NDT 1 tours internationally with Figures in Extinction, our coproduction with Complicité.
In season 2025-2026 we bring you bold, thought-provoking contemporary dance at its finest, featuring acclaimed artists from all over the world. Ticket sales for the performances in Amare, The Hague start Thursday April 10 at 12PM.
From the snowy slopes of Canada to the stages of the world, 26-year-old Ethan Colangelo’s journey to dance has been anything but ordinary. Once deeply passionate about snowboarding, he found himself captivated by movement in another form; dance. The sense of speed, momentum, and risk-taking that defined his time on the board, can still be felt in his choreographic voice today. Now, as he’s creating his first world premiere for NDT 2, you’ll get a sneak peek into his creative process and what shapes him as a maker. “I‘m in love with this idea of creating a world on stage. The process, collaborating with the dancers in front of me; I just can’t get enough.”
While many professional dancers find their way to the dance studio from the time they start walking, Colangelo first got hooked on professional freestyle snowboarding.
“Snowboarding was like an obsession in my youth, as it is quite common amongst Canadians. At some point, I’m not sure if I got injured or if it was a suggestion from a coach, but at some point, I took a ballet class. The connection was instant, especially because of the pirouettes and jumps. And that was it. I just had to keep going.”
He began his formal dance training at Toronto’s Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre before continuing his studies at The Juilliard School in New York. It was here that he found his own voice as a maker. “I’ve been super lucky to have had very strong contemporary training before I went to Juilliard, because my first introduction to contemporary work was through people who had come to NDT as choreographers, like Jermaine Spivey and Crystal Pite. At Julliard, this training deepened, and students were given the opportunity to explore choreography. I became very obsessed with the process of it. I’ve always loved music a lot, so finding music, collaborating with the dancers, coming up with my own material, and creating a world became almost addictive. After graduating, I started creating work for small festivals and participating in local competitions in New York. This eventually led to submitting work for the Copenhagen International Choreography Competition. The second time I submitted, Medhi Walerski from Ballet BC saw the piece and gave me my first professional commission for the company. That really catapulted my career as a choreographer.”
As Colangelo continues to make waves as a maker, creating works for dance companies all over the world, his creative process is evolving simultaneously. He has shifted his music-first approach and is now diving deeper into concepts that focus on the body. “Ideas that keep on coming back for me are the intersection of where two really extreme ideas exist in the body at the same time. For example, I’m quite an intense person. From an outside perspective I seem relatively calm, but I like intense things. I love amazing food. I love amazing parties. I love to dance and be free. I like everything on an intense level. As someone who’s quite an anxious person in many ways, I am someone who’s also very happy and euphoric. So, the concept I am researching is what it feels like for anxiety and euphoria to exist in the body simultaneously. And where do humans find that that coexists a lot?”
These contradictions fuel his research and inspire him to find honesty in performance. His movement style is still connected to his years as a freestyle snowboarder; full of intensity, playfulness, momentum, adaptability, falling, and twisting. Just a little bit less frosty, especially since kindness is a big part of his working method. “I always want to stay close to dancers, not just from a physical standpoint, but from a vocabulary standpoint as well. Kindness is a must for me when I’m working; I want to make sure that the space feels open and comfortable for everyone.”
Colangelo is currently in our studios working with the dancers of NDT 2 for his NDT debut, after years of conversations with our Artistic Director Emily Molnar. “It’s such a treat and an honour to be here at NDT and to collaborate with these amazing dancers. The level that they’re at and their understanding of their bodies is exceptional. Before coming here, I already knew many of the dancers and considering we’re practically the same age, this means we connect to each other’s lives inside and outside of the studio with ease. And that helps to dive deeper into the work together.”
“For this world premiere specifically, we’re exploring how rave culture is connected to the feeling of anxiety and euphoria I mentioned earlier. Nightlife these days is super intense and almost hedonistic. There’s an escapist element to it, which makes sense considering the state of the world right now. With my stage designer, we’ve created a deconstructed disco ball that is going to become like an amoeba at the back of space. Fluctuating, breathing. I can’t wait to see how the audience will react after seeing everything come together on stage. I’m excited!”
Colangelo’s dystopian rave premieres on September 26 at Amare in The Hague during The Edge of Things. Visit the NDT 2 performance and also discover the new creation by associate choreographer Jermaine Spivey, along with the revival of FIT (2018) by Alexander Ekman. The performance will tour throughout the Netherlands from September through November.