Discover NDT

“The performers of Nederlands Dans Theater fuse exacting execution and creative ambition to create grotesque, haunting, and sublime images” was the opening line of Broadway World’s review in March 2020, a day after the first performance of NDT 1 in New York City Center.

The quote typifies a company that is praised worldwide for dancers who are both as technically gifted as they are exceptionally virtuoso. “Good technique and a healthy body are important, but NDT mainly looks for dancers with a strong personality,” said artistic director Paul Lightfoot in an interview in 2019. “Collectively, our dancers may not easily fit into a ‘corps de ballet’ – NDT doesn’t have ranks – but each artist is unique in their qualities and musicality. It is precisely the combination of those different, powerful characters that leads to such beauty.”

about ndt

Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) is one of the world’s leading contemporary dance companies. The group is based in The Hague, but performs for an international audience of 115,000 visitors in Europe, America, Asia and Australia. Since its founding in 1959 by Benjamin Harkarvy, Aart Verstegen and Carel Birnie in collaboration with eighteen dancers from the Dutch National Ballet (then known as Nederlands Ballet), NDT has paved its own way in the modern dance field. Choreographers such as Glen Tetley and Hans van Manen have prominently left an avant-garde mark on the artistic face of the company. Their non-conformist, progressive productions put NDT on the national and international map.

Since then, the company has built a rich repertoire, consisting of more than 620 ballets by master choreographers Jiří Kylián and Hans van Manen, Sol León & Paul Lightfoot, Crystal Pite and Marco Goecke, Johan Inger, Medhi Walerski, Ohad Naharin, Alexander Ekman, Gabriela Carrizo, Franck Chartier, Hofesh Shechter, Edward Clug and Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar and many others.

Read more on the choreographers

The first company, NDT 1, consists of 28 phenomenal dancers from all over the world, aged 23 to 40 years old. The dancers are world famous for their theatricality, stunning technique and unparalleled expression. Each season, the first company performs four Dutch programs in addition to numerous large tours through either Asia, the United States, South America or Australia.

In 1978 the company founded NDT 2 under the inspiring leadership of Jiří Kylián. In a three year trajectory, this second company prepares sixteen recently graduated, often classically trained dancers, for the world top. Initially, NDT 2 was considered a talent development program from which the greatest talents could progress to NDT 1. Over the years, and under the former leadership of Arlette van Boven, Gerald Tibbs and current artistic leader and former NDT dancer and choreographer Fernando Hernando Magadan, NDT 2 has developed into an independent company with its own repertoire and extensive national and international touring schedule. The collaboration with many (upcoming) choreographers gives dancers the opportunity to quickly assimilate to different dance languages, techniques and working methods. From their home base in The Hague, both companies work continuously to make a significant contribution to the future of contemporary dance, both in the Netherlands and far beyond.

Discover all the dancers

As a professional dance company with a rich history and an enormous dedication to a meaningful contribution to the art of dance, it is also very important for NDT to pay attention to the support and cultivation of dance talent.

The Talent Development & Education department organizes a wide range of activities every season in which various target groups get to know NDT in different ways. The Education activities mainly focus on children in primary school. Projects such as Danser in de klas and the recently designed dance apps are good examples of this. However, the talent development projects are aimed at developing dance talent at both amateur and professional levels. Examples include the Young Talent Project (YTP) and the NDT Summer Intensive.

Our mission and activities

Dance talent, choreographic innovation, experimentation and a high degree of productivity – the company creates an average of 10 new works per season – define NDT since its early beginnings. NDT is one of the few production houses that offers so many external choreographers a stage and the opportunity to make creations with and for a virtuoso dance company.