Jiří Kylián and Sabine Kupferberg (Nederlands Dans Theater).

Read More "Armando Navarro (1930-2013): Scapino Ballet for more than just children

Departure of business leader Nederlands Dans Theater Van Leer for personal reasons

On the day that a vote was to be held in The Hague on the new Spui Forum, it has been announced that Robert van Leer is leaving as business director of Nederlands Dans Theater. Van Leer is resigning for purely "personal reasons", according to the press officer of the renowned dance company.

Read More "Departure of business leader Nederlands Dans Theater Van Leer for personal reasons
Shirokuro © Anja Beutler

Unmercifully gracious, 'Shirokuro' builds on hammered Ustvolskaya @HollandFestival

Holland Festival

The collaboration between pianist Tomoko Mukaiyama and choreographer Nicole Beutler in the performance 'Shirokuro', seen last week at the Holland Festival, provides a beautiful perspective on two piano sonatas by Galina Ustvolskaya. 'Shirokuro' means black and white in Japanese. Despite strong visuals and impressive co-protagonists on stage, the Russian composer's absolute music is never explained and therefore retains its sheer power.

Read More "Unmercifully gracious, 'Shirokuro' builds on hammered Ustvolskaya @HollandFestival

Marie on a string: Anja Röttgerkamp stars as an unknown soldier in Gisèle Vienne's The Pyre @HollandFestival

Holland Festival Holland Festival

‘The Pyre’, de nieuwste voorstelling van de internationaal rijzende ster Gisèle Vienne, lijkt aanvankelijk minder verontrustend dan haar eerdere werk. Stukken als ‘Jerk’ (2008), gebaseerd op het waar-gebeurde verhaal van een jonge seriemoordenaar, en ‘This is how you will disappear’ (2010), met een donker bos in de hoofdrol, waren slechts op enkele plekken in Nederland te zien. Hopelijk brengt dit optreden tijdens het Holland Festival daar verandering in. Gisèle Vienne studeerde ooit harp, daarna filosofie en is uiteindelijk als poppenspeler opgeleid. Maar Vienne ziet zichzelf vooral als een beeldend kunstenaar die werkt met tijd, op een podium, waar verschillende ritmes, motieven en figuren samenkomen.

Read More "Marie on a string: Anja Röttgerkamp stars as an unknown soldier in Gisèle Vienne's The Pyre @HollandFestival

'El Djoudour' is interesting as a cultural-political project, but does not convince artistically @Holland Festival

Holland Festival Holland Festival

Mannnen en vrouwen samen op de dansvloer, het is in grote delen van de moslimwereld nog steeds verboden. Twee jaar geleden stond de dansvoorstelling ‘Nya’ op het Holland Festival, een stuk geschreven op de huid van negen Algerijnse dansers, merendeels B-Boyz van de straat, maar ook de zoon van een balletlerares uit Algiers deed mee. Dit jaar keerden de Franse choreograaf Abou Lagraa, zijn vrouw Nawal Ait Benalla en een groot deel van de Algerijnse cast terug in het Holland Festival met een stuk waarin ook vrouwen dansen.

Read More "'El Djoudour' is interesting as a cultural-political project, but does not convince artistically @Holland Festival

Crushingly good: Nine Rivers by composer James Dillon, with conductor and percussionist Steven Schick @HollandFestival

Holland Festival Holland Festival

From the mild, everyday cacophony around the Muziekgebouw in the afternoon, on the terrace by the IJ, you'll get into the silence of the concert hall in a few steps. For three and a half hours (with over two hours of breaks in between), Asko|Schönberg, Slagwerk Den Haag and Capella Amsterdam will play and sing your ears off. Steven Schick (a.o. once Bang on a Can), not only conducts, but also takes charge of the middle part of the concert, at the Bimhuis, as a percussionist. Under his inspired direction, 'Nine Rivers' navigates between spectacle and purism: a battle between complex form and the simplicity of raw sound matter.

Read More "Crushingly good: Nine Rivers by composer James Dillon, with conductor and percussionist Steven Schick @HollandFestival

Sharp, comic and vulnerable: Kris Verdonck and A Two Dogs Company do Daniil Charms at Spring Utrecht

The fun of absurd gestures and everyday stupidity are very close to each other. Kris Verdonck performs the razor-sharp lyrics of Russian Daniil Charms (or Harms, as Verdonck says - hence the title 'H, an incident') as if it were cut cake. The

Read More "Sharp, comic and vulnerable: Kris Verdonck and A Two Dogs Company do Daniil Charms at Spring Utrecht
Steven Michel and Viktor Caudron in 'Victor'

Victor, beautiful duet about contemporary male danger

Putting a man and a boy on stage together - upper body bared; in today's times, that means asking for trouble. Our gaze, saturated by paedophilia scandals, leaves little in the way of intimacy between what could also be father and son, brothers or friends. But 'Victor' by choreographer Jan Martens and director Peter Seynaeve is no good, politically correct repartee. In their search for a loving look at the relationship between husband and child, they also consistently push the boundaries of what is permissible.

Read More "Victor, beautiful duet about contemporary male danger

NDT opens door to future without Kylián with 'School of Thought'

Programme V is NDT1's last programme this season. It seems to be a final chord in more ways than one.

Op de premièredag ging een officieel bericht uit dat choreograaf en ex-artistiek leider Jirí Kylián na 36 jaar betrokkenheid zijn handen aftrekt van NDT. Van september 2014 tot 2017 zal daarnaast geen werk van

Read More "NDT opens door to future without Kylián with 'School of Thought'

Fiction in dance films, (how) does it work? Good question at festival Cinedans

Fransien van der Putt, together with choreographer and dance film-maker Angelika Oei, saw five new Dutch dance films during Cinedans. Some of the results were promising. The films all transcended the level of visual gimmick. In its place is a struggle with fiction and physical credibility.

Read More "Fiction in dance films, (how) does it work? Good question at festival Cinedans
Chamber - Medhi Walerski

NDT in motion: on stage, the silver screen and behind it

Being active on social media like Facebook or Twitter is now a must for any dance company. But broadcasting a dance performance (live) via 600 cinemas worldwide is no mean feat either. NDT (The Hague) has been chosen by Pathé theatres to join the illustrious list of The Metropolitan Opera (New York), The National Theatre (London) and the Bolshoi Ballet (Moscow) as a partner in high-level performing arts.

Read More "NDT in motion: on stage, the silver screen and behind it

Odedra engages wide audience in Indian dance

Emerging British-Indian dance idol Aakash Odedra manages to hook top choreographers with the programme Rising. The dance diptych premiered in London earlier this year and was shown at the India Dance Festival at Korzo dance theatre in The Hague on 14 October 2012. Rising consists of four solos danced by Aakash Odedra himself. In the first choreographed Nritta (A. Odedra), the young dance prince starts inconspicuously with... 

Read More "Odedra engages wide audience in Indian dance
The Second Detail

Shock and awe ballet in Bill & Mr. B overflows with quality on all sides; there is no stalling

In the production Bill & Mr B, the Dutch National Ballet dives thematically into history with reprises of works by George Balanchine and William Forsythe. Balanchine's Symphony in Three Movements (1972) is considered the breeding ground for Forsythe, who then went 'the extra mile' with Steptext (1985) and The Second Detail (1991). From protocol to photocall: dance as a photo session. Movement - click,... 

Read More "Shock and awe ballet in Bill & Mr. B overflows with quality on all sides; there is no stalling

Faustin Linyekula stages the "fundamental resemblance between Negroes and ballerinas" with "La Création du Monde" (Fernand Léger, Darius Milhaud), #HF12.

The 1923 Afro-Cubist dance classic can be seen at Music Theatre today and tomorrow, commented on by Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula. "Europeans have no idea that they are denying the shared history of Africa and Europe. Belgium is part of everyday life in Congo, but Belgians hardly know anything about Congo, or it is the clichés about poverty 

Read More "Faustin Linyekula stages the "fundamental resemblance between Negroes and ballerinas" with "La Création du Monde" (Fernand Léger, Darius Milhaud), #HF12.

No-nonsense audience does not care for tour de force of anti-pale dance in Révolution

Eleven poles are atmospherically lit like a nightclub. Dancers enter and make their way to their work stations. They will walk around their poles in a two-hour shift. They are not the only ones: audience members also start walking, towards the exit. Yet the dizzying repetitions of the hard-working ladies are effective. However, the transcendental minimalism will turn into a... 

Read More "No-nonsense audience does not care for tour de force of anti-pale dance in Révolution

Private Membership (month)
5€ / Maand
Subscribe
For natural persons and self-employed persons.
No annoying banners
A special newsletter
Own mastodon account
Access to our archives
Beste Keuze
Small Membership (month)
18€ / Maand
Subscribe
For cultural institutions with a turnover/subsidy of less than €250,000 per year
No annoying banners
A premium newsletter
All our podcasts
Your own Mastodon account
Access to archives
Posting press releases yourself
Extra attention in news coverage
More details in the welcome email
Large Membership (month)
36€ / Maand
Subscribe
For cultural institutions with a turnover/subsidy of more than €250,000 per year.
No annoying banners
A special newsletter
Your own Mastodon account
Access to archives
Share press releases with our audience
Extra attention in news coverage
Premium Newsletter (substack)
5 trial subscriptions
All our podcasts
More details in confirmation email!

Payments are made via iDeal, Paypal, Credit Card, Bancontact or Direct Debit. If you prefer to pay manually, based on an invoice in advance, we charge a 10€ administration fee

*Only for annual membership or after 12 monthly payments

en_GBEnglish (UK)
nl_NLNederlands fr_FRFrançais en_GBEnglish (UK)