7th October. Nederlands Dans Theater is particularly proud to announce that Marco Goecke and Imre van Opstal have received a prestigious Swan Award this evening during the ceremony of the VSCD dance prizes (the Swans) in Maastricht! Marco Goecke received the Swan for “Most Impressive Dance Production” for his creation Midnight Raga and Imre van Opstal was awarded for her role in Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar’s NDT 1 piece Salt Womb. Also maestro Hans van Manen, inextricably linked to Nederland Dans Theater, will be honored with the oeuvre prize of the Association of Theater and Concert Buildings (VSCD) during Het Feest van de Nederlandse Dans (Celebration of Dutch Dance) on Saturday, October 7th.
Midnight Raga won the Swan for “Most Impressive Dance Production” in 2017. About this ballet, the jury said: “In Midnight Raga two powerful dancers give Marco Goecke’s movement language with its recognizable, nervous shaking movements the essential precision and therefore inescapability. A choreography drawn on the body of the dancers, spatially and sharply performed, excellently timed, underlined by the simplicity of decor, light and costumes”. In addition to Midnight Raga, Shailesh Bahoran’s IGNITE for ISH Dance Collective, and Ann Van den Broek’s Accusations for WArd / waRD were also nominated.
Imre van Opstal managed to convince the jury of her intriguing performance in Salt Womb by NDT guest choreographers Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar for which she won a Swan for ‘most impressive dance performance’ tonight. The jury report mentions the “mystical charisma of this almost alien dancer (…). Even in the hypnotic ensemble work, in which the dark Salt Womb is built, Imre van Opstal knows how to capture all the attention. Inexhaustible, sensual, but with tempered energy, this particular dancer takes up the material only to transcend it. ”
Besides Imre from Opstal, Edo Wijnen was also nominated for his role in Citizen Nowhere for the National Ballet as was Jefta Tanate for his role in The Definition of Now by Jasper van Luijk. During the Celebration of the Dutch Dance (Het Feest van de Nederlandse Dans) on Saturday, October 7th, the oeuvre prize will be awarded to Maestro Hans van Manen. More than half of Van Manen’s oeuvre consists of creations for Nederlands Dans Theater. From 1960-1971 he worked at NDT as a dancer (until 1963), choreographer and (from 1961) and as artistic director. In the season 2017-2018 his work Short Cut (1999) is featured in the NDT 2 program Sum Thoughts that will be performed in various theaters in the Netherlands from March 8, 2018.
During this evening, various pieces will be performed by Introdans and Nederlands Dans Theater, among others. NDT 1 will present SOON, the most recent creation by Medhi Walerski, premiered on September 22, and is currently featured in the show Side A: Split into One that tours through the Netherlands.
