NDT delivered best online performances in 2021-2022 season according to reviewer survey by tanz

Congrats are in order! According to the critics’ survey featured in New Spaces, New Bodies, the 2022 yearbook of tanz magazine, Nederlands Dans Theater delivered the best online performances of the 2021-2022 season.

As tanz critic Angela Reinhardt puts it in the yearbook: “With or without live audiences, in a half-empty or quarter-filled auditorium, with or without face masks: during these two years full of privation, staying on top of things wasn’t always easy for theatre goers. Only one thing was for certain: From the first lockdown onwards, the vital dose of modern choreography regularly came from the Netherlands, streamed live and home-delivered for the consumer-friendly price of 15 Euros. Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) transmitted almost all of their premieres around the globe – to all the places the wanderlusty dancers would otherwise visit in person.”

After theaters were allowed to reopen their doors in the summer of 2020, many chose not to continue with the digital initiatives that were in place during the lockdown. Instead, NDT opted for a two-track strategy and broadcasts livestreams of on-stage performances. “As an international company, it is important that we share our work with audiences around the world”, says Artistic Director Emily Molnar. “Initially born out of necessity due to the pandemic, we took advantage of the pause in our touring to perform in a digital theatre. Besides creating a unique creative collaboration for our company, our livestreams have proven to enrich our artistic approach and audience outreach.” In this way, a live stream preserved the artistic integrity of NDT’s work as much as possible, while also having the same rhythm and atmosphere as an evening at the theater.