Lucas Donner
Ballet lessons? Even though dance dominated his life, Lucas Donner couldn't think of it. Too much 'tightness'. "By which," he says, laughing, "I don't mean that I wasn't flexible enough. It was the ballet regime that was far too strict in my eyes."
He owes it purely to Fabienne Lambert, his teacher at New Espace Danse in Namur, Belgium, that he still appeared in ballet class at 13. "I took plenty of classes in hip-hop, jazz and modern, among others, but it was Fabienne who kept pushing me, kept insisting that ballet is the basis of the art of dance." It has, he says, made him the dancer he is today. "I really am a 'mover', and my versatility is also a major strength, but it is mainly that strong technical basis that makes me stand out within the contemporary dance field."
Video by Iris Hendriks // Special thanks to Van Nelle Fabriek Rotterdam
Not dancing was not an option
Like his equally energetic brother and two sisters, Lucas was in gymnastics and swimming lessons as a child. "My brother and I were even pretty fanatical swimmers," he says. But since Lucas was also always dancing at home, his mother asked, "Wouldn't you like to take dance lessons too?" He started at the local ballet school, in Andenne, where he grew up, but after a few years he gave up. "I was the only boy and regularly got remarks at school about the fact that I danced," he says. Only he kept up with not dancing for a short time. "I missed it too much." So he ended up at the school in Namur when he was ten and, seven years later, at Codarts in Rotterdam. "It felt like a huge privilege to be accepted there; not many people are granted that. I had the time of my life at Codarts: learned SO much, met SO many young dancers from all over the world."
I'd rather dance a duet than a solo
Suddenly there you are
That he then ended up at Arnhem-based Introdans was no coincidence. "I knew a Belgian boy who had danced there and his stories made me realise: I want that too." Lucas' first role with the group, as a substitute in Jiří Kylián's Dreamtime, was an instant highlight: "Suddenly you're there in such a masterpiece. I still had a lot to prove, but at the same time I could immediately show who I am." Other highlights were Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's Loin and Akram Khan's Kaash. "With Kaash, in which I had a solo, we were also at the Dance Open Festival in St Petersburg in 2021. I already knew then that, after six years, I was ready for a new step. That made it extra special to perform there with some of my closest friends."
Curriculum Vitae
Born
1995, Anderlecht, Belgium
Education
- New Espace Danse, Namen, België
- Codarts Rotterdam
Previously danced with
Introdans
With Scapino since
2022
Scholarships, nominations and awards
Scholarship for the Summer Festival Intern Program - Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts - 2016
At Introdans I created my first official choreography. I hope to create my own pieces more often. Actually it's a matter of 'just doing it', not letting yourself be led by the biggest enemy of creativity: a lack of self-confidence.
New phase
Scapino Ballet Rotterdam had been on his mind for some time, and although Lucas was initially looking at a next step internationally as well, the time was right to return to Rotterdam. "I really wanted to work with Ed Wubbe," he says. And his debut in his OSCAR at Theater Carré was, he says, the perfect start. "We regularly stayed in an Amsterdam hotel; the way to get to know new colleagues."
Meanwhile, he particularly looks forward to being part of Wubbe's new creations. At the same time, he also finds it extremely exciting that, with Wubbe's departure as artistic director in 2024, a new phase is approaching. "I experience it as an enormous challenge to be able to witness such a process of change up close," he says.
Connection
He is, he says, "really a 'people person'". "I would rather dance a duet than a solo. I want to be a good dance partner, love to create an intimate relationship together. To achieve such an intimate interplay that a performance looks effortless to the audience."
Outside of dance, too, his main focus is on connection. "I see it as a great thing that I have the openness and continuous drive to connect with others wherever and whoever I am with. In doing so, I always try to pass on what I have been given as a human being. Although I can also go overboard in this, soaking up too much of other people's energy like a sponge. I now also try to be 'happy' more often on my own, by myself, but that is still a work in progress."
Photography: Khalid Amakran | Interview: Astrid van Leeuwen
This season featuring in
Danced in a.o.
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Song of the dark forest
A moving, compelling and comforting performance, performed by the complete group of dancers of Scapino, an opera singer and live music by the DoelenEnsemble. -
Two Tales
Young emerging dance makers tell poignant stories with solid roots in the lore and customs of their native land. -
Casablanca
Casablanca is a visual performance about passion, freedom and desire for a better world. -
Oscar
Carré en Scapino Ballet presenteren: Oscar, een hommage aan Oscar Carré met dans, theater, circus én live muziek van Blaudzun. Exclusief te zien in Carré.