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PODIUM ART

Anything for which people enter a stage.

cover report Shadow Dancing

Border crossing in the dance world: excellent research leaves out elephant in the room

Dancing, from super amateur to world-class professional, involves boundary crossing, abuse of power, physical assaults and sexual misconduct perpetuated by a stubborn culture of silence. The long-awaited investigation by Marjan Olfers, 'Shadow Dancing', into boundary crossing in the dance world, had even more shocking results than anyone feared beforehand. The figures are now well enough known: a majority of dancers have shown transgressive behaviour to... 

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vake poes; or how god disappeared, lisaboa houbrechts Photo by Kurt van der Elst

Vake Poes by Lisaboa Houbrechts at the Holland Festival: in search of beauty in a very dark story

'Sometimes people come to me crying to tell their stories, things they have experienced.' Theatre-maker, author, director Lisaboa Houbrechts has stirred things up with Vake Poes, the theatrical family epic she created with the Flemish company La Geste. The intense performance, in its lyricism fitting into the oeuvre of Alain Platel's Les Ballets C de la B... 

Read More "Vake Poes by Lisaboa Houbrechts at the Holland Festival: in search of beauty in a very dark story
image by Prophetiques by David Kadoule

Dancing into the night - Prophétique (on est déjà né-es) by Nadia Beugré splashes off the stage.

Sometimes the run-in to a performance is so pleasant that you hope everyone will continue to drone on for a bit. Make it last longer! It feels like you're at a rehearsal, or a private party, at a private event, where you can peek in. That is certainly the case with Prophétique (on est déjà né-es) by Nadia Beugré, which... 

Read More "Dancing into the night - Prophétique (on est déjà né-es) by Nadia Beugré splashes off the stage.
Scene image Bacchae by Alex Kat

The Bacchae at the Holland Festival: Nietzsche, rock-hard beats and beautiful operatic voices in a wild plea for queerness.

'Simplicity is the problem of our time. Simplicity is labelling. It should be about fluidity and confusion.' Greek opera-maker Elli Papakonstantinou, whose star has risen rapidly in recent years, is performing a contemporary version of Euripides' classic tragedy 'Bacchantes' at this year's Holland Festival. In that 405 BC play, wine god Dionysus (also known... 

Read More "The Bacchae at the Holland Festival: Nietzsche, rock-hard beats and beautiful operatic voices in a wild plea for queerness.
Dox campaign image

National DOX Club auditions: we go for talent!

June 2023 marks the annual DOX auditions for young people aged 16 - 26 who want to further develop as a performer in the fields of dance, theatre, music, film and/or spoken word? At the DOX Club, you can spend a season exploring, creating and learning with various creators of the moment. Whether you have completed preliminary training or... 

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Flyer Storytelling festival

Theatre Kikker together with Utrecht partners presents the best stories from the city

Tell! Storytelling festival opens your gaze to the world around you. In collaboration with Het Verhalenhuis and De Vertelacademie, Theater Kikker presents a unique fusion of stories, music, culinary bites, an inspiring exhibition and much more on Saturday 13 May. On this day, you will listen to the stories our city has to offer. Come to Tell! and get to know... 

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orchestra playing in a dutch modern neighbourhood, plain clothes, civil servants looking on

IN PERSPECTIVE 16: The Giro d 'Italia and how the Promenade Orchestra lost.

In the series In Perspective, Erik Akkermans looks back and ahead at developments in cultural policy and practice. Today: walk of the orchestras. In the Hall of Mirrors January 1980, the Hall of Mirrors in the Concertgebouw. Culture minister Til Gardeniers accepts the report "Possession in service" 1 presented by the Federation of Artists' Associations. I found it exciting because the report, commissioned by... 

Read More "IN PERSPECTIVE 16: The Giro d 'Italia and how the Promenade Orchestra lost.
Ernestine Stoop - image provided by Asko|Schönberg

Stairway to Music - Scala for Ernestine - Saturday 27 May

Stairway to Music, a programme by Asko|Schönberg and the Muziekgebouw, is an intimate listening experience of about 45 minutes on the steps of the Muziekgebouw. This time the program also has a personal touch. Harpist Ernestine Stoop says goodbye to Asko|Schönberg after more than 40 years and has put together a concert in which she condenses her time with Asko|Schönberg... 

Read More "Stairway to Music - Scala for Ernestine - Saturday 27 May
BROS © Jean-Michel Blasco

WANTED: 23 male players for BROS

The Holland Festival is looking for 23 male actors for the production Bros. An excellent opportunity for those who want to work with renowned director Romeo Castellucci and experience a performance behind and on the stage of the Rabozaal in ITA. Bros is a large-scale production that leaves a big impression. Who are we looking for? We are looking for a diverse group of men aged 18 to 65, with a height between... 

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Scene from Bros, photo by Luca del Pia

'Bros', Romeo Castellucci's theatrical liturgy of violence by men in uniform. To be seen in the Holland Festival

About 30 men in American police uniforms on stage, the kind we know from TV. But in Romeo Castellucci's show Bros, to be seen at the Holland Festival in June, you don't get to see chases and interrogations, but brutal violence. The show is about the anonymity offered by a uniform, in this case especially... 

Read More "'Bros', Romeo Castellucci's theatrical liturgy of violence by men in uniform. To be seen in the Holland Festival

Writer Nhung Dam is increasingly embracing her Vietnamese roots. 'My background is also a gift.'

Writer and theatre-maker Nhung Dam (38) tried to be as Dutch as possible, but is increasingly embracing her Vietnamese roots. Because these are precisely what make her unique, she now realises, and offer a wealth of stories. Including for her second novel, Definition of Love. Two worlds Nhung Dam (38) more or less grew up in two worlds. Her cradle was in... 

Read More "Writer Nhung Dam is increasingly embracing her Vietnamese roots. 'My background is also a gift.'
Raoul Steffani by Dana van Leeuwen

Baritone Raoul Steffani wins Dutch Music Prize

Raoul Steffani is the brand new winner of the Dutch Music Prize. The prestigious prize is the highest award bestowed by the Performing Arts Fund, on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, on a musician working in classical music. The prize will be presented by State Secretary Gunay Uslu (Culture and Media) on Friday 13 October in Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ.... 

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Happy Days 02 © Sanne Peper

The illusion of happiness and love with Antoinette Jelgersma and Erik Whien

"Another happy day. He listens to me ...Another very happy day, he speaks to me." Life reduced to its essence, with Winnie towering womanishly above the human molehill for her final episode. Antoinette Jelgersma, in Happy Days under Erik Whien, portrays a more monty version of Winnie, one of the toughest stage roles, with a monologue sitting still... 

Read More "The illusion of happiness and love with Antoinette Jelgersma and Erik Whien
Pr-picture The Toneelmakerij by Rachel Schraven

Paul Knieriem on his Hamlet for Amsterdam youth: 'Here you feel what representation and recognition does to a room'.

In mid-March, I went to see the Toneelmakerij's Hamlet, a performance specially made in and for Amsterdam-West. I had some questions about that performance, I wrote in the review, and we would discuss those questions in a podcast with Abdelkader Benali, the adaptor of the text, and Paul Knieriem, the director. An hour and a half before the recording... 

Read More "Paul Knieriem on his Hamlet for Amsterdam youth: 'Here you feel what representation and recognition does to a room'.
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... 

Read More "Tchaikovsky rules over Swan Lake at the National Ballet
Tryater at Oerol 2014, photo Saris den Engelsman

Royal family experiences preview Tryater performance Sâlt

On Wednesday 9 May, the Royal Couple on Terschelling will get an exclusive sneak preview of the show Sâlt, which Tryater is bringing to Oerol in the summer. The couple will visit Terschelling in a tour of the Wadden Islands. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will be informed about the main topics in an extensive programme. Of course, Terschelling's Oerol is part of the visit:... 

Read More "Royal family experiences preview Tryater performance Sâlt
Yara Piekema and Roan Ten Cate answer questions from the audience (Photo: author)

Go see good youth theatre if you no longer believe in the adult offerings.

We have a huge need for magic and a miracle in our time. Some people think you lose that when you grow up and/or have children, but nothing could be further from the truth, of course. And in case you had any doubts, I would wish that more theatre makers for adults would revisit the magic that you still had in your childhood... 

Read More "Go see good youth theatre if you no longer believe in the adult offerings.
logo authors' union

Charlotte Köhler Prize 2023 for Peer Wittenbols

This year's Charlotte Köhler Prize, a triennial award for writers of prose, poetry or drama, has been awarded to Peer Wittenbols (1965). Wittenbols receives the €15,000 prize for his entire oeuvre and in particular for the youth-oriented play Trojan Wars (2020). The jury consisted of theatre scholar Sruti Bala, actor, writer and director Gable Roelofsen and... 

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What Lies Beneath - photo Niels Knelis Meijer

The future is moving, the question is: how?

When the difference between the performer during the performance and afterwards is at least a thick metre, you know you are dealing with a great artist. Australian dancer Olympia Kotopoulos is a great artist, because on stage she fills the space, while in real life she barely counts one and a half metres. Art is, literally, larger than life.... 

Read More "The future is moving, the question is: how?
lottie Hellingman. Photo: Karin Jonkers

'Broos' impressively exposes frustrations in intensive care setting

'Broos' opens as a kind of cruel game show, with lead actress Lottie Hellingman in the middle of the stage, sitting on a chair above which hangs a large, grey rock. "I took happiness for granted," she begins resignedly. Hellingman's words are by director Madeleine Matzer. She wrote them down for 'Broos' after hearing a mother of a 17-year-old daughter with Down syndrome say 

Read More "'Broos' impressively exposes frustrations in intensive care setting
Scene image of Hamlet by Sanne Peper

Why is this fascinating play, about the world of Amsterdam West, called Hamlet?

I had to think for a while before I wrote something about the Hamlet performance that is now showing to an audience of mostly high school students in Amsterdam West. That was because I was sitting in the auditorium, on a legendarily uncomfortable stand in a fine fringe breeding ground, among a schoolchildren's audience that sat watching in full attention for almost two hours, while at... 

Read More "Why is this fascinating play, about the world of Amsterdam West, called Hamlet?

Cinedans 2023: food for thought

Sometimes a festival only really begins after the halls have emptied. Red threads become visible, themes buzz after, research continues, archives are unlocked. What struck me about the nineteenth, somewhat smaller edition of Cinedans is that there was a lot of work on the vulnerability of the body. Not surprising after a pandemic, during a war and with an even more... 

Read More "Cinedans 2023: food for thought
Still from trailer Carmina Burana

A Ukrainian Carmina Burana with an Amersfoort touch, thanks to Gerard Mosterd.

'Carmina Burana is the first project in Ukraine where I had a free hand to really turn it into something completely different. I didn't have to adapt an existing production, but could create a whole new performance from scratch.' Gerard Mosterd (1964) has a long career behind him as a dancer and choreographer. Now he is also a producer of... 

Read More "A Ukrainian Carmina Burana with an Amersfoort touch, thanks to Gerard Mosterd.
Images from ReichRichter - photographer Raf Keunen

[press release] Asko|Schönberg opens the Minimal Music Festival with the Dutch premiere of Reich/Richter. NB extra concert due to great interest.

Reich/Richter - 12 April Amsterdam Minimal Music Festival Also in the Minimal Music Festival: Mapping Andriessen - 13 April, by Asko|Schönberg and Ensemble Klang Reich/Richter Two of the greatest living artists in their own disciplines join forces: Steve Reich, founder of minimal music, and Gerhard Richter, who is among the top post-war visual artists. Together, they stand... 

Read More "[press release] Asko|Schönberg opens the Minimal Music Festival with the Dutch premiere of Reich/Richter. NB extra concert due to great interest.

Four Cinedans festival tips, in a packed weekend

With Kaboom!, Movies that matter, the Pink Film Days and Cinedans all four at the same time, it will be hard to choose next weekend. Cinedans, dance on screen, is a festival very dear to my heart, which is where I will be found next weekend. Cinema is, after all, movement, in montage, découpage, action, mise en place. And slowly the realisation that dance and film are a... 

Read More "Four Cinedans festival tips, in a packed weekend

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