Online programme book

I dreamt, it was

Kill Your Darlings – Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal
SAABA – Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar

Welcome

Emily Molnar

Dear friends,

Welcome to I dreamt, it was, an evening with NDT 2 that brings together two distinctive choreographic voices, celebrating the extraordinary expressive range of our dancers. The programme features a world premiere by our new associate choreographers, Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal, alongside the NDT premiere of SAABA by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar.

In their new work, Kill Your Darlings, Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal explore how environments shape our emotional states and how the spaces around us can both liberate and confine us. Through expressive choreography and striking visual design, Kill Your Darlings reflects on the body’s growing addiction to anticipation in an age of constant stimulation. Movements build, fracture, and repeat, asking what remains when the rush fades, revealing a fragile tension that pushes the dancers’ emotional and physical artistry while quietly holding up a mirror to us all.

Originally created for GöteborgsOperans Danskompani in 2021, SAABA appears here in a new version made especially for NDT 2. Driven by Ori Lichtik’s pulsating electronic score, the work unfolds through hypnotic rhythms and striking physicality, bringing Eyal’s distinctive movement language into dialogue with the energy and individuality of our dancers. SAABA creates a mesmerizing world, sensual, precise, and unmistakably contemporary, and we are delighted to share this work with you tonight.

My heartfelt thanks to Imre, Marne, Sharon, our collaborators, our extraordinary dancers, and the entire NDT team who bring these works to life.

And to you, thank you for being with us this evening!

Emily Molnar
Artistic Director

'Kill Your Darlings' - Imre van Opstal & Marne van Opstal. Photo: Rahi Rezvani

Cast information

VIEW TONIGHT’S PERFORMING CAST

The performance has an approximate duration of 1,5 hours.

Kill Your Darlings

Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal

Photo: Rahi Rezvani

MUSIC
New composition by Raphaëlle Latini
New composition by Raphaëlle Latini
Erik Van Der Werff, Hermannus J. Herman Van Veen: Opzij . (P) 1977 Universal International Music B.V.
AZYR, KXD, HIGHVØLTAGE: Power Of The Bassline
Academy of Ancient Music: Funeral Canticle

LIGHT DESIGN
Tom Visser

SET DESIGN
Tom Visser, Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal

COSTUME DESIGN
Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal in collaboration with the NDT Costume Atelier

NDT REHEARSAL DIRECTOR
Ander Zabala

WORLD PREMIERE
March 26, 2026, Amare, The Hague

DURATION
±30 minutes

Dancer: Justin Padilla. Photo: Rahi Rezvani

Dancers

Nathan Allen, Maša Anić, Nathaniel Belnavis-Wright, Esmee Boevink, Giovanna Doria, Joan Jansana Escobedo, Sophia Frilot, Joey Gertin, Chléa Guigère, Eliana Hayward, Ruth Lee, Justin Padilla, Erin Park, Nathanaël Plantier, César Sautés-Vescovali

Imre van Opstal & Marne van Opstal

Associate choreographers

**About Kill Your Darlings:**

“We live in an age of endless stimulation. Light floods our eyes. Sound fills every silence. Information arrives faster than the body can process it. In this constant stream of input, the nervous system rarely rests. This work explores what happens to the body when it becomes addicted to anticipation.

Dopamine is often mistaken for pleasure, but it is the chemistry of pursuit, the spark that ignites when we expect something rewarding. In a world of infinite scrolling, instant feedback and perpetual novelty, that spark is triggered again and again. The cycle becomes relentless: stimulus, surge, crash, craving, repeat. The high shortens but the hunger grows.

Kill Your Darlings reflects this paradox. The “darlings” are the very things that feel beautiful and irresistible: the rush, the flash, the instant validation. Yet these fleeting highs begin to crowd out depth, patience and presence. To reclaim stillness, the body must confront and perhaps release the sensations it clings to most.

What remains is a question rather than a conclusion. When the high no longer satisfies, what choice does the body make? Does it reach again for the flicker, or can it endure the quiet?

In a culture that equates stimulation with vitality, this piece asks us to consider another possibility: that true aliveness may begin where the noise ends.”

– Imre van Opstal & Marne van Opstal

Imre during rehearsals. Photo: Sacha Grootjans

Marne in the studio. Photo: Sacha Grootjans

**César Sautès-Vescovali about Kill your darlings:**

“Working with Imre & Marne has been a very creative journey. From the moment we met them, they were as excited to share their art with us as they were interested in seeing who we are individually. We all have researched and created a lot of material together, which over the time built up in a rich bank of possibilities from which we could all take inspiration from.

It has been very rich for me to be asked to come up with so many different ideas based on the tasks they were giving us; and I feel like my artistry has developed a lot as we were creating the piece. It is honouring as well to see the final edit of the work, and to recognise a few phrases I came up with, and some of the choices I had the liberty to make…

On another note, I appreciate that the piece is theatrical. It is something I’ve always been drawn to, and diving in this aspect of our art is a discovery I am still exploring day by day. The main difference here is that some dancers and I are mic’d up and talking live. This comes with many difficult yet playful challenges. Seeing how the use of sound while dancing forces me to rethink breath control, as well as the relationship between movement and sound is very interesting. Once again, it is an aspect of the work that variates every day and keeps me alert.

Finally, I would like to talk about the idea of constant stimulation that is being tackled through this piece. Dancing this work is very much overstimulating and can almost be overwhelming at times. I think it might be for the audience as well and I would like to tell you: enjoy the chaos. I don’t think every detail is supposed to be seen, that every idea is meant to be perfectly well-received and understood clearly. I feel that we (the group of dancers) are embracing being lost and transported into various many different realities; and if you let go of the will to control everything that happens, you can listen deeper to what this journey does to your body. I invite the audience to accept the huge amount of information that they will receive, and to observe what it does to them as a whole, rather than focusing on each thing. Surrender to this infernal machine that blurs time and space.

Thank you for coming and enjoy!!”

César together with Maša Anić in the studio. Photo: Sacha Grootjans

**Ruth Lee about Kill your darlings:**

“Chasing another dopamine rush?

A craving to fulfill our voids; a satisfaction complete only to yearn for more. The encouraged research unlocked further discovery within concepts that inhabit our everyday lives. Continuous waves of information passing through us almost every second of existence… deteriorating our sense of stimulation.

It was a pleasure to meet Imre and Marne in the studio. The push and excitement to experience more extremes that dwell between reality and fantasy. A gradual integration of characterization whilst creating material became a process of enhancing sensations paced through these many themes and ideas.”

Ruth in rehearsal. Photo: Sacha Grootjans

SAABA

Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar

Dancer: Maša Anić. Photo: Rahi Rezvani

STAGED BY
Leo Lerus

MUSIC
Composition by Ori Lichtik.
Avaq: From the and 15.
Mboumba Patrice: Chant et sanza, licensed courtesy of Cézame Music Agency.
Mega Bog: Station to Station. © Third Side Music Inc o/b/o Fire Songs (PRS). Courtesy of Paradise of Bachelors, by arrangement with Terrorbird Media.

LIGHT DESIGN
Alon Cohen

COSTUME DESIGN
Sharon Eyal

NDT REHEARSAL DIRECTOR
Lydia Bustinduy

WORLD PREMIERE GÖTEBORGSOPERANS DANSKOMPANI
October 30, 2021, the Göteborg Opera

NDT PREMIERE
March 26, 2026, Amare, The Hague

DURATION
±35 minutes

Dancer: Sophia Frilot. Photo: Rahi Rezvani

DANcERS

Nathan Allen, Maša Anić, Nathaniel Belnavis-Wright, Esmee Boevink, Giovanna Doria, Joan Jansana Escobedo, Sophia Frilot, Joey Gertin, Chléa Guiguère, Eliana Hayward, Justin Padilla, Erin Park, Miquel Martinez Pedro, Nathanaël Plantier, César Sautès-Vescovali

Foto: Rahi Rezvani

Sharon Eyal

Choreographer

About SAABA

The worlds that Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar create on stage are truly unique—intoxicating and deeply immersive. In I dreamt, it was you’re invited to step into the universe of SAABA (2021). Originally created for GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, we’re thrilled to bring this acclaimed work to NDT 2 for the first time in a bold new version. Exuding passion and vulnerability, the work unfolds through hypnotic movement, evocative lighting, and the irresistible groove of composer Ori Lichtik. SAABA is another brilliant example of Eyal’s daring choreographic voice, seamlessly transforming classical ballet and contemporary dance into something beyond imagination. Irresistible!

**Sophia Frilot about Saaba:**

“SAABA by Sharon Eyal is an intense experience where brutality and elegance are at constant play. This work simultaneously demands strength, sensitivity, honesty, precision, and fantasy.

Each repetition becomes an entirely new experience. These hypnotic loops are never truly the same. Nothing remains stagnant. We are alive, breathing, and evolving down to the cellular level. In these imagined realms, our sensitivity intensifies. Sharon speaks through imagery, “Turnout from your brain, bleed from your ribcage, let your tears recycle, dance from your wings.”

Working with Sharon Eyal and Léo Lérus has been such a joy and honor. Their generosity flooded the space and created such a rich environment. The excitement was quite contagious from day one. Sharon managed to rearrange and reimagine this piece into something very unique to our group. SAABA is without a doubt one of my favorite pieces to perform.”