Online programmaboek

I dreamt, it was

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

Welkom

Emily Molnar

Beste dansliefhebber,

Welkom bij I dreamt, it was: een NDT 2-programma waarin twee onderscheidende choreografische stemmen samenkomen en de veelzijdigheid van onze dansers vieren. Je ziet een wereldpremière van onze nieuwe associate choreografen Imre van Opstal en Marne van Opstal, naast een speciaal voor NDT 2 gemaakte versie van SAABA van Sharon Eyal en Gai Behar.

In hun nieuwe werk Kill Your Darlings onderzoeken Imre van Opstal en Marne van Opstal hoe omgevingen onze gemoedstoestand beïnvloeden; hoe ze ons zowel kunnen bevrijden als beperken. Met een expressieve bewegingstaal en uitgesproken decorontwerp is Kill Your Darlings een reflectie op de verslavingen van het lichaam om constant ergens op te anticiperen, voortkomend uit een oneindige stroom aan prikkels. Bewegingen ontwikkelen, versplinteren en herhalen zich, en bevragen zo wat er overblijft als de adrenaline wegebt. Dit spanningsveld daagt de emotionele en fysieke talenten van onze dansers uit en houdt ons tegelijkertijd een spiegel voor.

SAABA werd oorspronkelijk gecreëerd voor GöteborgsOperans Danskompani in 2021 en we zijn trots om Sharon Eyal’s creatie nu te laten zien in een nieuwe, speciaal voor NDT 2 gemaakte versie. Gedreven door de elektronische soundtrack van componist Ori Lichtik ontvouwt het werk zich met hypnotiserende ritmes en de kwetsbare en emotionele bewegingstaal waar Eyal om bekendstaat. Geluid en beweging vormen een spannende dialoog, waarin de energie en individualiteit van de dansers je meevoeren. In SAABA creëert Eyal zo een meeslepende wereld op het podium vol sensualiteit, precisie en eigenzinnigheid. Onweerstaanbaar.

Veel dank aan Imre, Marne, Sharon, onze partners, onze geweldige dansers, en het gehele NDT-team. En een dank aan jou, dat je bij ons bent!

Emily Molnar
Artistiek Directeur

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

Actuele castinformatie

BEKIJK DE CAST VAN VANAVOND

Deze voorstelling duurt ongeveer 1,5 uur.

Kill Your Darlings

Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal

Foto: Rahi Rezvani

MUSIC
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

Danser: Justin Padilla. Foto: Rahi Rezvani

Dansers

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 choreografen

**OVER 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 tijdens de repetities. Foto: Sacha Grootjans

Marne in de studio. Foto: Sacha Grootjans

**César Sautès-Vescovali over 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 samen met Maša Anić in de studio. Foto: Sacha Grootjans

**Ruth Lee over 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 de repetitie. Foto: Sacha Grootjans

SAABA

Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar

Danser: Maša Anić. Foto: 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

Danser: Sophia Frilot. Foto: Rahi Rezvani

DANsERS

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

Choreograaf

OVER SAABA

De werelden die Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar creëren op het podium zijn uniek, bedwelmend en intens meeslepend te noemen. In I dreamt, it was word je uitgenodigd om in het universum van SAABA (2021) te stappen. Dit geliefde werk werd gecreëerd voor GöteborgsOperansDanskompani, maar NDT 2 presenteert het nu in een eigen, vernieuwde versie. SAABA ademt passie en kwetsbaarheid, en verleidt met hypnotiserende bewegingen, sferisch lichtontwerp en de onweerstaanbare groove van componist Ori Lichtik. Dit werk is een krachtig voorbeeld van Eyals geniale en eigenzinnige stem, waarmee ze klassiek ballet en hedendaagse dans samensmelt tot iets bovennatuurlijks. Onweerstaanbaar!

**Sophia Frilot over 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.”