NDT 2 opens the season with an exciting double bill: Lucid Variations. Featuring Folkå by Marcos Morau and a new work by Nadav Zelner. To be seen from 24 October to 20 December.
View the NDT 2 programme Lucid Variations as video on demand in Digital Theatre.
William Forsythe galvanized the dance world and was catapulted into the international spotlight with his dynamic approach to the art form. After only a short run during the height of COVID-19, NDT felt it imperative to re-stage A Forsythe Evening that marks a revival of the company’s long relationship with the choreographer. The works Of Any If And (1995), N.N.N.N. (2002) and One Flat Thing, reproduced (2000) are accompanied by music composed by Forsythe’s longtime collaborator Thom Willems.
“An evening immersed in Forsythe’s world of dance and its mind-boggling vibrancy”
TrouwRead the review (Dutch)
As we prepare to premiere A Forsythe Evening on December 7th we have an update to share with you. For the coming programme, NDT announced the performance of 12 N, a work for 12 dancers that was created during the COVID 19-pandemic in 2021 as an extended version of Forsythe’s earlier work N.N.N.N. During the pandemic, Forsythe wished to enable as many dancers as possible to participate in the creation process and performance.
During the process of rehearsing the upcoming program with William Forsythe, we have decided to return to the initial plan of 2021 and present N.N.N.N. in its original form, created in 2002 for 4 dancers.
N.N.N.N. is a clear example of Forsythe’s later style, which explores facets of counterpoint emerging from intense ensemble interdependence. We are proud to share the work with NDT audiences for the first time.
William Forsythe galvanized the international dance world with his dynamic approach to the art form. Forsythe’s keen interest in the intricacies of choreographic organization informs the breadth of his significant oeuvre. After only a short run during the height of COVID-19, NDT felt it imperative to re-stage this programme that marks a revival of the company’s long relationship with Forsythe. The evening is accompanied by music composed by Forsythe’s longtime collaborator Thom Willems.
N.N.N.N. (2002) appears as a mind in four parts: four dancers in a state of constant, filagree connection. Underscored by the subtle, murmured flashes of Thom Willems music, the dancers enter into a complex, intense music making of their own. Their arms, heads, bodies and legs become singular voices, each tuned and in counterpoint to the others. The dancers complex breath score allows them to coalesce into a linked entity of flinging arms, folding joints and a sharp, high sense of time. N.N.N.N. is the work upon which 12 N was based, but never performed due to pandemic conditions. It is now to be seen in its original form with all of its musical structures intact.
Of Any If And (1995) is an intimate and virtuoso duet framed by instances of language which eventually evaporate around them: a cloud of small, text-inscribed panels that intermittently descend towards the stage. The panels’ texts are fragments from Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things, written in reverse, in which he described the decomposition of a body. This is one of a series of works Forsythe composed after the death of his wife in 1994. The duet embodies a seriousness of purpose, a forensic intensity in the performers’ bid to engage with classical technique while deconstructing its usual framework.
For all the hazardous torrent of dancers moving relentlessly around metal tables, One Flat Thing, reproduced (2000) is actually a purposeful chapter in Forsythe’s ongoing research into the distension of contrapuntal structure. The work is set up as a linked “machinery” that is created through the interaction of three systems of organization: numerous individual movement themes, a dense system of distributed cueing, and complex alignments of forms and/or movement flow. Although the dancer’s field of action is seriously delimited, the unforgiving maze of tables also offers the unusual possibility of composing interrelated action on three levels.
View the online programme book for all information:
Season 2023-2024 | December 7 until 22, 2023
Amare, Den Haag
7 (première), 8, 9 December
15, 16 december
Parktheater Eindhoven, Eindhoven
12 December
Internationaal Theater Amsterdam
19, 20, 21, 22 December
William Forsythe (1949) has been active in the field of choreography for over 50 years. His three decades of work with his ensembles in Frankfurt exerted significant influence upon generations of artists in a wide array of creative practices.
With an initial focus on the organizational underpinnings of academic ballet Forsythe has, since 1991, extended his choreographic discourse into the field of visual arts. While his work for the stage resides in the repertories of ensembles worldwide, his installations are presented internationally in museums and exhibitions. Forsythe has been the recipient of numerous awards which include the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale and Der Faust, both for lifetime achievement.
Thom Willems’ music is predominately created for ballet. He works since 1985 with the choreographer William Forsythe. Until 2004 with Ballett Frankfurt and from 2005 on with The Forsythe Company. Together they have created over 70 works.
His music in connection with William Forsythe’s work, is featured in the repertoire of virtually every major ballet company in the world including The Mariinsky Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Paris Opera Ballet, Teatro alla Scala Milano, Royal Ballet Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, Semper Oper Dresden, Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon and Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) among many others. In total 71 companies in 29 countries.
Check out the list of all NDT 1 dancers and get to know the dancers better by reading their biographies and personal stories.
NDT organizes introduction talks prior to the performances of NDT 1 and NDT 2 in the Netherlands. The introduction talk takes 30 minutes and offers the opportunity the audience to meet our company on a personal level before the performance starts. Modern dance and the repertoire of NDT in particular are the focus of our introduction talks.
You can read more information in the information e-mail you receive the day before your visit to Amare, or via the website of the theater in question where you are visiting the NDT performance
We started a new dance project for children between 8 and 14 years old: NDT Young Creatives. Dance experience is not required, but you do need enthousiasm to create and perform! Wondering if there will also be a workshop around this programme? Check it out via the link below.
Photo: Sacha Grootjans
