Chantal de Vries
Chantal de Vries (Nijmegen, 1971) graduated in 1994 from the ‘Theaterdans’ course at the University of the Arts in Arnhem. From 1995 to 2016 she worked at Music Theatre group Zenga as a dancer, singer, choreographer and repetiteur. This is where her love for the performing arts started. The group traveled around the world with major productions and performed in Dutch theaters from 1995 to 2010.
She danced in various productions of Beeldend Danstheater Telder and was featured as a guest dancer in Pulcinella by Introdans. For the opening of the World Port Days she created the performance We zijn er altijd.
As repetiteur and choreographer for Introdans’ special projects, she works with young and old, from amateur to professional, both home and abroad. Within Introdans she often works together with Artistic Coordinator Interaction & Inclusion Adriaan Luteijn, with whom she has now created various ballets.
Outside of Introdans, she works as a choreographer & teacher at Theaterwerkplaats Kazou, for young people with autism, and she works as a freelance choreographer/director for individual projects.
In 2020 she created the ballet Libertad! for the Hubclub, together with Vincenzo Turiano (dancer at Introdans), Jens Hertog, Marshall Janse (MBO Dans-Rijn IJssel / Studio26) and Nick Ruhe (Theaterwerkplaats Kazou). A search for our hidden fears & desires, but above all for freedom.
In 2021 and 2022, together with Adriaan Luteijn, she created the anniversary hit Pink Panther Party with dancers from Introdans, dancers from the urban, show, funk and hip-hop scene and about ten non-professional dancers.
In 2023, Chantal created the choreography for Paradiso!, a large-scale youth production with dance, theater and music in co-production with Theater Oostpool, Phion, Orchestra of Gelderland and Overijssel, and Musis & Stadstheater. The colorful cast of Paradiso! consisted of 64 dancers, musicians and players aged 15 to 25, from all corners of (East) Netherlands. All of them talented young people with and without experience in all kinds of disciplines: from amateur theater to interdisciplinary performance art, from hip hop to classical ballet. From saxophone to marimba and from baroque to modern music.
That same year, Chantal developed an immersive VR experience for Introdans: VRtuoos VRtueel, in collaboration with Studio VRij. Using VR glasses and virtual reality technology, this interactive experience connects the body with the digital (dance) world.
In honor of the centenary of Radboud University Nijmegen, Chantal created in 2023 the choreography for Red Bow Club together with Adriaan Luteijn, about the vibrant nightlife in the roaring twenties. Starring twenty-four dancing students and employees of Radboud University.
Chantal also created the ballet Thoughts in 2023. She made this especially for Cardiac Output, a special Amsterdam dance company, where mentally challenged dancers work together with professional dancers. Thoughts is about the 60,000 thoughts we have every day.
In 2023 she also made a contemporary adaptation of Dickens’ well-known Christmas story: It’s Christmas, Carol! for Theaterwerkplaats Kazou. A family show.
In the spring of 2024, Chantal created the choreography for a Mini Swan Lake, as part of the Introdans On Stage project, with students from special primary education, in collaboration with teachers from the interaction team and Introdancer Floris Puts. Introdans organizes this project together with De Onderwijsspecialisten and follows Introdans In da House, where special education students are immersed in the world of dance. In addition to dance and movement, they work with all facets of dance making and the dance company: the dancer and the rehearsal director, the technician (light, sound, technique), decor and costumes and hair and make-up. The students get to dance themselves and learn how beautiful and enriching dance can be. Because everyone can dance – is the motto of Introdans!
