The eighth edition of the Young Talent Project started in September: a unique talent development project of Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) in collaboration with the Royal Conservatoire in which students of the Dance Department are introduced to the working method of NDT. The young students get acquainted with challenging, artistic work processes in order to develop their own skills, knowledge and repertoire.
During two months, existing NDT repertoire will be rehearsed, a fragment from Cacti which Alexander Ekman created for NDT 2 in 2010 and an excerpt from Crystal Pite's ballet The Second Person (2007) for NDT 1. In addition, the students are working on a new creation with choreographer and former NDT dancer Marne van Opstal.
This edition, for the first time, the young dance students also create their own work under the supervision of coaches associated with NDT. These are former NDT 2 dancer Ève-Marie Dalcourt and former NDT dancers and choreographers Spencer Dickhaus and Lukas Timulak. The coaches provide tools for improvisation and composition, with which the students learn to research, experiment and reflect. This new trajectory is designed to stimulate the creativity of the students by using their creative and reflective abilities.
Young Talent Project will conclude with four performances in November at the Lucent Danstheater, the home of NDT. The students will perform the NDT repertoire they have learned, the new creation by Marne van Opstal and their own work.
Picture: Sacha Grootjans