Ton Wiggers, founder and director of the dance company Introdans, received two awards on Saturday evening during his farewell in the Stadstheater Anrhem.
After the last performance of the theater season, Wiggers was presented with the Medal of Honor for Art and Science of the House Order of Orange by Princess Margriet. During the intermission, he had already received the Golden Medal of Honor from the province of Gelderland, from the King’s Commissioner John Berends.
Wiggers will receive the royal award for “his commitment to the innovative and inclusive nature of dance productions, his contribution to making modern dance accessible to a wide audience and involving the region in the dance company”, according to a statement from the Royal House . The medal of honor is awarded to persons with exceptional merits in the field of art and science.
Wiggers, who is also a choreographer, founded Introdans in 1971 with theater maker Hans Focking. The aim was to provide a professional dance company in the East of the Netherlands. Under Wigger’s leadership, Introdans grew into a “leading dance company that was renowned far beyond the borders”, Berends said when he presented Wiggers with the Gelderland award.