Conny Janssen Danst offers young choreographer chance to work with company

With NEXT,Conny Janssen Danst offers an exciting new project to the company's activities. Every year, the initiative offers a young choreographer the chance to create a compact production with the dancers of the Rotterdam company. NEXT is a performance with urban energy that pops up in unexpected locations in the city. For the premiere of NEXT, Antonin Comestaz will take on the challenge of developing new work with seven dancers, taking them into Rotterdam. NEXT will premiere at WORM on Friday 1 March 2024.

With DANSLOKAAL, Conny Janssen Danst has had a talent development project for beginning dance makers for more than a decade. In the new project NEXT, Conny Janssen selects makers who are already slightly further along in their careers, such as Antonin Comestaz. This French choreographer, based in The Hague, is known for the playful and inventive approach in his work. He employs a detailed movement language with influences from folk, mime, breakdance, commercial dance, ballet, contemporary dance and cartoons. Drastic shifts of styles and genres can occur within his choreographies, merged by a refined sense of the absurd.

Raw dance material

Antonin Comestaz: ''I work for NEXT with a diverse group of dancers. Four men, three women, with a lot of energy. I always let the characters of the dancers come into their own. They are not impersonal or
abstract. My dancers never hide behind the choreographer. To the studio I bring pure,
raw dance material, but only during rehearsals does it gain context. I confront the dancers
with each other in duos and trios. Then the stories and relationships develop naturally and the loose movements become conversation.''

WORM, HOUSE Conny Janssen Danst and Erasmus Pavilion

For the new initiative, Conny Janssen Danst collaborates with alternative venues in Rotterdam. The new work by Antonin Comestaz will premiere on Friday 1 March at
WORM and can also be seen there during Museumnacht010 on Saturday 2 March. Then
the dancers travel with NEXT to various locations, including their own studio in HUIS Conny
Janssen Danst on Katendrecht and the Eramsus Pavilion on the Erasmus University Rotterdam campus.

Flexible thinking

Conny Janssen: "Presenting work at different venues and for different
occasions teaches a creator to think flexibly. It breaks fixed patterns, allowing
makers develop a new perspective on their work. NEXT thus not only provides a stage for
creativity and innovation of makers and dancers, but also pushes the boundaries of traditional
performance venues. With Antonin Comestaz as choreographer of this first edition, we are confident
convinced that audiences will be taken on a dynamic, urban dance adventure."

Conny Janssen Danst NEXT in Rotterdam

- Friday 23 February 2024, HOUSE Conny Janssen Danst tryout
- Friday 1 March 2024, WORM premiere
- Saturday 2 March (Museumnacht010) & Sunday 3 March 2024, WORM
- Wednesday 13 to Saturday 16 March 2024, HOME Conny Janssen Danst
- Wednesday 27 March 2024, Erasmus Pavilion

Ticket sales start Tuesday 30 January via: www.connyjanssendanst.nl