Maastricht grows into an attractive dance city

With the authoritative Dutch Dance Days and successful companies like SALLY and OXYGEN, Maastricht is developing into a lively dance city. An impression.

By Joost Goutziers

  • Dancer Dutch Dance Days in Maastricht

It is a stunning scene: fifty young people move mechanically, without visible emotion, through a shopping centre, close to the Vrijthof square in Maastricht. They move silently among shoppers, across the mosaic floor at ZARA, through an alley near a shoe store, passing a lift. They walk in sync, crouch, sit for a moment, stand up again, look with stern eyes and blink at the same time.

This is an excerpt from Siri Loves Me, an impressive, topical dance ritual in response to the technologisation of society and its impact on humans. This outdoor performance with young dancers from Maastricht was shown at the Nederlandse Dansdagen in 2017. That leading event in Maastricht reveals a sample of contemporary dance in the country and then it becomes clear that dance is not only at home in theatres, but equally at home on the streets.

Presentation of the Swans

The Dance Days are important for Maastricht. The eyes of dance lovers are on the Limburg capital then. For a whole week, there are performances, premieres, dance films, battles, a dance gala, but also the presentation of the Zwanen; these are awards for the most impressive performances and dance performances in the Netherlands and there is also the prestigious oeuvre award De Gouden Zwaan.

In 2018, choreographer Stephen Shropshire, who lives in Maastricht, won a Swan for We are Nowhere Else But Here. 'A poignant duet that captivates with its simplicity,' the jury said. During the Dance Days, audiences see not only modern dance, but also hip-hop, tango, flamenco, battles and dance films. Talents are given the opportunity to present and develop themselves at the Nederlandse Dansdagen. Katja Heitmann, for instance, created the Siri Loves Me described above, after winning De Nederlandse Dansdagen's Innovation Award a year earlier, a support for promising choreographers. This year, Limburg-based choreographer Sharon Wesseling is one of the nominees for that incentive award. With her company 20Hertz, she creates performances with deaf and hard-of-hearing dancers. She explicitly takes auditive handicapped spectators into account. Her company feels at home in Maastricht.

The Nederlandse Dansdagen (Dutch Dance Days) has had a major impact on the development of Maastricht as a dance city. Throughout the year, Theater aan het Vrijthof (former Generaalshuis) and Theater AINSI (former cement factory packaging building) present a lot of dance.

National and international productions

'Maastricht is definitely a dance city. The dance programme largely determines the distinctive, artistic profile of our theatre,' says programmer Fons Dejong of Theater aan het Vrijthof.

'Naturally, the four major Dutch companies can be seen with us: Het Nationale Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Introdans and Scapino Ballet Rotterdam.' Next season (2025/2026) will also see other top Dutch companies in the theatre, such as Conny Janssen Danst, Club Guy & Roni, Theater Rotterdam and Lloydscompany.

Fons Dejong: 'Noblesse oblige: with Maastricht as the city of The Treaty for European Cooperation and as an expat and knowledge city, we also colour our dance programme with international productions, such as this season's phenomenal performance Muerta de Amor by Spanish choreographer and dancer Manuel Liñán.' This piece combines modern with flamenco and is about the deep human need for true connection with the other.

  • SALLY Dance Company from Maastricht

To introduce audiences to international companies, Theater aan het Vrijthof collaborates with theatres in Liège and Hasselt. For instance, Dejong and his colleagues are organising a bus trip to Hasselt, in Flanders, so that people from Maastricht can see Atterballeto's Notte Morricone, an artistic tribute to the Italian composer Ennio Morricone.

Maastricht theatres will of course host premieres of dance performances by the professional companies that are at home in the city: SALLY (dance for young audiences) and OXYGEN (contemporary and urban dance).

'The audience for dance continues to grow,' says Fons Dejong. 'We are delighted with the interest in dance, both classical and contemporary.'

The road to Limburg's first dance ensemble

The dance scene in Maastricht is vibrant, but it has not always been that way. It took a long run-up before contemporary dance seriously developed. In the south of the country, the Dansers Collectief from Tilburg paved the way for modern dance between 1980 and 1990. The company also tried to gain a foothold in Limburg, but hit a brick wall. It could whistle for government support.

In newspaper De Limburger (1984), the dancers expressed their disgust at what they saw as the province's arid cultural policy. 'That is not because of the population, but because of the policy pursued by politicians. There is absolutely no vision of professional dance. People who took a year's training hang mirrors in the garage, buy pink ballet shoes and start spoiling children with quasi classical lessons.'

Nevertheless, the first Limburg ensemble emerged from the Dansers Collectief: Dans Compagnie Limburg, based in Maastricht. The first performance by initiators Elsa van der Heijden and Jan van Opstal was Cri d'Amour in 1985, total theatre with dance, text and music about loneliness and a cry for love. Elsa van der Heijden would remain active with her company for many years. In its wake, companies sporadically stood up in Limburg, but most of them died.

The success of nederlandse Dansdagen

Meanwhile, the professional dance world in Maastricht looks brighter. Not least because of the presence of the Nederlandse Dansdagen (Dutch Dance Days). In 2025, that event falls in the first week of October. Theatres, museums, venues and a spiegeltent will feature performances by Dutch dance makers, there will be lectures, debates and events in the neighbourhood. The festival, which originated in 1998, taps into the latest developments, such as dance and inclusion, and crossovers with contemporary circus and urban.

Event de Dansdagen originally started hesitantly with an Evening of Dutch Dance and has grown into a seven-day international event where everyone who loves dance can feel at home.

Ronald Wintjens has been general director of Nederlandse Dansdagen since 2016. The 2025 edition will be his last, he is handing over the baton. He knows the dance world in Maastricht like the back of his hand and that is also because he is director and co-founder of dance company SALLY, which is based in the Limburg capital.

Dance scene in Maastricht: - fresh and young

Ronald Wintjens grew up in Limburg, close to Maastricht, and studied modern dance in Tilburg. He started SALLY together with Stefan Ernst in 2006 in Brabant, but moved with the company to Maastricht in 2013. At that time, to his surprise, there was hardly any development in the dance world in Limburg. SALLY's arrival proved to be a catalyst, as did the relocation of the Netherlands Dance Days office from Amsterdam to Maastricht. Suddenly, the lines of communication in the dance world in Maastricht were short and ambitions were high.

The outgoing director of the Dance Days describes the dance scene in Maastricht as fresh and young: 'Contemporary dance in this solidity has not been here for so long, but today it is stimulating, innovative and of high quality. In the city, modern dance, including urban, is a nice mix, and those parties complement each other well. We reach young and old and there is a lot of focus on dance as a leisure activity.'

That said, there are still steps to be taken. Work to be done.

A promising development is the construction of the Dance House on the Meuse. This is planned to be located in The M, which are three yet-to-be-built residential towers on the Meuse. The ground floor will be a home for SALLY and other dance initiatives from Maastricht, with dance studios, space for classes, meetings and performances. The public will soon be able to see dance performances there, meet young dancers and take a look at rehearsals.

Dancing is for everyone

This year's Nederlandse Dansdagen can be visited from 3 to 9 October. The performances take place all over the city, often within walking distance, in the theatres, at arts centre Kumulus, De Bordenhal (home of Toneelgroep Maastricht), the Toneelacademie and the spiegeltent on the Vrijthof.

In AINSI, for instance, you can see the duet Dubbelspoor, a performance by choreographer Beppie Blankert on the theme of 'waiting'. The original 1986 version can be seen in Maastricht, with the performers of yesteryear: Beppie Blankert and Caroline Dokter. 'We are a bit stiffer,' Blankert says, 'but many experiences richer.' From WArd/waRD, the company of Ann Van den Broek, will premiere Play , a performance about a return to being a child. The beautiful Danstent on the Vrijthof includes Club Tweak: a dance club with DJs. That Belgian mirror tent is an eye-catcher at the festival. Don't be surprised if suddenly tango and wheelchair dancers sway through the tent, and that salsa, a waltz, even line dance are shown. Join in.

Nederlandse Dansdagen

Nederlandse Dansdagen wants to use dance to bring diverse groups together. Ronald Wintjens: 'Like with DansWEB. Elderly people from nursing homes will dance with primary school children. It is an artistic trajectory that culminates during the Dance Days. Dance is our language through which we want to be meaningful for the city. We focus on quality, but not only that: we encourage people to dance in their free time, which is extremely good for their health. Our event is no longer just for the professionals, we reach a wide audience nowadays, which is certainly due to the broadening of the programme. The Dance Gala during the Dance Days is the most important night, that's when many young people are in the audience.'

  • Dancer Wennah-Wilkers for Dutch Dance Days Maastricht

Locations

Maastricht is a well-organised city; the offices of the Dance Days and Theater aan het Vrijthof are within walking distance of each other. For Ronald Wintjens, it is only a few hundred metres' walk from his office to the theatre: via the shopping street Grote Gracht, then towards the popular Vrijthof with the Sint-Servaasbasilica as eye-catcher, the Sint Janskerk and restaurants with glorious names like Monopole, L'Autruche and In Den Ouden Vogelstruys.

Dance performances at Theater aan het Vrijthof are predominantly shown in the Papyruszaal, a wide, modern auditorium with red chairs and around 900 seats. To see dance in AINSI, enthusiasts head to the Lage Kanaaldijk, which is a bit outside the city centre. It's a nice 3.5-kilometre walk: through the greenery of Mount Saint Peter, you walk through the protected nature reserve of the 70-million-year-old ENCI limestone quarry to the nearby old cement factory where you find the AINSI theatre. There, this season, you can see, among other things, Raiz by Samir Calixto, a personal solo about his life path that began in Brazil. He often uses Western music history as inspiration for his performances. Triple Vision by Kalpana Raghuraman is also there. It is a quest full of personal and social themes turned into movement. In one of the pieces of this triptych, she connects Indian dance styles with solid rock music; in another choreography, she combines Indian singing with breakdance. The theatre hall in AINSI has around 160 seats.

The scope of Sally

The same complex of the old cement factory houses studios of SALLY. This dance company focuses on children, young people and families. The dancers hope to inspire a young generation with their performances and projects, get young people dancing and make them aware of the world around them. That sounds ambitious, but they are convinced that the impact of art, and dance in particular, can be great.

The company works with dancers from home and abroad. Next season, SALLY performs, among others, the piece Wegwijzers (groups 1 to 4), a production about making choices and a piece with the appealing title GOD is a DJ (12+). This performance with eight dancers has the feel of a nighttime party in a dance club, with music and video. The piece invites visitors to freedom of expression. Inspiration is the 1990s hit of the same name by British dance act Faithless.

'Eight dancers transform the empty space into an ecstatic dance floor with nothing more than hip costumes, a projection screen and their bodies,' says the review in Theaterkrant. 'Anyone who does not feel like moving along after this hour of energy has not been paying attention.' Previous performances from twenty years of SALLY history include: WOEST (4+) about children whose parents are divorced and Strange Duck (4+) about fear of strangers.

SALLY is important for the growth of a new generation of choreographers and dancers in Limburg. Since 2015, the company has been spearheading SALLY'S Dance Lab, a platform for dance innovation, where talents work and experiment. Stephen Shropshire is one of the coaches guiding talents.

Ronald Wintjens: 'We facilitate young makers, give local talents the chance to grow. That way they develop their own signature. You see that a new batch has emerged in Maastricht, think of Jennifer Romen and Roshanak Morrowatian.'

The Theater aan het Vrijthof regularly hosts SALLY Sessions. Young dance makers then show their work. The audience can also witness work-in-progress when the piece is not quite finished. Admission is free.

SALLY also plays a social role and realises that dance can be supportive, both for people's physical and mental health. For instance, there is the concept of 'dance on prescription', for people with chronic pain or with non-congenital brain injury. Moreover, SALLY offers after-school care for children, obviously with dance as its main focus.

BodyTAAL is another remarkable initiative. Ronald Wintjens: 'That is aimed at children with a language deficiency. Through movement, they learn spelling, writing and grammar. If you use your body, learning is easier than sitting in a school desk. If you want to learn a difficult word and you link a movement to it, you will remember the word better.' Children engage with their parents. SALLY collaborates with libraries and community centres in the city for BodyTAAL.

OXYGEN's visual power

Jennifer Romen's name was mentioned earlier. This talented choreographer has a dance education in Maastricht and her own urban dance company: OXYGEN. Once again, the distances in the Maastricht dance world turn out to be short. OXYGEN is at home in Statenstraat, close to Theater aan het Vrijthof. Jennifer Romen won hip-hop battles worldwide, including European Championships and World Cups and made a name for herself on TV programmes like Dance As One on SBS6. The first professional performance with OXYGEN was Delusion, a mix of urban and contemporary. It premiered at Theater aan het Vrijthof. Delusion II is scheduled for 2026, with The final chapter as its subtitle. Jennifer Romen and her dancers work with movement, a lot of energy, also with light, silhouettes and visual illusions.

Jennifer Romen, artist in residence at Theater aan het Vrijthof, specialises in isolations in which it seems as if body parts of dancers move separately. Spectators may also suddenly think they see a dancer with many legs. I focus more on visual strength than physical strength,' says dancer, coach and choreographer Jennifer Romen. In doing so, she uses a variety of dance styles, mixed together, side by side.

Also promising is the Maastricht dance company Rover by Roshanak Morrowatian and Mami Izumi. Among other things, the two created the performance Alphabets of Flesh about people who are displaced, who have fled their country. It premiered at De Nederlandse Dansdagen in 2024. The future of this company is uncertain. Rover was seen as a welcome addition to the dance scene in Maastricht, but in the distribution of subsidies for culture, the company fell by the wayside, to the dismay of dance lovers.

Talent via Via Zuid

New talents and future dance companies come from Via Zuid, among others. The office of this talent development organisation is in the centre of Maastricht, in the Batterijstraat, a backstreet with graffiti, right next to the offices of De Nederlandse Dansdagen. Once again, the lines of communication in the city are short.

Via Zuid supports young theatre makers, dancers and choreographers for four years at a time. Every year there is an intake of three new makers. Via Zuid is a member of an extensive dance network in Limburg and, together with SALLY, puts its weight behind Danslab in Maastricht.

Joost Segers is artistic director of Via Zuid: 'Danslab is an umbrella term, with multiple residencies and opportunities. Take Sellam El Achari. He danced with SALLY and wants to develop as a choreographer. At Danslab, he gets the space to try that out. That could be a solo or a piece with dancers from SALLY. We leave that open and take the pressure off as much as possible.'

Just as SALLY has the SALLY Sessions, Via Zuid has the Sneak Peeks. Young makers, both theatre and dance, introduce audiences to their work. These 'peeks' can be seen not only in Maastricht, but also in other Limburg cities. Another event where young choreographers showcase themselves is CLASHLAB. Three makers show short performances, including choreographer Shurick Jantje. His work can be seen at De Nederlandse Dansdagen, at Musica Sacra, FASHIONCLASH and at the Limburgs Museum. Yet another event in Maastricht where dance talents go public is Winternights, this year in December. The audience then also goes outside, as they stroll from one venue to another. One of the choreographers from Limburg from whom Via Zuid expects a lot is Bo Jacobs.

 

Also dance schools for amateurs

Besides professional dance, Maastricht has many dance schools for amateurs, especially for children. In all kinds of fields: classical, modern, urban, also Latin-American dances. From the Vrijthof square it is a short walk to Kumulus, the quickest way being via the Basilica and Brusselsestraat. The former school building (Sint Servatiusschool) used to house the dance and music school, and is now home to private organisations such as Dansatelier Maastricht, a dance school with some 500 students. The former classrooms are now studios and are named after dance icons such as Hans van Manen, Rudi van Dantzig, Pina Bausch and Spanish flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya.

Sharon Habets teaches kindergarten dance, classical ballet and modern dance. She has ten colleagues who teach, also in hip-hop styles, tap dance and flamenco. In addition, there are training sessions for people with disabilities. The students give performances in their own theatre at Kumulus.

She calls the dance scene in Maastricht well-organised. 'There is a lot of mutual contact, also with the Dance Days. Our students from Dansatelier, for example, can go to a performance and take part in a workshop at a discount during that event. Dancers taking flamenco lessons with us go to a performance with flamenco during the Dance Days and also take part in workshops. Of course, it is wonderful if that class is taught by a dancer they saw earlier in the performance.' Dance Studio will also be on show during the Open Stage of the Dance Days.

Sharon Habets sees a lot of potential in dance in Maastricht and wants to grow to seven hundred students with Dansateliers. The dance audience may one day see some of those young dancers back as professionals at the Dance Days, at OXYGEN or at SALLY.

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