We are proud to present the new 2023-2024 season with you! Eleven world premieres, exciting interdisciplinary collaborations, and the return of works by internationally renowned makers. We invite you to get inspired!
NDT 1 opens the new season with the programme In/with/in. Experience this programme in Dutch theatres from September 21 to November 10.
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), 12 N (2021) and One Flat Thing, reproduced (2000) are accompanied by music composed by Forsythe’s longtime collaborator Thom Willems.
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.
12 N, created for NDT 1 in 2021, is an extension of an existing “acapella” quartet that examined the weight of limbs and the choreographic timings that could be derived from that examination. The work’s acoustic accompaniment is derived exclusively from the dancers’ bodies in which all 12 dancers invest in an audible rhythmic exchange and together, carry the responsibility of sustaining their own unaccompanied respiratory score. 12 N is a superb example of Forsythe’s later style, which explores facets of counterpoint emerging from intense ensemble interdependence.
Of Any If And (1995) is an intimate and virtuoso duet delineating a relationship between a couple who are framed by two instances of language which evaporate around them. The first instance is a series of enigmatic sentences uttered by two actors from the rear of the performance space, the second, a cloud of small, text-inscribed panels that 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.
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
