Here they are... The nominees of de Swans 2022

The Young Swans 2022

This year the Young Swans will be awarded for the first time. The Nederlandse Dansdagen and the Sounding Board Group Youth Dance are entering into a new collaboration with the VSCD. Together they will award Young Swans in two categories: for the most impressive youth dance productions and for the most impressive youth dance performance. This new dance prize was established at the initiative of the entire youth dance field, as recognition for the quality and innovative capacity of youth dance.

Most impressive youth dance performance nominees:

Jefta Tanate for his role in Birds (DOX)

His incredible suppleness and groovy musicianship allow him to always dance with a lot of risk. Complex dance material takes on a natural, seemingly effortless quality with Tanate. Against the heavy theme in Dalton Jansen's performance, he sets a lightness that forms a welcome counterbalance, without losing the oppressive intensity.

Yoko Ono Haveman for her role in Vier (The Dancers)

Haveman distinguishes herself as a sympathetic dancer who knows how to attract a young audience. Her movement language looks soft and accessible, but relies on athletic control. Not only dancing, but also acting and making music, Haveman shows her great versatility as a performer in Vier.

Dietrich Pott for his role in B-Boy XL (Maas theater and dance)

Dietrich Pott shows the most complicated breakdance combinations, in which gravity seems to have no hold on him. His moves are worked out in detail, virtuoso and powerful. Pott picks up where other dancers stop, pushing his body to the limit to find new forms of expression.

Most impressive youth dance production nominees:

Birds by Dalton Jansen - DOX

Dalton Jansen has processed the socially topical and for himself very personal theme of a long stay in youth care into a penetrating performance in which dance and acting are equal and mutually complementary. Text, choreography and design are powerful, visual and poignant.

Four by Josephine van Rheenen - The Dancers

The Dancers take their young (4+) audience on an imaginative journey through the seasons. Playful and associative, the three players make connections with mood changes, friendships and themes such as growth and loss. Movement, text and live music are organically linked.

Scared Rick by Stefan Ernst - SALLY Dance Company Maastricht

In this thoughtful children's performance, the title character's fears are contrasted with the bravado of his two friends. The young spectator can identify with all the characters, which makes the performance more layered. The smoothly executed combinations are inventively attuned to the decor consisting of mobile climbing frames.

The Swans 2022

The Swans are the dance prizes of the VSCD and have been associated with the Nederlandse Dansdagen since 2003. In addition to the presentation of the Young Swans and the Swans for the most impressive dance production and dance performance, the anniversary edition of the Nederlandse Dansdagen will be given an extra festive touch. Once again, a Golden Swan is awarded to a dancer or choreographer who has made a major contribution to Dutch dance with his or her career. The Golden Swan has no nominations and is not awarded annually.

Most impressive dance performance nominees:

Kris Mohammed Adem for his role in Storm (LeineRoebana)

Kris Mohammed Adem moves in the performance Storm by Leine and Roebana circling like a natural phenomenon or in a thrilling round dance across the stage. With a light step, but full of surrender and sometimes almost uncontrollably, Adem grabs the spectator, only to let it land softly later.

Shailesh Bahoran for the solo Kishan (IRC Company)

In this solo, inspired by his relationship with his son, Shailesh Bahoran shows how feelings of incapacity and sadness can be transformed into experiencing different perspectives and ways of communicating with someone else. With his phenomenal technique and ability to improvise, Bahoran makes this theme very tangible.

Young Gyu Choi for his role in 7th Symphony in the Toer program (by Toer van Schayk at Dutch National Ballet)

Young Gyu Choi shows his great enthusiasm in Toer van Schayk's 7th Symphony at the beginning of the season, with which he manages to shine in both modern classics and contemporary ballets. His technical virtuosity is striking and coincides with the infectious pleasure and admirable freedom of his dance

Most impressive dance production nominees:
 
Waterbrothers by Roy Overdijk (Program State Shift | The Ruggeds)
The duet Waterbrothers that Roy Overdijk created for The Ruggeds is intimate and modest and gives the viewer space to give meaning. The choreography stands out because of the idiosyncratic movement idiom of Lee-Lou Demierre and Roy Overdijk, flowing as water or razor-sharp, but always surprising.
 
Interval of Amos Ben-Tal and Gosse de Kort (Off Projects)
In Amos Ben-Tal's fascinating choreography Interval, the dancers interact with Gosse de Kort's kinetic installation. The dancers maneuver with conviction against the objects driven by technology and the limitations and risks that arise from them, but never lose their sense of humanity.
 
Figures in Extinction [1.0] by Crystal Pite and Simon McBurney (program Dreams 360 | Nederlands Dans Theater 1)
The urgent performance Figures in Extinction [1.0], created by choreographer Crystal Pite in collaboration with Simon McBurney, is a beautiful and wry spectacle about the future of a planet in crisis. While the viewer can initially lose himself in the beauty and diversity of species in nature, the theatrical experience is heading faster and faster towards an inescapable doomsday scenario.
 
The Nederlandse Dansdagen
The 25th edition of the Nederlandse Dansdagen will take place from September 30 to October 6. In this anniversary edition of the festival you can experience the best of Dutch dance in and from Maastricht. For more information about the Dutch Dance Days and the full program, see www.nederlandsedansdagen.nl
  
 
The Swans are made possible in part by the Podiumcadeaukaart. The winners will receive a bronze statue made by choreographer and visual artist Toer van Schayk.