Wies Bloemen and Ed Wubbe receive the Nederlandse Dansdagen Dansspeld

Choreographers Wies Bloemen and Ed Wubbe will be awarded the Dansspeld at the Nederlandse Dansdagen 2024 for their impressive contributions to the Dutch dance sector. This year, both icons of Dutch dance bid farewell to the dance companies they led for more than three decades. Choreographer Wies Bloemen handed over the baton at Danstheater AYA to Ryan Djojokarso last March and colleague Ed Wubbe is quitting Scapino Ballet Rotterdam at the end of this year. He will be succeeded by Nanine Linning. 

The Dansspeld

Within the DansMuseum, the Nederlandse Dansdagen puts the heritage of Dutch dance centre stage in order to present a more balanced picture of the history of dance in the Netherlands, preserve its rich heritage and thereby contribute to the development of Dutch dance. The Dansspeld originates from the DansMuseum and is a token of merit. It is an award for persons who have transferred knowledge, wisdom and experience within the Dutch dance field for decades. A symbol of continuity and cultural memory, pinned on at a current moment and thus anchored for future generations. Ronald Wintjens director Nederlandse Dansdagen: ‘With this, we celebrate and honour the valuable significance a person has within the Dutch dance heritage.’'

The Dansspeld has already been pinned to: 
Toer van Schayk | October 2021  
Ton Wiggers | June 2022 
Nita Liem | September 2023

Wies Bloemen

Wies Bloemen is praised for her lasting impact on dance for youth and young adult audiences in the Netherlands. By now, the genre has become indispensable, but in the 1990s it had yet to be developed. Here, Bloemen was far ahead of her time and, through the decades-long transfer of knowledge and experience, laid an important foundation for the development of dance for young audiences as a genre in its own right. 
Wies Bloemen's work grabs you and won't let go, unleashing euphoria or deep silence in the theater. She brings uncomfortable, confrontational stories to the surface and prompts reflection on love, sex, fear and vulnerability. With her multidisciplinary work, merging dance, text, song and visuals, she breaks through traditional aesthetics and hits straight to the heart. 
Bloemen created more than 60 youth dance performances, reaching, inspiring and moving tens of thousands of young people and adults each year, both in the Netherlands and internationally. Her company AYA has received structural funding since 2001 and has been part of the Basic Infrastructure (BIS) since 2021. Besides her artistic work, Bloemen has always worked for the recognition of youth dance in the Netherlands.  She played a pioneering role in the cooperation between youth dance companies and for years advocated for a separate award for youth dance. This resulted in the presentation of the first VSCD Jonge Zwanen in 2021. 
Wies Bloemen's passion and fighting spirit have left an indelible mark on Dutch youth dance. By pinning on the Dance Pin as a token of merit during the Nederlandse Dansdagen, her impressive contribution to dance will be honoured. 

Wies Bloemen will receive the Dansspeld on Sunday 6 October, at her farewell performance Hoop! 

Ed Wubbe

After more than thirty years, Ed Wubbe is stepping down as artistic director of Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, the oldest dance company in the Netherlands. Under his leadership, the company grew into a leading institute in the Dutch dance world. His impressive artistic achievements, support for young talent, and groundbreaking choreographies will be recognised with the Dansspeld during the Nederlandse Dansdagen 2024. 
Wubbe leaves a lasting legacy as a mentor and source of inspiration for many dancers and choreographers. His courage to experiment and give space to young choreographers has made Scapino a breeding ground for creativity. Under his leadership, the company attracted tens of thousands of visitors every year. Wubbe always had the audience in mind when creating his work, resulting in performances that were both accessible and challenging. His involvement in television programmes as a judge (So You Think You Can Dance, Project Dance 2024) also made modern dance accessible to an even wider audience and brought the genre to living rooms across the country. 
Looking back on his career at Scapino, it is clear that Ed Wubbe was a bridge-builder, who, like no other, managed to reach a wide audience for modern dance time and again, and thus had a lasting influence on the support base for Dutch dance. 

Ed Wubbe will receive the Dance Pin on Saturday 5 October, during Meesterwerken. 

Read and listen along 

In the ND podcast, Volkskrant journalist Annette Embrechts talks to Bloemen and Wubbe about their careers, vision for dance and key works from their oeuvre.  
You can listen to the podcast here. 

Also read the interview with Bloemen and Wubbe for the Nederlandse Dansdagen' Danskrant here, in which they look back on the three key works from their oeuvre.

The Nederlandse Dansdagen will take place from Friday 4 to Thursday 10 October 2024. For the whole programme, visit nederlandsedansdagen.nl.