11 September 2025
Arnhem/Doetinchem
by Sandra van Maanen

With the premiere of Less is More, Introdans celebrates the art of omission. The promise is that, thanks in part to the set designers from Fillip Studios in Arnhem, you still won’t have enough eyes to take it all in.

Roel Voorintholt, artistic director of Introdans, suffered a brain hemorrhage more than ten years ago. When he regained consciousness, something struck him: “I found everything so busy and overwhelming. I wondered, do other people feel the same way? After a while I realized I wasn’t alone. There are many people who experience overstimulation. That gave me the idea to create a performance that embodies serenity and calm. Hence, less is more.”

The program features works by Lucinda Childs and Hans van Manen as well as new pieces by Igor Bacovich, Iratxe Ansa and Fernando Melo. This Brazilian choreographer has worked with Introdans before and has already shown that he does not shy away from silence. Now, in collaboration with the Arnhem-based art and design studio Fillip Studios, he is creating an interactive set for his new work Tracés.

Minimal elements

“My way of working is to achieve maximum impact with only minimal elements. A careful reduction of components leads to a profound experience. This draws the audience into the piece, keeping them on the edge of their seats. We use various devices for this—in costume, lighting, sound, and set design,” says Melo.

Stage design can be magical in minimalist programs. Once again, Introdans has chosen to collaborate with Fillip Studios, specialists in wonder. Previously, the studio designed the interactive Experium for theater foyers and the Virtual Dance Carousel, as well as sets such as inflatable rocks for Swan Lake. More recently, they collaborated with choreographer and former Introdans dancer Jurriën Schobben on an interactive installation and choreography in the context program of End of Season 2025.

A good match

“We’re almost neighbors in Arnhem,” says Roos Meerman of Fillip Studios. “It’s great that we found each other, because as designers we are very interested in other disciplines. Creating something interactive for a dance company was high on our wish list.”

“Roel already suspected that Fernando Melo and we would make a very good match,” adds Tom Kortbeek of Fillip Studios. “So we got to work together and developed the concept for an interactive installation.”

The audience will be on the edge of their seats – Fernando Melo

Wonder
The commission was open yet clearly defined. Kortbeek: “Less is more says it all; it shouldn’t become a bombastic spectacle, but it did need to surprise. Where dancers usually dance to music within a set, everything is different now. In Tracés they move along with the scenography, which is interactive. In doing so, they compose on stage the very music to which they are dancing.”

Two long interactive cylinders, suspended in the air, are touched by the dancers. This produces sound while the cylinders simultaneously light up. Because different dancers touch the installation in different places, a unique composition arises, followed by movement. Meerman: “Although the choreography is fixed, every performance will be just a little bit different. The piece is created in the moment and will offer the audience a completely new experience. As a studio, that’s exactly what we seek—the unknown, the not-knowing. That’s where wonder lies.”

Melo hopes the audience will feel engaged and invited to participate in what they see. In this way, they experience a connection with the dancers. “My ultimate wish is that, when you leave the theater, you realize that what you just witnessed has never happened before. That is what we as creators strive for.”

20 September, premiere of Less is More at Amphion Doetinchem

Read the full article in de Gelderlander

Photo credits:
studio rehearsal – Rolf Hensel
campaign image – Pieter Henket