Rotterdam

Dance course explodes. Sudden vacancy management dance course Royal Conservatoire
The dance course at The Hague Conservatory has exploded. Sort of. Nancy Euverink, director of dance education is in fact stepping down from the Royal Conservatoire (KC). And not only that. Deputy director Tom Bosma is not staying on either. Who will take over after the final performances and in the new season is still unclear. An international vacancy has been posted.

'Less progress!" shouts the festival. DEAF finds the future a bit scary this time.
We are all a little afraid of losing control. So we are reluctant to like 'Europe', we are frightened by the unprecedented world powers lurking in our mobile communication devices and we think the public transport chip card is an onion, all the while being motivated every day to want newer, better, higher, more.

Brotherhood in turbulent times
In 2001, when Rotterdam was European Capital of Culture, a number of institutions joined forces and from this, in 2005, the Rotterdam Opera Days born. The aim is to programme innovative musical theatre in the opera house-less Maasstad after all, often in unusual locations. This year the ninth edition will take place, from 17 to 25 May, with the theme 'brotherhood'.

Even the dancers didn't know it. Conny Janssen dances for Obama and 58 world leaders.
Dancing in front of 58 world leaders, and of course Obama himself. As a thread, as an opening act. Just imagine the assignment. For three months, Conny Janssen Danst secretly worked on this mission. Until Monday 24 March the happened.

Young choreographic talent gets chance at Conny Janssen Danst
Young, promising talent among choreographers deserves protection in these times of austerity. Dance group Conny Janssen Danst is committed to this with the programme 'Rotterdam Spring'. Besides work by Conny Janssen herself, the programme features choreographies by Dario Tortorelli and Loïc Perela.

Breaking: Rotterdam art fair changes name for fear of trousers factory
You can still eat a raw egg in English, but you can no longer use the word RAW for almost anything to do with style. Therefore, the RAW Art Fair is to be renamed next year. Sources at the organisers of the Rotterdam Art Week Art Fair confirm that this may have avoided a dragging court case.

The 15 toppers of contemporary art in Rotterdam, for those who missed it
Art Rotterdam is the leading contemporary art fair in the Netherlands. This year, as many as 96 galleries presented artworks by many more artists. Added to this, the same fair featured a video art section under the title Art Rotterdam Projections, a section of affordable art at WeLikeArt! and a section that featured as many as 92 artists featured in 2012 were honoured with a start-up grant from the Mondriaan Fund. The Van Nelle factory was bursting at the seams from it.

4 reasons why the arts are going to lose a lot more. Municipal culture congress wrongly optimistic
It was ball in Rotterdam on Thursday, 30 January. At the Municipal Culture Congress, a few hundred officials, local politicians and arts organisations gathered to talk about where they could help each other. It was supposed to be a positive day. There had been long enough complaining and arguing: look ahead, hopeful into the future. Even if the worst is yet to come.

'Gay propaganda is not about homophily': Rotterdam backs Gergiev
They were horrified by it. There in Rotterdam, at De Doelen. Because 'their' Valery Gergiev, former chief of the local orchestra and namesake of the prestigious festival that sometimes to be held in September, doesn't like gays. At least, that's what we all believed
Gergiev under fire. How a silly statement and half-hearted attempt at nuance worries Rotterdam. And exposes a bigger problem.
Protests abound again tonight at a concert conducted by Valery Gergiev, this time at London's Barbican. Many of the protesters are demanding that the orchestra explicitly distance itself from the Russian star conductor and speak out openly against gay legislation in Russia.

Happy jerk or depressed bacteria? Biodesign is the future, according to William Myers
What idiot could come up with that, wondered one of the attendees: that you can make electrical circuits by combining the DNA of an algae with that of a hamster? Just a question that comes to mind when walking around the exhibition Biodesign, on show in Rotterdam from 27 September to 5 January (2014). And then there's...

Tristan und Isolde is the ultimate declaration of love
"That sounds different. A bit sad."
I just played F, B, D♯ and G♯. Better known as the Tristan chord. But on guitar. My audience consists of 15 toddlers.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin turns Rotterdam Doelen into a swirling sea of sound
In a letter to Franz Liszt in 1852, Wagner stressed that in his Der fliegende Holländer should be shown as realistically as possible, full of violent waves. One hundred and sixty years later, Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes that advice very much to heart in port city Rotterdam. Nothing about this Holländer ripples, from the first notes it storms, culminating in a third act at hurricane force, with a leading role for the Netherlands Opera choir.