About the work
"NextSteps" is a joint dance project of the Junior Company of Dutch National Ballet (Het Nationale Ballet, Amsterdam) and the ISH Dance Collective. For around a decade, the classically trained dancers of the Junior Company and the performers of the ISH Dance Collective – specialists in hip-hop and urban dance forms – have explored the interplay of ballet and hip-hop in this series. "NextSteps" also offers a platform to a new generation of choreographers: through an open call, a promising emerging talent is selected to work with both ensembles for the first time.
Plot
The programme consists of dynamic, short choreographies in which the precision of classical ballet and the energy of hip-hop merge into a distinct hybrid form. Dancers from both ensembles step forward as choreographers and blend the disciplines. Rather than a continuous narrative arc, "NextSteps" strings together several pieces by different makers – a laboratory in which styles, movement languages and generations meet. The ballet-meets-hip-hop aesthetic tested here has already proven itself in successful full-length productions such as "Narnia", "GRIMM" and "Dorian".
Cultural significance
"NextSteps" exemplifies the talent-development and innovation work of Dutch National Ballet: it deliberately opens the classical ballet institution to urban dance culture and to young, not-yet-established choreographic voices. The long-standing partnership with the ISH Dance Collective shows how productive the encounter of high culture and street dance can be – not as a mere mixture, but as mutual enrichment. The series thus contributes to the renewal and diversification of ballet and to the cultivation of the next generation of choreographers.