Dance is from and for everyone. Holland Dance Festival has been expressing this opinion for years. For example, we organize lessons and activities for older dancers and for dancers with a physical and/or mental disability and we produce performances in which these and other groups of special dancers show that they can touch, move, amaze and entertain their audiences just as much as 'regular' dancers. dancers can do that, and that they can excel just as well. One of these performances is the biennial Good [old] Times production, for which we invite a different professional choreographer (or choreographers) to each edition who will work with a group of seniors - chosen through an audition - to ultimately offer the audience a unique experience. experience.
Melancholy
This time the Good [old] Times production is created by choreographers Thom Stuart and Rinus Sprong of the Hague dance company De Dutch Don't Dance Division. The two have a rich, very successful track record and also have a lot of experience in working with very diverse groups of dancers. In this new production of theirs, entitled Tableau de la Troupe, we follow a number of older dancers in a backstage setting. In the dressing room, where the group prepares for a new performance, both the lived past and the dreams for the future are discussed. Some look back on a glorious career, others think back with nostalgia on missed opportunities and never-fulfilled dreams. But what is not, may yet come! Stuart and Sprong: “Think of Lotti Huber, who only started a glorious career as an actress after the age of eighty and made her debut as a writer at the age of eighty-seven with Diese Zitrone hat noch vader Saft!”
'The Song' as a guideline
The expressive, energetic movement language of Stuart and Sprong comes into its own in this sparkling new production. Music is the guiding principle in Tableau de la Troupe, and in particular 'The Song'. Through classical compositions and songs from the world of rock and chanson, the dancers relive their past and their dreams take concrete form.
