TWEEZAAM

Tweezaam – wereldpremière
 Het Nationale Ballet
- for Alexandra Radius en Han Ebbelaar -

choreography Wubkje Kuindersma
music  Santerino & Gene (Michael James Champion en Michael Benjamin) – The Change
dansers Floor Eimers & Giorgi Potskhishvili
kostuumontwerp  Wubkje Kuindersma
lichtontwerp Wijnand van der Horst en Wubkje Kuindersma
worldpremière - 11 nov 2024, Nederlands Balletgala, Stichting Dansersfonds ’79, DeLaMar, Amsterdam 
​45 years jubileum of Dansersfonds
duration 7 minuten


...."With this gala, a dream comes true for choreographer Wubkje Kuindersma: to be able to create a duet dedicated to Alexandra Radius and Han Ebbelaar. The two were an important example for her in her youth. She says she has experienced the beauty of dance. “I lived in the far North, there was no internet, but I saw the photos of Alexandra and Han in program booklets of the National Ballet and in Ine Rietstap's book Alexandra Radius – a dance career, and I was enchanted by them.”

Tweezaam – as the title of the duet that Kuindersma made especially for this anniversary gala – is about being inextricably linked. About how the other person makes the difference in your life, and about the fact that, in a happy relationship, you are never lonely when you are together. The duet is a tribute to Radius and Ebbelaar, but it is not biographical. “The song I chose for my duet – the moving The Change, written by Michael James Champion and sung by Michael Benjamin – according to them “carries the weight of hope and longing, as if the universe were cradling us in its arms.” Personally, I hear it mainly as a message to a loved one.” For the costumes, Kuindersma was also inspired by the photos she saw in her youth, of Radius and Ebbelaar in training clothes. “These are photos that are etched in my memory. Breathtakingly beautiful.”

Kuindersma has been associated with the National Ballet as a Young Creative Associate for the past three years and has created various works for the company and its Junior Company. Last year she also created Echoes of Van Gogh, a full-length choreography about the life of Vincent van Gogh for the West Australian Ballet, and she was recently one of the five female choreographers of Luna, a new full-length production by the Birmingham Royal Ballet."....

text: Astrid van Leeuwen, program dansersfondsgala

photos: Anoinette Mooy