400 cultural organisations are already dreaming the halls full. Dream along!

What started as a hopeful text written for one theatre specifically, was soon embraced by the entire cultural sector and became a poetic statement spread through the entire scene. To all those who appreciate theatre. The Royal Conservatoire is also taking part in this initiative. In the corresponding video, you can see, among others, Hans van Manen, guest choreographer and teacher at the Dance department, and alumna Iris Hond.

The artwork, which consists of a column (written by Jan Beuving) and a video, is about the promise of an empty hall, in which the magic of what will be possible again in the future slumbers. All the 400 theatres, stages, producers, agents, academies, sector institutions, festivals, choirs, orchestras, ensembles, dance and theatre companies are eagerly waiting for that moment.

Hans van Manen (dance), Peter Pannekoek (cabaret), Soumaya Ahouaoui (theatre), Jaap van Zweden (music) and Simone Kleinsma (musical) vocalized this hope put into text. Furthermore, there was a collaboration with the dancer Uri Eugenio (LeineRoebana) and four pianists: Hannes Minnaar, Yang Yang Cai, Helena Basilova and Iris Hond. They performed Canto Ostinato by Simion ten Holt on four grand pianos. The director of the video is Katja Akkerman.

The Dutch newspaper Trouw published a background article about the initiative. For this article they also interviewed director Henk van der Meulen:

‘The Royal Conservatoire in The Hague is one of the institutes which endorse the campaign. Director Henk van der Meulen sees the empty hall as a ‘beautifully poetic metaphor’, ‘It also represents the promise of all musicians and dancers we educate. Besides, you can also see the empty hall wider: In fact, it is all of society, because our students also perform in, for example, the open-air or hospitals.’ In fact, so far this year more first-year students applied than last year. So the good news is that the youth is not scared off by this stage-crisis.

More information and the column of Jan Beuving can be found on droom-mee.nl