In the coming week, Maastricht will be dominated by the Dutch Dance Days, with the Vrijthof not as the center of Limburg cramignon dance, dance mariekes or Viennese waltzes, but as a true “Olympus of dance”, according to Cécile Narinx, editor-in-chief of the broadcaster L1. Narinx presented one of the Swans on Friday, during the traditional awards ceremony of the Gala of the Dutch Dance Days. This edition, hip-hop, which celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year, takes a central place. Hip-hop phenomenon Redo warms up interested parties online every day with short videos.
The official kick-off for the Dance Days was given on Friday afternoon during the Dutch Dance Debate. In the packed Sint Janskerk, dancers, choreographers, directors, programmers and other professionals listened to five speakers who outlined future perspectives for Dutch dance. For example, dancer and choreographer Sarada Sarita dreamed about the dance community as an ecosystem: a network, circular, self-healing and sustainable, moving in a dynamic balance. The hip-hop world, her own background, could serve as an example for the theater sector as a whole.
The Dutch stages must get rid of the financial-economic thinking in providers (theatres) and customers (audience), according to choreographer Guilherme Miotto. He envisioned a network of theater hubs in public buildings, with open stages for everyone. The official theater building must function as a knowledge center/headquarters. He also argued, based on a recent report by consultancy firm Berenschot, for a more solid positioning of the theater as part of the public sector, given the role that the theater can play in areas such as social work and health.
Choreographer Anouk van Dijk learned the value of partnership during her ten-year stay in Australia. “Large groups can mean a lot to small ones, and vice versa,” she told the sector. She made a passionate plea for a Swan for Dutch theater technicians – who are gold compared to their international colleagues.
The theater of the future must become a city square instead of a monastery, was the message from Harmen van der Hoek, business manager of NITE and Club Guy & Roni. In other words: radical openness. Open the doors, involve the public from the making process, open yourself up to new makers, innovate.
‘Don’t judge quality’
And so the ideas flew through the church vault: co-curatorship is the means to connect with (new) audiences, because “everyone has knowledge.” The current subsidy system pits parties against each other. Quality should be judged more cautiously, if at all. Young makers do not need theaters at all, they present on their own stages, digital or otherwise. Young makers are already working together: pure necessity. Or the theater will be needed much more in a hundred years than it is now. And so forth.
There was exactly one man ‘normal audience’ in the Sint Janskerk on Friday. He found the debate to be of a high degree of abstraction, but delicately pointed out to those present that “at the time when the Shaffy Theater was still called the Shaffy Theater” it was also about the need for cooperation in the dance sector and connection with the audience. “I don’t think you’re that normal,” the moderator responded, somewhat dismayed.
No conclusions could be drawn from the widening arguments, except that of the need for cooperation and strengthening the position of dance in society and between the ears of policy makers.
In the evening, State Secretary for Culture Gunay Uslu (D66) spoke warmly during the Dutch Dance Days Gala about “the most accessible and inclusive art form”. Her speech naturally included a reference to the often unsafe work culture in dance. Still, if it were up to her, there should be more dancing, even in the House of Representatives and in ministries. That sounded sincere, albeit a bit unrealistic. She received slightly less applause than the great Soweto Skeleton Movers.