dancer & choreographer
I graduated from the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor Kunsten, modern dance department, in 1984. I have the Dutch nationality but moved to Finland in 1989. I work as a freelance dancer & choreographer and perform and choreograph my own works . In 1997 I founded the Barker theater , the stage for independent dance artists , together with my colleagues in Turku, Finland. Up till now I still am active as a leading person in Barker theater and perform my works there.
About my way of choreographing
In my way of expression I use an earthy way of dancing, and I like to mix dance with live music and actors. My works have a strong emotional grounding in every day life and people like you and me. I work with live music and the relation with music is a very important source of inspiration to me. My way of working connects easily with the working methods of jazz musicians and therefore many of my works are having jazz improvisation as a strong element besides the dance. I work with freelance dancers in all productions and add freelance musicians to my pieces.
I work as a freelancer
I have been working in Cuba, where I joined dancegroup Gestos Transitorios for 4 months. I have been joining a dance group in Sumatra, Saayung Salangka, Indonesia for half a year. In the early 90s I also joined several projects in Holland, and performed in several pieces from other choreographers. Besides performing in our own Barker theater, I also have been visiting Madrid, Manchester and other places where I performed solo works and group choreography. In Finland I joined some group productions from dance theater Mobita( Tampere), dance theater Hurjaruut (Helsinki) and joined productions from freelance dance artists in Helsinki.Since 2005 I perform my own choreographies together with other freelance dancers.
Some of my choreographies
- 1986 --When angels are falling
- 1993 --Beirut
- 1995 --Oceano
- 2003 --Silent Waters
- 2004 --Symphony(its just a matter of arranging it..)
- 2005 --Tolerance (shhh..peaceful)
- 2006 --Building Bridges
- 2007 --Your place in the world part 1 and 2
- 2008 --Urban Dance Things
- 2009 --KABOOM!!
- 2009 --House of Sand
- 2010 --Vindviskare / Wind Whisperer