In conversation with Adriaan Luteijn about HubClub’26

Interview with Adriaan Luteijn

27 January 2026

As Artistic Initiator Interaction & Inclusion at Introdans, Adriaan Luteijn is the driving force behind HubClub. In addition to overseeing the final artistic direction, he creates the choreography for the opening and the finale of the performance, featuring the full cast of the 2026 edition.
“When you bring so many different people together, there’s friction. And that friction creates a really beautiful energy.”
“HubClub proves that when you bring together extraordinary people, you get an extraordinary performance.”

HubClub’26 is part of a series of productions in which Luteijn creates professional performances with diverse, inclusive casts. He has been doing this since 2002 under the name De Ontmoeting (The Encounter): productions in which Introdans dancers meet exceptional dancers from other worlds. The first HubClub within this framework took place in 2020. HubClub’26 is the third edition of this inspiring, inclusive dance celebration.

What makes this new HubClub different from earlier editions is that this time Introdans and Adriaan invited four renowned choreographers from the Netherlands and abroad to reinterpret existing works for an inclusive, diverse cast, alongside Adriaan’s own contribution. Conny Janssen, Jordy Dik, Inbal Pinto and Fernando Melo accepted the challenge.
“They each perfectly embody what Introdans represents, in their own way. They create work of very high artistic quality and are open to new perspectives.”

Accessible dance
Artistic director Roel Voorintholt explored the choreographers’ repertoires together with Adriaan and the guest choreographers, selecting existing works that fit well with HubClub’26:
“They are fairly theatrical dance works. They have a performative quality that makes them accessible to a wide audience.”
The pieces also align with the overall feeling of the programme: “It really feels like going to a club.”

A colourful humanity
For Adriaan, finding guest performers for the diverse cast that defines HubClub’26 was not difficult. He has been working on inclusion and diversity projects with Introdans for decades.
“I love showing the colourful diversity of humanity on stage. As a maker, that makes me very happy.”
Performers he encountered through these projects were invited to join HubClub. The cast includes two hip-hop dancers, a dancer who is also an employee from a dance project with the social development company Scalabor, a 60+ dancer, and performers with different physical realities and non-visible disabilities, such as a dancer with a visual or auditory impairment and a nearly blind dancer. Together with classically and modern-trained Introdans dancers, they share the stage.

A vibrant chemical reaction
According to Adriaan, blending contemporary dance works with a cast of classically trained Introdans dancers and top performers from other physical, social and dance backgrounds creates a vibrant chemical reaction:
“When you bring so many different people together, there’s friction. And that friction creates a really beautiful energy. That energy is what HubClub is all about.”

What exactly is that friction?
“At the start of the rehearsal period, people often think in terms of limitations that such a diverse cast might bring. But along the way, you start to see that things can be done differently too. Irene van Zeeland from Holland Dance Festival and I support the choreographers and the cast in that process: how do you create opportunities for people to let their talents emerge?”
It quickly becomes clear that, regardless of your physical, social, mental or dance reality, there is a lot of talent worth seeing.
“That gives strength and inspiration to both the dancers and the audience.”

However diverse and colourful the cast may be, according to Adriaan they all share one essential thing:
“They are all excellent in their own way. As performers, as dancers.”

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