The raw in Something Raw can mean all sorts of things. The first thought might be something rough, as in the effect of sandpaper on skin or the havoc left by an elephant in the china shop. But rough is a derivative meaning. Raw first of all means unprocessed and fresh. There is a certain hope in the combination of rough and raw: artists who like...
Years ago, Nederlands Dans Theater profiled itself with the slogan "challenging dance". That applies well to Straight Around. This performance by youth company NDT2 premiered at Holland Dance Festival in The Hague on 18 February. The company does not immediately make it easy for its audience with the four danced pieces, but for those who know how to empathise, there is...
In the wings of Nederlands Dans Theater, the new generation of dance makers is ready. Medhi Walerski and Johan Inger are both former dancers of the company and have previously created pieces there. In NDT2's Shearing the Wolves programme, they each surprise with a world premiere full of intense, pure dance. In comparison, an older work by house choreographers Sol Léon and...
The first weekend of October saw the Netherlands Dance Days (NDD) take place in Maastricht. As Ruben Brugman reported, important prizes for the dance world are awarded there. But the Dance Days seem mainly meant to promote Dutch dance, more than to be a critical evaluation or artistic boost. At the Dance Days, no pithy speech on the State of Dance as...
During a festive dinner at Theater aan het Vrijthof in Maastricht, 'Zwanen' were awarded to dancer Jorge Nozal of NDT 1, Ann Van den Broek for The Black Piece and to Roel Voorintholt (Gouden Zwaan), artistic director of Introdans. The annual highlights festival De Nederlandse Dansdagen hosted this successful 'Swan Dinner': posh sponsors and stakeholders ate side by side with messy dance artists. This is how it should be...
Bodies are dragged away to loud applause and cheers: a more symbolic beginning Nederlands Dans Theater could not have imagined. With Start Again, the international ballet company highlights an exile until 2019 at the harbour in Scheveningen. A tricky location, because remote. But also a dynamic place. A Dutch choreographer would surely invent a choreography there with ferries, cutters and lifeboats. NDT, however, chooses the...
Got that. Do I get increasingly impressed during the National Ballet's evening Cool Britannia, turns out it's not that good at all. Because connoisseurs react lukewarmly afterwards. Am I that dumb, or are they that smart? There is actually very little British about Cool Britannia. Except that the choreographers are from there. An obvious...
It's dance, but not as we know it. That's the best way to describe Korzo and Nederlands Dans Theater's current edition of dance festival Spring Awakening. With two wonderful standouts, by choreographers Tom Weinberger and Kenzo Kusuda.
Ukraine, Boko Haram, IS, the economic crisis. The world resembles a borderline patient, as Ricardo Semler states. Dance festival CaDance also likes to hold a mirror up to politicians and power. With Exhausting Space by Spanish choreographer Iván Pérez succeeds just fine.
Recently, a choreographer in England lay under fire. As artistic director, he would not be able to judge his own work objectively. Promptly afterwards, a debate ensued under the title Do choreographers need editors? On seeing Strike Root of NDT, that question lingered: do choreographers need a dramaturge?
The Official Nominations for the 2014 Dance Audience Award have been announced. Check out the 10 favourite dance performances and 10 favourite dancers of 2014. You can also vote for them. Varied entries For the Dance Audience Award, nearly 800 dance performance visitors sent in nominations of no fewer than 105 dancers and 65 dance performances. From Igone de Jongh of the Dutch National Ballet to the young Carlos Puts in...
Among the audience at Korzo theatre in The Hague at the performance 'Here We Live And Now' are a striking number of dancers from Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT). No wonder, as many of their colleagues are involved in this performance. This annual programme featuring young choreographic talent is a co-production of NDT and Korzo. The addition 'The Hague' talent, by the way, may be taken with...
By Melle Daamen 'What do you want then?' was a question I received quite often in response to my articles last year in NRC, in which I expressed my concerns about the state of the arts in the Netherlands and especially its future. I argued for a fundamental debate from within the arts sector itself, focusing on the future, including...
So the building is a bit redundant, well considered. After years of drawing, tug-of-war and plans for a new venue complex in the city centre of The Hague, local politicians blew off the Spui Forum earlier this year. Now, I'm sure there will have been all kinds of criticisms of that building plan, but the consequences of the lokalos blowing it off are not...
Jiří Kylián is not at the Holland Festival. He has his own festival. The small Korzo theatre hosted ten days of intimate works by the great choreographer. Varied and still impressive. Next year, Kylián will have been a choreographer for 45 years. How do you keep performing at the world's top for so long?
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.
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.
It was predictable. Now that the Culture Council has given the secretary of state a go-ahead for massive and very deep cuts in dance, the first press releases are appearing with the outraged reactions. The National Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater are aggrieved: 'How
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