The ultimate form

Her choreography Once a Tango was part of Talent On The Move 2010 in the Rotterdamse Schouwburg. The work is also on the programme at the performance by Rotterdam Dance Academy (RDA) for the European Central bank in Frankfurt in October and again at a Tango Festival in The Hague in December. And, for the first time in some ten years, she will also dance again, in her own choreography Terra: Neel Verdoorn, former student of RDA.

Neel Verdoorn created Once a Tango – originally a duet, now performed by three couples – on the occasion of the fourth edition of Lof der Geneeskunst (In Praise of Medicine), Erasmus MC public lecture on medical science and humans, in October 2009. ‘When the piece was commissioned by Rotterdam Dance Academy it was already decided that the music would be performed live by Gran Orquesta Típica OTRA conducted by Leo Vervelde, the artistic manager of the Rotterdam World Music Academy at Rotterdam Conservatoire. Our collaboration was wonderful. Leo also chose the two songs in the piece, Yunta de Oro and A los Artistas Plasticos by Osvaldo Pugliese.’

Once a Tango (Talent On The Move 2010, Rotterdamse Schouwburg, May 19). Photo Jan Hordijk.

After graduating Rotterdam Dance Academy, where she took the dance in education programme, Neel (1962) worked as a dancer with the companies Reflex and Djazzex. Over the years, she gradually moved towards becoming a choreographer and she has since made works for, among others, Djazzex, Dansgroep Krisztina de Châtel, Korzo producties, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Budapest Tanzinhas, Aterballetto and Rotterdam Dance Academy.

Last year, together with Magda Klaasen, Neel founded the Geen Deel foundation, named after her very first own production from 1988. ‘Magda had organised that back then,’ says Neel. Her future productions will be released by this foundation. Neel also resumes her collaboration with Albert van Veenendaal, the pianist-composer involved in Geen Deel. With him she developed the dance concert Terra, which they perform together, and for the first time in some ten years Neel herself dances again. ‘A prepared concert piano is at the heart of this duet for body and piano. The composition alternates soft harmonic tones with powerful percussion rhythms,’ says Neel. ‘My movement language is characterised by a similar change.’

Terra was performed in The Hague and Eindhoven in May and can be seen again in September at the Zeeland Nazomerfestival. ‘We will be performing four days at the Zeeuws Museum in Middelburg. It is a very suitable environment for Terra, which has time and remembering as its starting point.’

Neel intends to extend the twenty-minute duet by including a role for a saxophone player, Esmée Olthuis, thus making it into a full evening programme called Terra in Concert. She also has plans for a work with three male dancers and two percussionists. If she can get the funding this piece will premiere in February 2011. And if it were up to her she will make a full evening spectacle together with OTRA. ‘Dance and live music, that for me is the ultimate form.’

Meanwhile Neel also teaches, as a guest teacher in modern techniques at the Bachelor of Dance programme of Rotterdam Dance Academy. ‘I have a strong bond with that school. My roots are there, it is the place that gave me my feeling for dance.’ And she really enjoys teaching there. ‘The students also take classes from many renowned choreographers from both the Netherlands and abroad, who write pieces especially for them, which means they already have one foot in the professional practice. As a teacher you have the opportunity and a responsibility as well, to contribute something essential to their development as dancers.’

Neel also works abroad. ‘I have been going to Hungary for ten years now.’ She wrote several pieces for two different companies, and this summer she will once again teach a two-week summer workshop in Budapest.
‘I believe dance expresses emotion in its purest way,’ says Neel. ‘Your body is the instrument, vulnerable and naked in its truth and expression. With your body, you can move to put feelings in a certain order and give space a specific meaning.’