Kim van der Put
She was one of Introdans' finest, most defining dancers, but after ten years of dancing in Arnhem, Kim van der Put has made the switch to Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. A striking, quite unique switch within Dutch dance, although she herself, she says soberly, considers it "an organic and logical step".
"I had fantastic years at Introdans, I got to do SO many cool things, but I felt the urge to switch for a while. At Introdans you are very much focused on technique and physical aesthetics, and I always demanded a lot from myself in that respect. After ten years, I was ready for a freer movement language, for new impulses, for new dancers around me." And that this also means she now lives in a new city, she loves. "I am really exploring: where are the nicest coffee shops, which exhibitions and museums should I see, what are nice places to read a book."
Warm and close-knit nest
Her first performance with Scapino, in September 2022, is an instant hit: for almost three weeks she will be in Ed Wubbes OSCAR in a sold-out Carré. "I don't have a bucket list, but being allowed to perform there felt like a very special 'box ticked'. My father is a pianist, arranger and conductor and was once musical director of the musical Cats at Carré; he took me behind the scenes at the time, so even then I was introduced to the magic of this theatre."
I don't have an outlined, set career plan, I'll see what the future brings.
She comes, she says, from a close-knit and warm nest. Her mother, of Javanese descent, is always there for the family - "which I loved" - and her three older brothers, Rafael, Roel and Richard, are still very important to her. Kim is the only one of the four children who, having now moved to Bodegraven, goes to ballet. Actually without realising it properly, she ended up in the orientation class of the National Ballet Academy shortly afterwards and then - because school and dance studios there are in one building - auditioned at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. "I liked dancing, but never had the dream of becoming a dancer," he says. Laughs: "At the conservatoire, I actually only wanted to be accepted so as not to be rejected."
Curriculum vitae
- Born
- 1991, Zierikzee (The Netherlands)
- Education
- Royal Conservatoire The Hague
- Danced at
Introdans
- With Scapino since
2022
- Scholarships, nominations and awards
Aanmoedigingsprijs Dansersfonds ’79 (2017)
- Kim dances in
Totally going along with a creator's vision, I think that's great.
More fun than ballet
That changed when, to her delight, she discovered that her classmates were "just like me". "I had a fantastic time in The Hague, it was so nice to grow up together, working towards the same goal together. Our friendship still continues, and I'm still in touch with some of the teachers too."
Totally unplanned, she ended up as an intern at Introdans when she was nineteen. "The new school year had just started, and after one day I was asked as an understudy in Arnhem. At the time I was still in doubt myself whether I wanted to go in the contemporary or classical direction, but once at Introdans I discovered that I liked this more than ballet after all." Besides: all the opportunities she got there to dance solos and duets, she suspects, she would never have gotten at a major classical ballet company. "I have had the opportunity to work with so many fantastic choreographers, with greats like Jiří Kylián and Mauro Bigonzetti. Being totally immersed in a creator's vision, completely immersing yourself in their world for a few weeks, I've always loved that."
'On a break for a day'
As a dancer, she wants to be as pure and natural as possible. "I don't like the manufactured, hiding behind facades. Also as a person, I try to be as honest and sincere as possible, to others, but also to myself. I strive to do things only because I want to, not because others think I should do something. Offstage, I am quite introverted, and in that I also want to be honest with myself. I love doing everything and experiencing everything, and I have really had to learn to say: "I'm on a break for a day!".
Photography: Khalid Amakran | Interview: Astrid van Leeuwen