The Nutcracker - Introdans

Boundless imagination, exuberant choreography, tender dance, and a totally new take on Tchaikovsky's famous music: this largest production Introdans has ever released has it all! This season the dance company once again presents a contemporary, new adaptation of a much-loved classic for the whole family. This time the choice fell on the winter ballet par excellence: The Nutcracker, but in a completely unique interpretation of the Belgian choreographer Jeroen Verbruggen. His version contains no Christmas tree, sugar fairy or presents but does contain all the magic and enchantment you expect from The Nutcracker!

Introdans gives it a quirky and idiosyncratic touch. A version about 'cracking' your own shell, your own note, in order to discover your true identity. In addition to Verbruggen's effervescent choreography, the eye-catchers are certainly the 'dreamland decor' and the lavish, baroque costumes of the Parisian fashion duo On Aura Tout Vu (Livia Stoianova and Yassen Samouilov), whose clientele includes stars such as Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Madonna and Christina Aguilera. After the resounding success of Carmen and Swan Lake last years, The Nutcracker is a new performance of Introdans in the winter months for every dance lover (6-106 years). To be seen in the Netherlands for the first time!

"The audience, from young to old, will soon be presented with an amazing feast. The production is vibrant, festive, overflowing with fantasy and you can tell from everything that this Nutcracker comes straight from Jeroen Verbruggen's heart." said Introdans director Roel Voorintholt. Spectacular, uplifting, deliciously witty and sensitive" wrote Le Temps.

In his tantalizing version, the choreographer remains largely faithful to E.T.A. Hoffmann's original Nutcracker story. Only with him, Marie (called Clara in some ballet versions) is not a young, adorable girl, but an adolescent who feels lost in her own body and, in her dreams, searches for herself. For Verbruggen, then, his Nutcracker is primarily about "cracking" your own shell, your own nut, in order to discover your true identity. And a second theme in the production is the idea that you must (learn to) love yourself first, before you can find love in another. In addition, elements from the fantasy books of C.S. Lewis (the Narnia series) and Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland, but even more so Alice in Spiegelland) seem to pop up here and there in this Nutcracker. For example, a closet, into which you can disappear, and mirrors that reveal your true nature play an important role in the performance.

The Nutcracker Experium

As with Carmen and Swan Lake, Introdans offers an experium in the foyer of the theater prior to the performance and during the intermission. An interactive experience for young and old, where you can use all your senses to experience The Nutcracker even more intensely.

About the choreographer

Jeroen Verbruggen - who as a dancer danced with the Royal Ballet of Flanders, the Ballet d'Europe and for ten years with the renowned Les Ballets de Monte Carlo - created his Nutcracker in 2014 for the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève. It was his first large-scale, full-length production, which immediately hit like a bomb and became one of the company's showpieces, both at its own theater in Geneva and on tours to France, Italy, Germany and Russia, among others.