Universal partner dance is my Magnum Opus, my big passion. I firmly believe that before spoken or written language, we used a language that consisted of sound and a language of the body. Dance is the combination of these languages. Those basal or underlying layers of communications were probably the reason why we were able to develop culture and subsequently … Read More
The bodywash-method The Embodying Weekends (EW) are really intensive. The whole idea is to really get everything you learn into your body. It’s like a brainwash method but then with your body: a bodywash-method. So it’s not about learning with your brain, but learning with your body. You are locked in here for 10 hours a day and you can … Read More
But now you are very rich! Very rich! Unfortunately not in money. The school is of course very stable and doing quite well. The company is a success. The richness comes more from the people I live with, i work with and I teach to. That is very satisfying. On top of that there are the trips to foreign countries … Read More
DANCEGASM A dancegasm, what is that!? A dancegasm is what most people would describe as a dance where you loose track of time and space and after three or six dances (you loose count) you suddenly wake up and you think: ‘Wow what just happened??’ It’s a dance where you can let go of everything and where you feel totally … Read More
Willem, you recently made an interesting post on Facebook. It was about genderneutrality. What do you mean by genderneutrality? It doesn’t mean everybody should be without gender, but it means that all the roles,etiquettes and behaviours that normally are ascribed or attached to a gender, we could also let go. In short it means that we stop seeing each other … Read More
Last month we spoke about your vision on teaching. We understand you are doing a Teacher Course (TC) in 2019 again. A great opportunity for us to see and maybe even experience how you put your vision in practice. Can you tell us what is the essence of TC2019? We did a similar edition in 2017. We skipped one year … Read More
Hi Willem! This month we would like to zoom in more on your vision on teaching! Is there a difference in the way you organise your classes compared to other dance schools or teachers, in partner dance specifically? I think there are a lot of differences. Some choices in organising are very consciously made and some have a lot to … Read More
I think it’s beautiful that we as teachers can add to this process. Sometimes the development happens in a day, sometimes it happens over years, but I see personal growth in all of our students here. I think it’s also very clear for themselves, even if they don’t put it in words. We have students in our studio that are … Read More
We thought it would be great to hear a bit more of you! You are doing a lot of things next to teaching in your studio. You are also teaching internationally, you are a dancer and performer and of course entrepreneur. Let us zoom in on the teaching on an international level. Every month you travel to a special zouk … Read More
Bess we would love to know more about you, your work and of course the Theatre Production you are preparing with the team! We all know you of course, you’ve been a part of DA Studio for a long time, but tell us more about you. Like how did you start dancing? Your interests are into dance but also into … Read More