Young Talent Project 2024

This year, Young Talent Project, a unique collaboration between Royal Conservatoire Dance (KC) and Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT), had its twelfth edition.

This unique talent development project offers young dance students the chance to work intensively work with NDT, allowing them to further develop their talents as versatile dancers.

At the same time, (former) NDT dancers are given the opportunity to gain valuable experience as a teacher, repetiteur or choreographer within a
professional dance education.

Young Talent Project goes beyond just learning NDT repertoire; for three months, students are taken through the process of creating choreography at NDT every day.

– All photos by Sacha Grootjans

Jon Bond

NDT 1 dancer Jon Bond worked with the students on an entirely new creation:

Follicles of Weary Travelers

“This year I had the great opportunity to work with the HBO4 dancers from the Royal Conservatoire in collaboration with NDT for the Young Talent Project. It was a terribly busy period between the two institutions, but this project brought a bit of refreshment after a full day of rehearsal. Being able to be creative in a slightly different forum than our “normal” day to day was for me very revitalizing.

The dancers were such a joy to work with. I believe the tone we set for an open playground (work/play balance) led to an extremely positive atmosphere welcoming constant exploration. Every rehearsal was a new opportunity to try out different tools for creation, open a dialogue and challenge both their technical/artistic abilities as well as my own.”

“My assistant Isabelle Chaffaud brought a tremendous amount of support, laughter, and expertise to myself as well as the dancers. She made the periods of leaving the piece for a while to go on tour non stressful.

From rehearsal-stage- the final performances, these young artists strived for new heights, working as a unit and trusting the process and journey. I leave this process extremely grateful to everyone involved and proud of the dancers and atmosphere we created to make such progress from day 1 to the final show. Thank you!”

– Jon Bond

Kele Roberson

NDT 1 dancer Kele Roberson also worked on an all-new creation with the students:

O2B3D

” Participating in this year’s Young Talent Project was an important and pivotal challenge for me as an artist – presenting itself as a sort of true “first” in terms of a slightly larger scale creation – a bit more time, dancers and resources allocated than in previous choreographic outlets.

This project was a beautiful opportunity to practice decisiveness and time management, as well as to exercise the muscle of deciphering brain mess into clarity, attempts to formulate something clear and cohesive for the dancers. This may take a few more tries.

Searching for balance in creative output – as dancer and then creator – was also an unexpected challenge within itself. While it can be energy consuming, suddenly you’re seeing two sides of the same coin and privy to the wonderful effect of each feeding either side with an understanding for the other, something I don’t believe always occurs simultaneously in the career of a dancer. It also largely informed my learning through and from the students – in the end they taught me the most.”

“Some moments felt uphill, yet in the end it was nothing but a fruitful takeaway – I feel that some pretty important first steps were taken in bringing me closer to understanding what kind of creator I aspire to be.

With time, I am realizing that my learning method in many things involves some attempts with quite a few self-imposed limitations before finding freedom – I feel this project was part of the start of finding that within choreography. And so, I impatiently await the next!”

-Kele Roberson

César Fernandes

“The process with the dancers was very touching and enriching for me as I was in its creation and process. This piece has a very personal human experience for each dancer, in that they must also find a connection with one another, which can be a very difficult task.

This quartet which was created in Vancouver seems at first glance easy. The music from Schubert it’s so beautiful and intricate that only by being completely in sync and connected to each other its potential will come to light.
Seeing these young dancers embody all its fullness which is not an easy task, was a journey.

At every rehearsal I could see them improving, but we needed to dig deeper, we needed to find their own unique self, the human behind the dancer, which for a young artist still in the making could be an overwhelming task, this could only be achieved by their own commitment to the journey they were embarking on.

I have to say: they did it!

I was touched and proud to see how they performed, it felt that just yesterday the Vancouver Quartet was premiering in the Zuiderstrand with Jan Schouten on stage.

– César Fernandes
Vancouver Quartet by Crystal Pite

Ralitza Malehounova

“I like the challenge of working with dancers from different backgrounds and age groups and working with such young dancers that are still discovering themselves. Finding out who they are and who they want to be, demands another sensitivity and patience. It’s a vulnerable age and passing on Marco’s language requires me to find other metaphors or nuances to express the urgency of his movements.

As with any new group, it’s about getting to know them, winning their trust, something must unlock. I love that search and love to see them develop. I know from my own experience that those first encounters with contemporary repertoire means a lot and opens up new possibilities, a broader horizon. Seeing them on stage holding it together owning it and giving it soul touches me and makes me curious of where I might meet them in the future.

-Ralitza Malehounova
Excerpt from ‘Smokey Sarah‘ by Marco Goecke