5 december 2023

The idea behind this special dance project is that everyone can dance, regardless of age or physical limitation.

“Moving and genuine joy.”

“Honesty and beauty of collaboration.”

“That everyone was involved.”

“Touching and motivating.”

“We did it!”

These are just some reactions from dancers after our most recent project in collaboration with social development company Scalabor and ArtEZ: Scalabor Bruist!

The idea behind this special dance project is that everyone can dance, regardless of age or physical limitation. For four days, ‘Scalabor employees’, ArtEZ students, and the interaction team from Introdans, under the guidance of Adriaan Luteijn (choreographer and artistic initiator of interaction & inclusion at Introdans), worked on a dance. Exchange, acceptance, love, and openness were central to this. The presentation took place on Thursday, September 28, 2023, in the theater hall of ArtEZ.

As Adriaan instructed the participants at the start: “Open your heart and your mind.” A beautiful film report was made of this project, a mini-documentary (by Inge Theunissen – Itmoves) that takes you on a journey integrating and connecting two worlds: “That’s the beauty of this project,” says Adriaan, “it’s always fluid. Because if you have different partners, you also get a different dynamic and energy. I also see many beautiful new things that make me think; the concept works, and it continues to work.”

The dancers received a preview of the film on december 4th. Some dancers have become so enthusiastic about it, that they are actually continuing on their own: “It’s a new passion, you could say.” It’s great to see how this project contributes to their development, confidence, and sense of belonging. Director Marcel Hielkema of Scalabor announced that he would offer the film as a Sinterklaas gift to everyone on December 5 and asked if the dancers agreed. “Absolutely,” one of them said resolutely, “Let them see what we can do!”