Introdans, a wonderful company that I had the pleasure of accompanying to Cologne. They presented their programme “Bach”, which consisted of three choreographies, Corpus Bach (with live music), Anima and Selon Désir.

On the first day of performance, the 25 ensemble members arrived at the Cologne Opera House at around 5:00pm. They were warmly welcomed by the entire crew of the Opera House and made their way to the dressing rooms to get ready. Cellist Detmar Leertouwer headed straight for the sound check. It was my first time listening to a cellist solo on stage and it was exciting. After he finished, it was time for rehearsal and spacing. The first piece, Corpus Bach, was rehearsed again with the cellist. The two other pieces were mainly about going through the positions. At the end, they warmed up a little on ballet bars. Already during the rehearsal, I realised that I am going to like the companies performance very much.

At 7:30pm the show started and the audience could enjoy this great performances. Corpus Bach, a choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in collaboration with Nicolas Vladyslav, with four male dancers who reinterpret the courtly dances and combine hip-hop elements with the baroque cello suites. – Great applause!

This performance was followed by a short film “The Volume in the Flatness” by the dancers Jurrien Schobben and Alberto Villanueva, which reflects the personality of Johann Sebastian Bach in a very abstract way. The film was followed by the next choreography Anima: “We start on the outside with the superficial façade and then move inwards until all the outer layers are removed and we get to the essential, to the goal” this is how choreographer Manuel Vignoulle explains the choreography. The last choreography Selon Désir, by Andonis Foniadakis, shows a furious whirl, a storm. The dancers spin around, throw themselves on the floor, let their bodies go limp. - Standing ovations!

Also on the second day of performance, the company from Arnhem reaps much positive feedback and astonishment. The audience has had a great time and shows it with a long-lasting applause. On the way out, all the choreographies are talked about in detail and enthused about. It was a great success!

Photo by Hans Gerritsen