Artistic Director / Choreographer

Ed Wubbe

Ed Wubbe’s latest full-length dance and music production ‘Pearl’ (2012), inspired by the baroque period and live accompanied by the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, was sold out during the entire tour and became, thus becoming one of the most successfull dance pieces in the Dutch theatres this year.

Ed Wubbe has won acclaim for an art of dance that is a virtuoso combination of classical technique and the bold freedom of contemporary dance. His expressive choreographies fuse theatrical finesse with feeling and his versatility and productivity are unequalled. For more than a decade, Wubbe has ranked among Europe’s finest choreographers.

New image
Artistic director Ed Wubbe is one of the most versatile Dutch choreographers whose work is seen by a large audience in the Netherlands. His immediate hit ‘Rameau’, his first production as resident choreographer in 1990, broke with the conventional ballet aesthetic and laid the foundation of the new image of Scapino. After Wubbe’s appointment as artistic director in 1992, the company began to build up an entirely new repertoire under his guidance. In 1992 Wubbe’s ‘Kathleen’ was an unprecedented dance sensation, and by the time his full-length ‘Perfect Skin’ was presented in 1993, there was a new Scapino on the map.

Strengths
One of Scapino’s strengths is Wubbe’s full-length dance and music productions. Wubbe often draws his inspiration from icons of Western culture  ‘Romeo&Julia’ (1995), ‘Nico’ (1997), ‘The Schliemann Pieces’ (1998), ‘Tsjaikovski ‘(2002), ‘Orfeo Shows/operation Orfeo’ (2003), Paramount’ (2005), Songs for Drella (2011, in collaboration with Marco Goecke), ‘Pearl’ (2012) – and sets his abstract dance within an associative narrative or theme. In many of Wubbe’s choreographies the tension is produced by working with opposites, resulting in an intriguing multiplicity of layers. Music, dance, décor and drama combine in his dramatic productions to form a new, contemporary whole.

Collaboration
Wubbe collaborates with other artistic disciplines: designers, composers, architects, DJs and VJs. An extraordinary example is MANYFACTS (2001), in collaboration with the MVRDV firm of architects and Wieland & Gouwens computer graphics designers, which offered a vision of the city of the future. MANYFACTS was created within the framework of Rotterdam 2001, European Cultural Capital.

In 1999 Wubbe thought up a new dance concept and set a new trend with the annual performance of TWOOLS, a 75-minute non-stop dance spectacle. Various choreographers from the company and elsewhere create short choreographies that succeed one another with rapid changes of décor and are linked together by Ed Wubbe.

From 2004 on Ed Wubbe is artistic director of the Internationaler Wettbewerb Für Choreographen Hannover. In 2006 he provides the Scapino Production Price. Winnars of the Scapino Production Price get the opportunity to make a 10 minutes piece at Scapino for the TWOOLS-sery.

Film projects
EMBRACING TIME (2005) (directed by Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen, a new dance film inspired by Mahler’s ‘Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen’ LOST (2001) (directed by Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen), "ENCLOSED (2000) (directed by Marijke Jongbloed) SINGLE MANOEUVRES (1999) (directed by Jellie Dekker).

Ed Wubbe has created the following contemporary dance works for Scapino:
Romeo&Julia (2012)
PEARL (2012)
Kathleen (2011)
Beeswing (2011)
Songs for Drella (2011)
Scherza Infida (2010)
HOLLAND (2009)
Brief (2009)
Both my hands (2008)
Leading Edge (2008)
Quartet (Oct. 2007)
De Bruiden (The Brides) Feb. 2007
The Yellow Green (2006)
The Green (2006)
LIMBO - Was hast du gesagt? (2005)
Nicht Zutreffendes Streichen (2005)
PARAMOUNT (2005)
Sister Fury (2004)
ORFEO SHOWS/Operation Orfeo (2003 / evening lenght
Tsjaikovski, P.I. part 1& 2 (2002 / evening lenght)
Out of China (2002)
Manyfacts (2001)
Plot (2001)
Rosary (2000)
Single Manoeuvres (1999)
The Schliemann Pieces (1998 / evening lenght)
Nico (1997 / evening lenght)
Le Sacre du Printemps (1996)
Romeo&Julia (1995 / evening lenght)
Edges (1994)
Kathleen (1994 / evening length)
Kathleen (1992)
Perfect Skin (1993 / evening lenght)
Perfect Skin (1991)
Parts (1991)
Rameau (1990)
Nisi Dominus (1989)
Blue Tattoo (1988)
Bagatellen (1987)

TWOOLS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9, 10, 11:
Olé
Focus
B.A.M.
Slow Swing before Bedtime
Halbstarb
There's nothing funny about Herrman
Wilsonian
Non Sequitur
allerzielen ( 1 ), ( 2 ), ( 3 )
Voice / over
dissectie/ reflectie
Paramount 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 (4)
What did the Romans do for us? (3)
010 (2)
Beyond Believe (2 en o.t.r)
Say Cheese to the mob (o.t.r)
rode draad (1)
Sophia's Delight (1)

www.edwubbe.com