In 2021, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam will have existed for 75 years. What started as an occasional performance during a liberation party in 1945, led to a series of performances under the name Scapino in January 1946 in Theater Carré, sponsored by Het Parool.
On 5th May, Scapino will launch a richly filled timeline full of visual material and stories from the history of the Netherlands’ oldest dance company.
With liberation in sight, dance teacher Johanna (Hans) Snoek made plans to “bring color back to the faces of children that had turned pale as a result of the war.” Together with artists Nicolaas Wijnberg and Hans van Norden, dancer and director Abraham van der Vies and composer Lex van Delden, she officially founded Scapino Ballet in 1946. Aart Verstegen, one of the founders of the Nederlands Danstheater, was also involved with Scapino Ballet from the start. In the 75 years that followed, Scapino Ballet moves a number of times, the most decisive of which is that of Rotterdam. The repertoire changes due to the zeitgeist and the arrival of new artistic leaders. Armando Navarro, who takes over from Hans Snoek in 1970, wants the technique of the dancers to improve. Something that, according to Hans Snoek, comes at the expense of Scapino’s goal: enchanting children. After a short period in which Nils Christe is artistic director, the young choreographer Ed Wubbe takes over the artistic leadership in 1992. They say goodbye to fairytale ballets such as Navarro’s very successful Nutcracker.
Invest in the past In recent years, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam has mapped out its rich history with the aim of transferring the archive to the Rotterdam City Archives later this year. The timeline that the company will launch on 5th May contains only a small part of all collected and inventoried visual material and accompanying stories. 5th May 2021
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