DANCE!

‘Nobody cares if you dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion.’

I have danced for multiple years now in multiple styles. There have been competitions and performances where I have just performed a choreography. However, this project has given me the opportunity to explore more than just predefined steps to follow. DANCE! Was my opportunity to challenge myself and explore what more I can do to perform.

In this show I am dancing in the piece UNDONE by Willemieke. For me this represents multiple things. There is so much happening all around us and we strive to be a certain kind of person. As a result, we build all kinds of barriers for ourselves, against certain emotions, relationships and most importantly life choices. We see all kinds of imperfections in ourselves and the world, but won’t dare to open up and express ourselves in the world, we are still undone.

I hope to be able to express all these different emotions and more within this piece. This is more than just an choreography, but a projection of movements that we have been working on together. People should be able to feel and see our emotions within the movement and be able to follow our story.

What makes this project special to you?

– As someone who started dancing at a later age than most, this has been the first time for me that I actually auditioned for a dance performance. This in itself was already quite the new experience. So I cannot wait what else DANCE! will bring.

What do you like most about the project?

– I really love the idea of intensively working together with a small group of creative people to create something new, personal and special.

How is it different from things that you usually do?

– Usually my dance persormances are quite short. For this project there is more time for the performance. Which gives space for new opportunities, like room to build up the tension, setting the mood of a performance, and time to connect with my fellow dancers.

What do you hope that the end result will look like?

– I hope we will be able to combine all the different personalities, strengts and styles in our dance to be able to marvel the audience and ourselfs.

I only quite recently joined Tribes. Since I left my first dance school nearly 10 years ago, I have been endlessly switching between studios. I was not finding what (I didn’t know) I was looking for: a space of open-minded people wanting to dance together without any need for competition or excellence. Therefore, after finding that at Tribes, being able to dive deep into the essence of dance with those lovely people has me very excited.

In my experience this project is quite unique for creating such an experimental performance with non-professional dancers. It is an amazing chance for a lot of people who dance just for the love of it. We get to experience this kind of creation without having to go through years of professional training as an entry condition.

For Embrace, we as dancers take the lead in the creation of the piece. Instead of a choreographer setting all the paces, he takes a step back and lets the dancers follow how their bodies want to move together in the space. We aim to perform without performing.

I am hoping to show the audience the fundamental role dancing has in my life. How it has become a part of who I am, and can never be separated from my identity anymore. If the only thing that happens during the performance is that you get to know the dancers a little bit better, then we succeeded. If your understanding of the relationship between people and dance is expanded, then we outperformed ourselves.

• What makes this project special to you?
  This is my first time joining a performance-based project like Dance! I love that it allows us dancers to fully embrace the different concepts we are working with and try to figure out a way to translate them into movement. This allows us to explore our creativity, find new ways to dance together and bring our own ideas and personality to the stage. This makes Dance! such a special experience!
• What do you like most about the project?
  The project motivates all dancers, regardless of technical level or skill, to find new ways to express themselves through dance. This creates a unique atmosphere that allows us to connect with each other through both movement and the underlying emotions, which I think is really beautiful.
• How is it different from things that you usually do?
  Dance! challenges me to let go of inhibitions in movement and build trust in the other dancers. This forces you to focus on what moves you instead of how exactly to move, which I think is something we do not get to experience often and makes the project so much fun.
• What do you hope that the end result will look like?
  I love the theme of Undone, as it contains such a big contrast: between birth and passing, anxiety and comfort or moving and stillness. Combined with beautiful music and the connection that exists between the dancers, I hope we can bring these concepts to life en bring across these powerful emotions to the audience.

This project is special to me because i can reconnect with my feelings and my long but not lost passion,dance.

What makes this project special to you?

I am excited to be working on this project. I really like the concept of making an inclusive project to work as a group to create something beautiful, both connecting with the group and the audience through dance to tell an authentic story on stage.

 

What do you like most about the project?

I like that we have an opportunity to be involved and have input in both the creative and choreographic process. It is really special to build something as a group that has a little bit of everyone in the choreography, where we move together as one, but with individual aspects and touches alongside. That seems really special to me.

How is it different from things that you usually do?

I am excited to push myself creatively. I tend to lean towards classical ballet or technical stage jazz styles, so it is exciting to work on a project that is focused on expressive movement and authenticity in dancing as who I am. I think that it leaves dancers very vulnerable in a good way and it is a good opportunity to work on conveying a story to the audience, with both group work and individuality coming together.

 

What do you hope that the end result will look like?

I think that the end result will convey an authentic portrait of the concept to the audience, immersing them in a bigger picture and encouraging people to think further.

What makes this project special to you?

   Dance, for me, is a unique form of expression in which no thought, no words, no self expectations are needed.

   I love to dance freely and let my body lead the way, flowing in the space around and inside of me.

   I get amazed by the new pathways it finds, discovering new movements and feelings along the way.

   I believe that this project aims to show both internal and external movements; the focus is not in perfecting techniques but to show authentic dance expressions.

What do you like most about the project?

  I love the focus on connection within the group through different exercises.

  For example, we are creating some parts of the choreography through improvising together and experimentally figuring out what works.

How is it different from things that you usually do?

  I am both excited and a bit nervous as it is my first performance of this kind. I felt comfortable during our first practice and felt a good connection with the group. So it should be alright.

What do you hope that the end result will look like?

  Being able to transfer our passion for dance to the audience such that they move along internally and perhaps externally through micro-movements.

This programme Dance! of Tribes is something different than what I usually do. It is something out of my comfort zone, to dance with emotions (grief, anger) I would rather suppress than show to others. The theme makes it special to me, because it is a personal theme in my daily life. I have had family members that were confronted with (mental) illness and still endure difficult times. What I like the most about the project with Valerie is that we learn both to express an emotion via movement and make neat moves. At the end, I hope our dance will show others how it is to live with someone who slowly gets ill and how this affects the movement of an ill person. Additionally, I hope we can show that it is okay to grief and to be angry sometimes, because these emotions have functions in our lives too. Enjoy the show and feel the feels!

It is a lot of fun to work with an enthusiastic group of dancers on an extended choreography. During this short (but intense!) rehearsal period, you get to know the other dancers very well: daring to show emotions, daring to be vulnerable, trusting in your fellow dancers to catch you (sometimes literally!). It is special to me that Rosa allows us to think along with the choreo. It is really something that we create together.

I hope that the audience gets to observe that personal touch that is added to our choreo in LOST. That they will not only see the performance, but also the dancers behind it. Everyone has experienced feelings of loss one way or another in their lifetime, whether big or small. I hope that we can take the audience along in the emotions felt with the choreo and to recognize (parts of) their own life experiences in it.

But above all, I hope that together with the audience we can enjoy our greatest passion: Dance!

What makes this project special to you?

Going in-depth to create a choreography to express your inner feelings and translate it into a dance.

What do you like most about the project?
That we spend time building personal connections with fellow dancers and together create a piece that reflects these.

How is it different from things that you usually do?

My day-to-day work life requires a lot of rational and analytical reasoning. Therefore, this project is so complementary in that we are exploring translating feelings into dance motion without overthinking it.

What do you hope that the end result will look like?

Hopefully, the dance will reflect our journey into connecting feelings and personal connections among dancers into a vulnerable piece that the audience can relate to.

 

Hi, I’m Marlise! I’ve started dancing a couple of years ago and have loved it ever since. DANCE! is unlike anything I’ve ever done before. It allows me to not just learn a choreography, but to explore and express feelings from within.

I’m dancing in the piece Undone by Willemieke. For me, this piece is all about who we are at our core, in relation to or in the absence of the people we love. Each person we meet, will get to know a slightly different version of us. And by surrounding ourselves with other people, we become a different person as well. So what does that mean if we lose someone? Do we lose who we are as well, and if so, can we ever become truly ourselves again?

There’s so many angles from which we can explore this concept and I cannot wait to get on stage and show that with our amazing group of dancers!

What makes this project special to you?

It is my first time doing auditions and creating choreography together, so that feels really special. The project Dance! also resonated with me because I am not a technical dancer. I feel most comfortable when I’m improvising, and the project gives me the opportunity to create from that place.

What do you like most about the project?

What I like most about the project is that I get to explore my artistic expression in a safe and fun environment. Moreover, I’m looking forward to performing in the theater and seeing all the pieces.

How is it different from things that you usually do?

I am involved in the Dutch Ballroom Scene, so I am usually taking Runway and Old Way voguing classes. The solos and battles in the Runway and Old Way categories are usually short bursts of energy. Additionally, I do dance courses at Tribes which have a performance in a theater at the end of the semester. These choreographies also tend to be short (i.e. 2,5 or 3 minutes). With the Dance! project, I feel like we have the time to work on longer, deeper pieces.

What also stands out to me in this project is the connection with my fellow dancers. We are working closely together which is very different from the solo-oriented dancing that I usually do.

What do you hope that the end result will look like?

I hope that the end result will look organic, so it mustn’t look too choreographed. I hope to express myself fully and wildly, while I’m still working within the structure of the piece I am dancing in.

What makes UNDONE special to me is its focus on exploring the themes of the circle of life, the process of becoming alive, and what happens after death. These are profound and universal concepts that have fascinated humans for centuries. By delving into these themes, UNDONE seeks to shed light on the interconnectedness of life and death, and challenge our current understanding of these processes. I like the project’s mysterious nature that adds an element of intrigue, which I hope can spark the audience’s curiosity.

One aspect that I particularly like about the project is its emphasis on collaboration, nurturing creativity, and allowing individuality in interpretation. Nurturing creativity allows for innovative approaches and fresh insights, while allowing individual interpretation to foster a sense of personal connection and engagement with the project.

I hope that the final outcome would be a thought-provoking and visually captivating exploration of the themes of life and death. It could potentially leave the audience with a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of these concepts, and evoke a sense of wonder, reflection, or contemplation.

What makes this project special to you?

The project DANCE! creates a safe space to explore my body, and more importantly, my inner world. A world I have denied for a long time. The amazing choreographers Willemieke (DUST) en Rosa (LOST) as well as the lovely other dancers encourage me to step out of my comfort zone and to connect with my and others’ inner world through dance.

What do you like most about the project?

I love that this project is all about conveying passion for dance by celebrating everybody’s unique body language. It is not about how well you dance. It is about dancing from within and sharing this with others. Although scary at first, opening up to others through dance is one of the most powerful and pure forms of connection. The moment you feel others’ energy resonating with your inner energy and together effortlessly fueling your movements, is just simply magical.

How is it different from things that you usually do?

In my regular dance classes, I tend to get too focused on my technique that I forget to dance. The essence of this project is, however, to explore movement beyond the conventional technique and dance steps. Most phrases are not set but arise from exploring the connection between your and others’ world. The project is a reminder of why I started dancing when I was a little girl: because I love to explore and express myself through movements that melt with the music.

What do you hope that the end result will look like?

I hope this project results in a showcase of diverse dance styles, movement qualities, emotions, and energies that are all unique, yet are all grounded in the same foundation: an unquenchable passion for dance.