Sol León and Paul Lightfoot created Studio 2 to mark the 50th anniversary of the NDT in 2009. 

This creation pays tribute to the rehearsal hall where the two choreographers worked for twenty years; their repertoire currently boasts more than forty ballets. According to León and Lightfoot, the NDT’s soul is infused in the floor, walls and mirrors of the Studio 2 rehearsal hall. The music of this piece also refers to Tabula Rasa, Ohad Naharin’s first great choreography. In this respect, the ballet Studio 2 can also be considered to be an ode to this very meaningful legacy.

Source: Maison de la Danse

More information: www.ndt.nl

Sol León joined NDT 2 after graduating from the National Ballet Academy of Madrid in 1987. Two years later she joined NDT 1 and danced in masterpieces of Jiří Kylián, Hans van Manen, Mats Ek and Ohad Naharin. León continued to dance up until 2003, when she decided to fully devote herself to choreography, together with Paul Lightfoot. León became Artistic Advisor of NDT in 2012.

León and Lightfoot have been a choreographer's duo since 1989 and together they have created more than fifty pieces for the company, for which they received prestigious awards. In 2002 León and Lightfoot were appointed house choreographers for NDT.

In season 2017-2018 both new creations as well as an existing work by León & Lightfoot will be performed in the programmes "Side A: Split into One" (NDT 1), "Sum Thoughts" (NDT 2) and Savoir Faire (NDT 1).

Source : Nederlands Dans Theater 's website

More information : ndt.nl/en

Born in 1977, Fabien Plasson is a video director specialized in the field of performing arts (dance , music, etc).

During his studies at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (joined in 1995) Fabien discovered video art. He was trained by various video artists (Joel Bartoloméo Pascal Nottoli , Eric Duyckaerts , etc).
He first experimented with the creation of installations and cinematic objects.

From 2001 to 2011, he was in charge of Ginger & Fred video Bar’s programming at La Maison de la Danse in Lyon. He discovered the choreographic field and the importance of this medium in the dissemination, mediation and pedagogical approach to dance alongside Charles Picq, who was a brilliant video director and the director of the video department at that time.

Today, Fabien Plasson is the video director at La Maison de la Danse and in charge of the video section of Numeridanse.tv, an online international  video library, and continues his creative activities, making videos of concerts, performances and also creating video sets for live performances.

Sources: Maison de la Danse ; Fabien Plasson website

More information: fabione.fr

In  1978, NDT founded a second division to feed the main company with young  talent. In the time span of three years, NDT 2 prepares twenty  classically trained dancers (varying in age between 17 and 23 years)  from around the world for NDT 1. Whereas the first company offer a  chance for the dancers to further develop their artistic personality,  the second company, NDT 2 offers a varied repertoire consisting of works  by established choreographers as well as upcoming stars, such as Jiří  Pokorný, Edward Clug, Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal.  

One of the objectives of NDT 2, is to acquaint the dancers with a  lexicon of dance languages. Working together with upcoming  choreographers, provides the dancers with the opportunity to learn to  react quickly to different dance languages, techniques and working  methods. 

Source : Nederlands Dans Theater

En savoir plus : www.ndt.nl