Interview Emily Molnar

We work together

“From an early age, I learned that things become more interesting when you collaborate,” says Molnar. “At 16, I graduated and immediately received an apprenticeship with the National Ballet of Canada under the artistic direction of Reid Anderson. Within a month William Forsythe came to create a new ballet, saw me working in the studio and cast me. When I was 21 years old, he invited me to join Frankfurt Ballet. I have always worked hard, but you also need people to believe in you and give you opportunities. That’s exactly what I aim to do with the dancers at NDT: I want to challenge them artistically and encourage them to keep trusting, learning, and taking risks. Through a safe and supportive space, I want them to feel they have agency in their practice, that they are co-creators in the development of the work and the future of the company.”

During the most challenging time imaginable, the corona pandemic, Molnar started at NDT. “A difficult time, but Corona also gave us permission to pause and reflect on our relationship to time and the way we live our lives. .
The closing of theatres also caused us to question how we were working and where we wanted to go. My artistic vision for NDT encourages research, creativity, and inquiry as a priority, the process is just as important as the result. Collaboration and curiosity are vital in the process, and the process takes time. We create many new works, performances, and educational programs in a season, to be creative it is important that we keep letting ourselves feel the freedom to experiment and try something we don’t understand, only then do you get to the core of the potential of someone or something. Everyone already comes in here with a tremendous amount of passion, expertise, and natural talent.
That’s a given. Our job is to create an environment that is innovative, where we can investigate our practice, research new ideas, and where we can work together on a deeper level. That applies not only to the dancers but essentially to everyone at NDT, throughout all the departments: we do it together. It is about the potential of the company as one voice, a passionate house for research, and creation, that is filled with many unique individual voices.”

We innovate

"“For me, innovation happens when people with different perspectives come together in an environment where learning and discovery are at the heart of the process. I find inspiration everywhere. Staying open-minded, approaching an idea from different angles, experimenting, breaking established patterns, and making space for playfulness: these form the foundation of innovation for me. I don’t see NDT as a house of production, but as a house of creation. When I started, the company had just celebrated its 60th anniversary. To be able to look ahead, I felt it was important to first understand where we came from. I therefore immersed myself in NDT’s history. What motivated the founders when they started the company? I tried to imagine that pioneering spirit and felt that this is exactly where the energy and urgency lie that we still need today, both in the studio and beyond. When I invited people to value the process as much as the outcome, I was sometimes told: ‘Yes, but Emily, we have a certain standard here.’ Of course, quality is at the heart of everything we do,” says Molnar. “But people striving for excellence also need motivation, trust, and the freedom to try new things. That requires us to take our practice, our learning process, our openness, and our respect for one another seriously.
Change is never easy. That is part of being human. Developing a new way of working takes time. It requires trust, commitment, and a willingness to listen to one another. We are a collective, and every individual within NDT matters. For some people, that was a new idea! Now that a few years have passed, I can see that change taking shape, and that gives me great confidence in the future.”

We are curious

“Due to the closing of theatres during the pandemic, we couldn’t perform or tour for long periods of time. We used that time to workshop new skills, investigate our practice, build special projects, and expand our creation time with makers. We created the film Mist,, a unique multidisciplinary collaboration with French-Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet, visual artist Kohei Nawa, and photographer/videographer Rahi Rezvani. We made two new site-specific works that were performed in alternative locations such as Kunstmuseum, Museum Voorlinden and the Grote Kerk in Veere . We started livestreaming and with that, we reached audiences in 104 countries. Imagine: even in Afghanistan, where we have never been before. Through this digital platform, we now reach new and young audiences worldwide. We could never have done all that if it had been a normal season of performances and touring. And, for that matter, it would also not have been possible without the additional financial support from the Dutch government for the arts and cultural sector. This adventure of being flexible and adaptive got me thinking about how we can work differently and seek out new audiences and partnerships. How can we go to an audience or into a community, instead of them having to come to us? We can now reach 30 dancers in Cape Town in a Zoom class. We already have an extensive Talent Development & Education programme, but we can expand that with satellite projects like this. I see these projects as part of a larger research engine, which suits our role as a house of creation.”

Projects like the Up & Coming Lab, a two-week research laboratory with NDT 2 in collaboration with our partner Korzo, are fantastic testing grounds. It is part of Molnar’s developing vision for a longer-term goal of the Dancer Pathway and Maker Pathway. Creating an adjunct multidisciplinary environment for research and dialogue between our artists, artistic community, and other creative thinkers (such as our exchange with astronomers at the Leiden Observatory or the Mobility Society at TU Delft), that produces opportunities for advanced learning.

Some of these experiments may not lead to new work but are a great source of inspiration and skill development for future ideas and new approaches. Interdisciplinary collaboration is a great way to be and stay curious. Sharing knowledge and intelligence. You could call it an ecological development of NDT and a way for us to be participating in a larger exchange and support system for our creative sector.”

We seek connection

As an international company dedicated to dance and the development of the arts, NDT has a responsibility to society. “We have a comprehensive programme for young people and professionals with our Talent Development & Education department. We help ignite their creativity, interest in dance, and awareness of the body-mind connection. Maybe twenty years from now they will go to the theatre because they had that experience as a child. It’s a long-term approach to introduce as many people as possible, of all ages, to dance and to NDT. Democratizing dance is important to me and to the vision for dance I am trying to cultivate at NDT. Through the Talent Development & Education initiatives as well as our NDT 1 and NDT 2 special projects, we go out to the public and share our creativity and expertise.

In addition, we help professionals through our Dancer Pathway and Maker Pathway, which provides opportunities for dancers and emerging, mid-career, and established makers to expand their practice and contribute to the arts sector. Supporting talent development, research, training, and creation at every career stage.”

Since her start at NDT, over 30 new artistic voices have become part of NDT, leading to innovative works and meaningful collaborations. These collaborations include Figures in Extinction with associate choreographer Crystal Pite and Simon McBurney/Complicité, which has won several international dance awards. In season 2024-2025, NDT 1 & Sharon Eyal Dance (S-E-D) collaborated on the renewed version of Into the Hairy, which also received the prestigious Swan Award in the category Most Impressive Dance Performance. In season 2025–2026, Molnar further expanded NDT’s group of associate choreographers. Alongside Marco Goecke and Crystal Pite, Marcos Morau, Jermaine Spivey, and Imre van Opstal & Marne van Opstal joined the company.”

Emily Molnar has devoted more than forty years of her life to dance. She was ten years old when she was accepted into the National Ballet School in Toronto, one of Canada’s two most prestigious ballet academies, located a five-hour flight from her family. “It made me independent at a young age,” she says. At sixteen, she graduated and joined the National Ballet of Canada. She later danced with Frankfurt Ballet and Ballet BC before continuing her career as a choreographer and Artistic Director of Ballet BC in Vancouver. Her ambition to broaden the meaning and impact of dance was also reflected in her role as Artistic Director of Dance at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, a position she combined with her other work from 2014 onwards. In 2016, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest honours. Four years later, she moved from Canada to The Hague and became Artistic Director of NDT.
“I feel at home here. I find inspiration everywhere. I love learning, I’m fascinated by life, by human expression, and by everything creative. I’m curious about what drives people and what moves their minds and hearts.”