The Netherlands Dans Theatre (NDT), arguably the best modern dance company in the world, is just a hop, skip and a jump away in Den Haag. NDT II’s current new dance program, ‘RUSH’, is a tour de force, featuring the best and brightest young stars of dance.
Nederlands Dans Theatre (NDT) is comprised of three separate troupes: NDT I, the main company; NDT II, for young dancers; and NDT III, for dancers 40 years and older. This pioneering organizational structure provides the dancers with a performance setting designed to support and advance their work at different stages in their careers
NDT II, founded in 1978, is currently comprised of 14 dancers, aged between 17 and 22. The dance company exudes youthful energy, fascinating athleticism and discipline. The NDT’s new program RUSH, includes two world premieres by Jiri Kylia’n and Shusaku Takeuchi and the brilliant productions Shutters Shut and Subject to change by Lightfoot León.
The program opens with Takeuchi’s surrealistic work Caterpillar, a dance that takes the audience into the dreamy world of a longing soul. Caterpillar can be interpreted as the story of a disabled person exploring the limits of the physical world in his or her mind. The dancers deliver superb, vigorous performances; the precision of their and every move blends with the dancers’ acrobatic ability, leaving a deep impression on the audience.
Shutters Shut uses a poem by Gertrude Stein of repeated questions and incomplete sentences, transforming it into an accompanying soundtrack. The choice of this old recording is more sophisticated than it seems at first. The poem speaks of a combination between the visual and verbal (the painting of Picasso and writing of Stein). As the questions, rhythmically repeated, express doubts and uncertainty, two dancers establish a link between dance and writing, while at the same time showing that humor is also at home on the dance floor. In a word: sensational!
Sleepless is a modern ballet creation danced to Schubert’s classical piece, Der Tod und das Mdchen. As the red carpet unfolds, it serves as a scene for the dancers and a playground for the characters involved. Although the music is quite somber, the choreographer manages to unveil the hilarious aspects of a dance.
Subject to change presents a different sort of dance, one that uses stage and light designs as integral, perhaps even indispensable elements of the dance. A white screen, sloping across the stage, obscures what is going on behind it and reveals another dimension of dance. The ingenious choreography, playing with light and stage accessories, cleverly captures the audience, like a dexterous magician with his tricks. As the plot evolves and becomes more abstract, the piece’s humor gives way.
NDT II’s program presents dance as a journey into the abstract and surrealistic world of the mind. The talented choreographers and young gifted dancers exhibit the unlimited possibilities of dance. For those who are passionate about dance as idea, who prefer thought to matter, check the theory in motion and go see ‘RUSH’. The world premiere of ‘Rush’ is on November 25.
Nederlands Dans Theatre (NDT) is comprised of three separate troupes: NDT I, the main company; NDT II, for young dancers; and NDT III, for dancers 40 years and older. This pioneering organizational structure provides the dancers with a performance setting designed to support and advance their work at different stages in their careers
NDT II, founded in 1978, is currently comprised of 14 dancers, aged between 17 and 22. The dance company exudes youthful energy, fascinating athleticism and discipline. The NDT’s new program RUSH, includes two world premieres by Jiri Kylia’n and Shusaku Takeuchi and the brilliant productions Shutters Shut and Subject to change by Lightfoot León.
The program opens with Takeuchi’s surrealistic work Caterpillar, a dance that takes the audience into the dreamy world of a longing soul. Caterpillar can be interpreted as the story of a disabled person exploring the limits of the physical world in his or her mind. The dancers deliver superb, vigorous performances; the precision of their and every move blends with the dancers’ acrobatic ability, leaving a deep impression on the audience.
Shutters Shut uses a poem by Gertrude Stein of repeated questions and incomplete sentences, transforming it into an accompanying soundtrack. The choice of this old recording is more sophisticated than it seems at first. The poem speaks of a combination between the visual and verbal (the painting of Picasso and writing of Stein). As the questions, rhythmically repeated, express doubts and uncertainty, two dancers establish a link between dance and writing, while at the same time showing that humor is also at home on the dance floor. In a word: sensational!
Sleepless is a modern ballet creation danced to Schubert’s classical piece, Der Tod und das Mdchen. As the red carpet unfolds, it serves as a scene for the dancers and a playground for the characters involved. Although the music is quite somber, the choreographer manages to unveil the hilarious aspects of a dance.
Subject to change presents a different sort of dance, one that uses stage and light designs as integral, perhaps even indispensable elements of the dance. A white screen, sloping across the stage, obscures what is going on behind it and reveals another dimension of dance. The ingenious choreography, playing with light and stage accessories, cleverly captures the audience, like a dexterous magician with his tricks. As the plot evolves and becomes more abstract, the piece’s humor gives way.
NDT II’s program presents dance as a journey into the abstract and surrealistic world of the mind. The talented choreographers and young gifted dancers exhibit the unlimited possibilities of dance. For those who are passionate about dance as idea, who prefer thought to matter, check the theory in motion and go see ‘RUSH’. The world premiere of ‘Rush’ is on November 25.
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