Founded in 1975, the SNDO was an attempt to find new ways for dance, next to the Uber-dominating existing forms and styles in dance. After thirty years the SNDO is now one of the few institutes in the world for higher education with an international approach to dance making.
The word “new” in the name SNDO is cherished. Although avant-garde has been declared dead and although it is common knowledge that art seems to be an ongoing recycling of forms, themes, styles, fashions and obsessions the SNDO is still non-stop looking for new ways of dance and dance making. A confirmation of existing forms and styles in dance is not the aim. If students want to work on those forms and in those styles, the ‘why’-question will always be brought up. The ‘why’- and the ‘how’-question is used often in the SNDO. Not the ‘what’. Students decide on which subjects, topics and issues they want to research. We respect the individual and his/her liberty to develop a personal approach, style, esthetic, signature and view. The SNDO seeks to develop the creativity of the individual student. In the curriculum, the school sets up the conditions in which the creativity of every individual student can emerge, where reflection on the specific qualities of dance as an art form is developed and awareness about the body and the artistic implications of working with it precede.
The student’s performance work is defined by the investigation, research and invention of movement material. The work communicates within contemporary cultures, as well as pioneering new artistic horizons and possesses the craftsmanship and artistry needed for performing and performance making. Making dance at the SNDO is entirely about learning how to connect an idea/concept to the body and to movement and in that way working on the integration of the thinking (concept, mind) and the physicality (body).
