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.
Dear friends,
Welcome to In/with/in, featuring NDT 1 in two world premieres, where international makers usher in our new season with their diverse artistic perspectives and expressions.
What happens when multiple, seemingly unrelated events collide? How do they overlap as one breathable entity that consistently morphs into new ways of being? Imre van Opstal & Marne van Opstal explore the idea of synchronicity in their new work. The Point Being was created in close collaboration with renowned Dutch designer Lonneke Gordijn and DRIFT. In this multidisciplinary creation, choreography, scenography and music generate both friction and harmony.
A new voice to NDT, this evening introduces choreographer and founder of the acclaimed TAO Dance Theater, Tao Ye, with his world premiere 15. Tao Ye works in numerical form, making this the choreographer’s fifteenth creation and his first work for a company outside of Asia. For Tao Ye, the body is the most meaningful interpretation of the concept of modernity. The guiding principle in this exhilarating new work is the act of repetition that progresses towards a pure and minimal state.
I love you, ghosts (2022) by Marco Goecke was the choreographer’s first creation in the then-recently opened Amare. Fascinated by the grandeur of the new building, it simultaneously evoked memories of the old studio’s of the Lucent Danstheater and the impressions that remained after that theatre’s demolition.
Developing this programme has been a pleasure and a privilege. A heartfelt thank you to Imre, Marne, Lonneke, DRIFT, Marco, Tao Ye, Duan Ni, Jun Jun, Qiqi and our many wonderful collaborators, dancers, and the NDT team for their remarkable effort and passion in realizing this inspired evening.
Thank you for joining us tonight. Enjoy!
Emily Molnar
Artistic Director
DRAMATURGE
Nadja Kadel
MUSIC
Harry Belafonte: Try To Remember, Danny Boy. Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Cappell Music.
Alberto Ginastera: Concerto per Corde, Opus 33: IV, finale furioso (for strings). Licensed by Chandos and © Boosey & Hawkes, Londen / Albersen Verhuur B.V., ’s-Gravenhage.
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Chamber Symphony No. 2 op. 147: I. Allegro molto. Performed by Gidon Kremer (Principal Violin), Andrei Pushkarev (Timpani) & Kremerata Baltica. Used by arrangement with ECM Records. Licensed by © Peer Music Classical GmbH, Hamburg / Albersen Verhuur B.V., ’s-Gravenhage.
Einojuhani Rautavaara: An epitaph for Bela Bartok (for strings). Licensed by Ondine and © Fennica Gehrman, Helsinki / Albersen Verhuur B.V., ’s-Gravenhage.
LIGHT
Udo Haberland
DECOR & COSTUMES
Marco Goecke
NDT REHEARSAL DIRECTOR
Francesca Caroti
WORLD PREMIERE
February 3, 2022 Amare The Hague
DURATION
28 minutes
Alexander Andison, Pamela Campos, Thalia Crymble, Chuck Jones, Madoka Kariya, Charlie Skuy, Yukino Takaura, Luca Tessarini, Theophilus Veselý
“It is Marco Goecke’s eleventh creation for Nederlands Dans Theater, but the first in the recently opened Amare. There is a new smell in the huge building, heavy doors connect the countless rooms with the long corridors, and construction pits are still being filled in here and there. Impressed, you look into the light-flooded studios on the second floor and of course, at the same moment, you remember the old rehearsal rooms in the Lucent Danstheater, the familiar dark Studio 5 in the basement that had no windows, the many impressions that remain even after the demolition. What may have happened to the good house spirits? Have they also moved to the new building? Nine dancers go in search of them with Marco Goecke. “Try to remember”, sings Harry Belafonte. The dancers move to this song at a rapid pace, using Goecke’s language of movement to track down not only the dark and unknown, but also many memories: familiar gestures that are evoked from earlier spaces and earlier pieces, like protective ghosts.
One dancer brings another one to the front of the room, carefully grasps her wrists. “Somebody plays you,” Goecke says to her in a rehearsal. And later to another dancer: “It’s a bit like what is said in Das Geisterhaus: ‘Don’t touch her, she’s dead'”. Like when Goecke conjures up ghosts. And when the dancers whisper something that sounds like “I love you…”, you are no longer sure whether they are quoting the phrase “I love you so” from Belafonte’s Danny Boy or whether they are saying “I love you, ghosts” in order to connect with the invisible.”
– Nadja Kadel
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“It is nice to revisit I love you, ghosts a year and half from the creation time. Since I last danced this piece, I can feel that the way I think, what is important to me and my curiosity has somewhat shifted.
We went through 5 new programs in the meantime and entered in many different creator’s worlds. I would like to think that we have also grown through the journey a little bit more!
For example, before I was very particular on dancing specific steps in a certain way. That felt very essential to me.
However, now my mind has shifted and for some of those steps, I am more open to dance them differently. Of course, some steps really important to me have not changed since.
I like the feeling of that subtle change in me and I like seeing the changes in the other dancers too.
To me, this Ghost is not scary but instead welcomes us with a big warm heart.
The identity of the piece is so strong that the Ghost invites us to explore more in the studio and on stage.”
“Ghosts connect me to time. They bring my past to life. They appear in many forms: memories, feelings, and fears. With their hauntings, they protect me and hold me close to those I no longer have at physical reach. I love you, ghosts is an ode to the wildest recollections that we follow and that follow us our whole lives. Throughout this work, translucent figures appear at every turn, summoning glowing realizations. We chase spirits, searching for answers. They chase us when we run from what we cannot avoid. On this stage, we engage with the most peculiar aspects of our consciousness. Here, we celebrate all that mystifies us.”
CHOREOGRAPHY
Imre van Opstal, Marne van Opstal
MUSIC
New composition by Amos Ben-Tal
@offprojects
LIGHT
Tom Visser
DECOR
DRIFT
COSTUMES
Imre van Opstal, Marne van Opstal in collaboration with the costume atelier
NDT REHEARSAL DIRECTOR
Tamako Akiyama
WORLD PREMIERE
September 21, 2023, Amare The Hague
DURATION
30 minutes
Anna Bekirova, Conner Bormann, Thalia Crymble, Scott Fowler, Barry Gans, Nicole Ishimaru, Kele Roberson, Yukino Takaura, Luca Tessarini
“What happens when multiple, seemingly unrelated events collide? How do they overlap as one breathable entity that consistently morphs into new ways of being? In The Point Being, choreographers Imre van Opstal & Marne van Opstal explore the idea of synchronicity: the seemingly fleeting moment in which everything seems to make sense. With a multidisciplinary approach, in which choreography, scenography and music generate both friction and harmony.
The work is created in collaboration with Dutch designer Lonneke Gordijn and DRIFT, accompanied with a music score by Amos Ben-Tal (@Offprojects) and light design by Tom Visser. With the close cooperation of the NDT 1 dancers as the cornerstone, Imre and Marne hope to give inspiration to abstract space and the visualization of synchronicity. How do we make the invisible, visible? We invite you into this visual connection where we try to stop time for a moment in a world that continuously seems to escape the moment.”
– Imre van Opstal & Marne van Opstal
“Synchronicity – this was the initial prompt Imre and Marne introduced on our first day in the studio. We were tasked to, in accordance with this definition, research and create meaningful coincidences or contradictions, in the body and with one another – fleeting unions that come and go, from few to many.
This was physically contextualized over the course of the process in many ways. What became especially vital over these weeks was the realisation of synchronicity as a conduit for diversity – of an opportunity to bring together, the feeding into a common goal or shared environment.
To further this concept, the collaboration with the Amsterdam-based DRIFT – proved to also be synchronous in its own right. Their contributions have been crucial, both in igniting our imaginations and expanding the possibilities of our creative world.
Hopefully, as dancers and audiences alike, we are left to reflect upon each ecosystem we find ourselves in and every perfect happenstance we encounter. Perhaps we even take a moment to acknowledge that our importance to one another is not only apparent, but poignant – not simply causal, but cosmic.”
“Hearing how in depth the conversations between DRIFT, Imre, and Marne were prior to the start of the process, an exciting momentum was created to see how we, as dancers could aid in the discovery of synchronicity in a live performance. In the midst of a strong marriage of many moving parts – the set, music, movement – a singular voice and collective identity emerged from the mist. The beauty of this creation was in the day to day – tasked with different states of being and finding complexity within simplicity, ‘The point being’ became a resonant question we were looking to understand and the strength of connection became our most valuable tool. When it is something you find in relationship to your environment, there’s a euphoric essence that permeates your entire being – that exact moment of presence, where we feel one another shifting through time, simultaneously. In this discovery, we find ourselves on the brink of what it really means to encapsulate these moments.”
ASSISTANTS TO THE CHOREOGRAPHER
Huang Qiqi, Duan Ni
MUSIC
New composition by Xiao He
LIGHT
Ellen Ruge
DECOR
Tao Ye
COSTUMES
Duan Ni
PROJECT MANAGER & INTERPRETER TAO DANCE THEATER
Jun Jun
NDT REHEARSAL DIRECTOR
Francesca Caroti, Emily Molnar
WORLD PREMIERE
September 21, 2023, Amare The Hague
DURATION
25 minutes
Alexander Andison, Fay van Baar, Jon Bond, Pamela Campos, Emmitt Cawley, Matthew Foley, Surimu Fukushi, Chuck Jones, Madoka Kariya, Genevieve O’Keeffe, Paxton Ricketts, Theophilus Veselý, Nicole Ward, Sophie Whittome, Zenon Zubyk
In August 2023, choreographer Tao Ye was invited by Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) to create a new work 15 for fifteen dancers of NDT 1. This is the first time that Tao Ye collaborates with a European dance company. Tao Ye created three extremely challenging acts of this work using the movement concepts of group drift, dynamic flow and space shuttle to develop the work to different extremes.
Tao Ye believes that triangles have the characteristics of solidity, structure and mathematics. In 15, he combined the imaginative space of Eastern and Western dance, making random and logic co-existing. He also tried to explore a new kind of body vocabulary based on his body technique – Circular Movement System.
One important concept of this work is about the changes and richness of rhythm. Based on this, Tao Ye developed three kinds of live sound – dancers’ slaps, falls and vocals. Meanwhile, combining with the dynamic textures of the dancers’ turning, twisting, spiraling and folding, he hoped to share the experiences and feelings of relaxation, hardness, consumption, regeneration, concentration and meditation.
数位系列《15》
2023年8月，编舞陶冶受邀荷兰舞蹈剧场（NDT）为1团15位舞者创编新作品《15》，这是数位系列首次与欧洲舞团合作，陶冶以三角阵列的方式为NDT舞者创排了三个极具挑战性的舞段，分别以群体漂移、动态流动、空间穿梭的运动概念让作品层层递进，推进极致。
陶冶认为，三角形具有坚固、结构与数理性的特点，此次创作结合了东西方在舞动上的想象空间，使写意与逻辑共生，试图在陶身体圆运动体系的基础上，探索出一种全新的身体语言。
作品整体聚焦在节奏的变化和其丰富性，由此，陶冶发展出了拍击、坠落、人声三种现场的物理声场，同时，结合舞者们拐、拧、曲、折的动势质感，传达出松弛与坚硬、消耗与再生、专注与冥想的深邃体验。
“The work of 15 is an experience of the seven senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell, awareness and time. Through this process, we have continuously dived deeper into the connection of these senses and to the connection of each other. 15 depends on the connection and presence of each and everyone involved to take the work to a place that is more than just movement on stage. Personally, the question I am most interested in is the one of what is happening during this moment on stage: A game of mental, physical and psychological stamina or a complete surrender into the trance of inertia and never ending flow of energy. It is both, but the experiential and transformative feedback while performing the work and how it evolves in and under the skin, in the air around and between us, and the depletion and regeneration of energy is what I hope the audience can hope to witness and experience as well.”
“15 by Tao Ye has been a unique challenge for a multitude of reasons. In addition to having language and cultural differences, the piece itself is one of the most physically and mentally demanding pieces I’ve done in my twelve year dance career with NDT. 15 requires multiple physical and mental states. These include meditation, fortitude, body awareness, and total relaxation of the body. Despite these demands and difficulties, I am incredibly proud of all the work done by my colleagues and I hope that the audience will enjoy our efforts.”
“Like a pendulum that could swing infinitely, we are tasked with listening to the inertia created through the weight of our body’s in motion. From the first days of sinking into this new language I was intrigued by the prospect of this highly physical endeavour merging seamlessly with a repetitive meditative state of being. I could see how the cyclical nature of the movements, the articulation through our individual bodies and our synchronicity could produce a hypnotic world.
We have been challenged with a language that at times felt very foreign to us and one of my favourite parts of this process has been seeing all of us rise to the occasion. Thinking back to the early weeks, with the amount of new information we were devouring, I remember feeling so overwhelmed which at times made it hard to believe we would one day be able to digest it all. Then day after day I could feel the language seeping into everyone’s bodies and “small wins” arising, whether it was finally remembering a sequence of steps or our bodies trusting the weight/relaxation required to inhabit the movements. Looking at where we are now and entering our final layer of the process I feel an immense sense of pride in the deep understanding we have all cultivated in relation to the elements required in this world.”
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