Understanding the Art of Dance with Ree Esterhuizen

“An artist is a person with a personal vision towards his work, who is dedicated, engaged, a digger, and a challenger” – Ree Esterhuizen

Ree Esterhuizen is a dancer, a teacher, an artist with a soul that defies any boundations of any kind. He believes dance to be a medium of expression, a way to escape into an alternate universe, where your body dances in tandem with your soul. When you dance, you don’t think, you feel, your body, the atmosphere, you are aware of each and every muscle in motion and you forget, who you are, where you came from, you forget your own name in a celebration of senses.

We caught up with him as he is in the middle of choreographing a piece with his 2nd year students for their end performance at the NWE Vorst in Tilburg, the Netherlands.

Through the wall by Ton Simons

JOURNEY

As a young child I was somehow always connected to music, fascinated by rhythms, melodies and the kind of music nobody listened to.

Classical music had my attention already at a young age, I bought my own records at the age of 8. I started to dance on the music, very privately in my own room where nobody could disturb me, making my own movements. Later even together with my sisters or nieces, we started to make little choreographies in our rooms.

When I was 12 years old, my family lived in a very small village in the Netherlands, and there was a local amateur ballet school, of course only with girls. A friend of my mother decided to have look with me to watch a jazz class, after seeing that I was completely fascinated by the teacher and the movements she showed to her pupils.

I started taking jazz classes and fell in love with the jazz classes of my teacher, Lia Sorber. She was a very inspiring person and was very up to date with what was happening when it comes to jazz dancing.

My teacher wanted me to take ballet classes, but at that time I did not have any focus for the ballet training, so to convince me and even others she decided to give some modern classes, that was danced on contemporary classical music and that had my attention immediately.

Beroemde Kinderen by Kathy Gosschalk

At that time, I was 15 years old. After that I decided to take some ballet classes, I never found a connection with it at that time, because the technical aspect was too difficult for me. But from the moment when I decided to do audition for the dance academies, I knew something in my focus had to change.

So this woman, Lia Sorber, was such an inspiration for me, she started it all. She started an amateur dance group and I was one of the first dancers. It was not pure ballet, sometimes we did very experimental things at that time. For me it was all new, and being in a studio creating and being a part of a creative process was fascinating. I was very dedicated to this company, many different doors opened up for me, and my love for dance became bigger. In the company, I also started to understanding and choreographing dance pieces at the age of 17, I didn’t had any skills but trying things out with people was enough for me to create pieces.

DREAM

I had too many dreams. I was told I had golden hands. I was a very creative person and loved to draw and paint, ceramics, making clothes and I was into fashion a lot. There was an artist in me from the very beginning, but I had to make a choice and I knew from the moment if I made that decision to dance I had to be very devoted.

Dance was my life and all the other passions had to go somehow. I did not have the time to do other things anymore.

Grace by Ton Simons

I decided to do auditions for various dance academies and got accepted at the Rotterdam Dance Academy (Codarts). The first year was a very exciting year, you start to get in contact with people who share the same passion for dance. I got in contact with different styles of contemporary dance, and of course every morning, a ballet training.

I noticed that I was somehow behind with all the knowledge of the ballet techniques that my classmates already had, so I had to do some catching up. Doing a lot of stretches and exercises for myself. Practicing all the dance material we got everyday. It was hard and sometimes very difficult.

All the fun I had with dance was taken over with all the techniques that I never got and had to deal with the difficulties of coordination, musicality and the different styles. I never heard of the Cunningham, Limon or Grahamstyle, and now I was thrown into the deep of all these interesting but difficult styles. Within a year I got into the rhythm of the everyday training, including Saturdays and my passion only increased.

After the academy I got accepted at the Rotterdamse Dansgroup, where I danced professionally for 13 years.

At the moment I teach and choreograph at Fontys University of Fine Arts- Dance Academy. Last year, I was teaching in Bombay at Danceworx India for two years and in the past, a couple of times in New Delhi. Before that, I was teaching and choreographing for 2 years in Vietnam at HBSO in Ho Chi Minh.

WHAT IS DANCE

Dance art is a way to communicate, to express yourself, be in contact with your body, with movement, with music and that chemistry is a continuous bliss.

With dancing I could and still can forget my personal problems, and hide in the motion or in the emotions where I want to be at that moment.

Storm, Demonen, Rauw en distels made by Ree Esterhuizen

EXPERIENCE AS DANCE TEACHER

As a teacher I don’t really have a style. I started teaching because I was asked if I could replace someone for a while at Codarts dance academy in Rotterdam. I had never taught before, but I had so many different inspiring teachers that it was not really an issue for me to create a class.

I decide not to use contemporary pop music, what you now hear and see everywhere. For me…, its not true to what I find artistic or connected with dance as an art-form.

And so the next exploration began. I have created my own beliefs on how to teach, inspired by the Limon techniques connected or combined with what I see in the work field, or love to do myself as a dancer.

And of course, inspiring music that really connects with the exercises/combinations. I decide not to use contemporary pop music, what you now hear and see everywhere. For me with all due respect, its not true to what I find artistic or connected with dance as an art-form.

I don’t want to make my classes contemporary/commercial.

It is academical combined with a personal interpretation of movements with an expressive touch.

Teaching at Fontys DanceAcademy

Connected with the right music you create the right chemistry. I find my music, and music finds me.

CREATIVE PROCESS

At Fontys Dance Academy Tilburg, where I am teaching and choreographing now for 13 years, I can do whatever I want. You need to be free to choreograph, of course you can be inspired by what you see, but you still bake your own cake!

Choreographing is a passion, I make or create my own music with strange or crazy sounds I look for on the internet, and create a musical construction for the choreography.

The people/students I work with inspire me, and I create with threads that are connecting with life, images, topics that are happening in the world. I like to create characters on stage which leads into expressive dance, or a dance choreography. Some of the choreographers I have worked with are Jacopo Godani, Merce Cunningham, Ton Simons, Shusaku, Kathy Gosschalk, Terre O’Connor, Mark Haim, Anouk van Dijk and many more… These are people who I have worked with, who made me who I am now as an artist!

Storm, Demonen, Rauw en distels made by Ree Esterhuizen

And I like to try out different things, give myself with every creation a challenge, things that I haven’t done yet, but I would like to try things out. So every year, I try to create a complete different piece.

At the moment, I have started making a new piece. I have been busy making the music for the piece for weeks now, and initially wasn’t really satisfied. I create the music, then I leave it for a couple of days, I listen to it again, and fine tune things. And that process takes a long time. Till the moment I am satisfied. Music is an important layer for the choreography. It gives atmosphere, rhythm, different dynamics and create a blueprint for the piece.

My piece is called “Tease me baby”! It’s an expressive piece with different characters… And its about connecting with others and how we seduce each other in life…in our own personal way…. This idea came to me during the process of making because the dancers are my inspiration.

An artist is a person with a personal vision towards his work, who is dedicated, engaged, a digger, and a challenger.