Ever since the first edition of the Holland Dance Festival, in 1987, Nederlands Dans Theater has occupied a prominent place in our festival program. This year, the company - which has been under the inspiring leadership of Emily Molnar since 2020 - is back again, this time with a fascinating program in which, as in our entire festival, an important role has been given to female choreographers. In addition to recent successful works by top choreographers Sharon Eyal (i.c.w. Gai Behar) and Gabriela Carrizo, From Here Now Far includes a world premiere by renowned British theater director Simon McBurney, created in close collaboration with associate NDT choreographer Crystal Pite.
Past and present, fact and fiction
The new work is the second of a triptych that McBurney - artistic director of London theater company Complicité - and Pite are releasing at NDT 1 around the question of what kind of art should be made in the face of climate crises. The first part, Figures in Extinction [1.0], won last year's Swan for "Most Impressive Dance Production. While Pite was in charge of choreography at the time, McBurney is making his debut as a choreographer with the second part of their triptych. In his theatrical staging, McBurney often forgoes linear narratives and intertwines storylines from past and present, fact and fiction. "I'm naturally drawn to something I don't understand, because when you try to deal with that, it opens a door to another world," McBurney said.
Sensual, shuddering spectacle
From the successful Israeli duo Sharon Eyal (choreography) and Gai Behar (artistic sounding board and dramaturg), NDT 1 brings back the widely acclaimed Jakie from May 2023 in From Here Now Far. Eyal and Behar are known for their blistering movement mechanics and pulsating, hypnotic rhythms, and this time that results in a mesmerizing masterpiece, set to a groovy techno soundscape by Ori Lichtik. Continuously dribbling on the ball of their foot, the sixteen dancers fuse together in ever-changing patterns before separating again. As a spectator, you quickly become captivated by this sensual, shuddering spectacle, feeling as if you have landed on another, unknown planet.
Forget the silver screen
In her constant search for crossovers between dance, theater, art and life, Argentine Gabriela Carrizo - co-founder and artistic director of Belgian company Peeping Tom - creates powerful, cinematic works. In her choreographies, dancers are challenged to fully empathize with the characters they portray while being extraordinarily vulnerable in their expression. In Carrizo's La Ruta, the third work in From Here Now Far, space and time are suspended and the viewer is allowed to distill their own story from a wondrous world of images. The result is a surreal, hallucinatory film noir. Or as one journalist wrote, "Forget the silver screen and special effects, because in La Ruta it's all happening live right under your nose."
