Sleight of Hand
by Sol León & Paul Lightfoot
 
In 2007, Sol León and Paul Lightfoot made the atmospheric ballet Sleight of Hand for eight dancers for NDT 2. With this piece, the choreographers showed they were going in a new, more theatrical direction. Filled with mysterious drama in a play of light and dark, black cloth walls form the backdrop to two monumentally tall characters that immediately demand authority by their sheer height alone. The stage is ruled by groups pieces and duets, some coming from the pit as if from another world. Using the music of Philip Glass they feed off these hungry maturing spirits to create a dark world full of sinister characters and strange perspectives in time and space.
 
  
Mutual Comfort
by Edward Clug
 
Mutual comfort is detailed and sharply defined. Its most distinguishing feature tends to be twitchiness where the bodies flick and jerk so extremely and frequently that it can be interpreted as punctuation; a certain acknowledgment of the beat. As a choreographer, Clug is interested in highlighting the dancer’s individual experience by keeping it fresh in its approach. By doing so, his work leans towards emphasizing a personal experience that arises from the process of creation that is led by illuminating human contradictions, imparting surprising moments of beauty and spontaneous irony.
 
 
 
Solo
by Hans van Manen
 
Hans van Manen created Solo for three NDT 2 dancers who portray a single man reexamining his place in the world. The high pace movements on Bach’s violin partita require an extraordinary timing, and can therefore only be performed by the dancers interchanging one another.
Solo splashes and swings and makes you chuckle at the scurrying feet, the raised arms as exclamation points, the flashy turns, the impending bent knees and the fun, the mischievous, the speed and momentum with which the NDT 2 dancers present this choreography.
NRC Handelsblad (1997)
 

Cacti
by Alexander Ekman

Alexander Ekman calls himself a ‘rhythm freak’, as one of his trademarks is designing contemporary soundscapes. This choreography, for which he merely used classical music, resulted in a new arrangement of Schubert’s Der Tod und das Mädchen, created together with Holland Symphonia. In addition, the dancers become the instruments for the orchestra. Ekman used all dancers to challenge the audience to reflect on the way in which art is perceived.