The mission of Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) is to offer unique experiences and perspectives in dance that engage conversation and promote diversity. NDT is a leading contemporary dance company dedicated to creation, research, and talent development. In its commitment to innovation throughout all aspects of the company, NDT collaborates with international choreographers and artists and connects with audiences and communities in The Hague, the Netherlands, and all over the world.

At the heart of NDT is a commitment to collaboration, curiosity, innovation and community. Like all art, dance creates, provokes and inspires an open space for dialogue towards an inclusive society. We believe every human being deserves to experience the pleasure of art and that today, more than ever, we need channels of expression to help us examine the world.

Read more on NDT's mission and vision

NDT is one of the world’s leading contemporary dance companies. The group is based in The Hague, but performs for an international audience of 150,000 visitors in Europe, America, Asia and Australia. Since its founding in 1959 by Benjamin Harkarvy, Aart Verstegen and Carel Birnie in collaboration with eighteen dancers from the Dutch National Ballet (then known as Nederlands Ballet), NDT has paved its own way in the modern dance field. Choreographers such as Glen Tetley and Hans van Manen have prominently left an avant-garde mark on the artistic face of the company. Their non-conformist, progressive productions put NDT on the national and international map.

Since then, the company has built a rich repertoire, consisting of more than 620 ballets by master choreographers Jiří Kylián and Hans van Manen, Sol León & Paul Lightfoot, Crystal Pite and Marco Goecke, Johan Inger, Medhi Walerski, Ohad Naharin, Alexander Ekman, Gabriela Carrizo, Franck Chartier, Hofesh Shechter, Edward Clug and Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar and many others.

Read more on the choreographers

The first company, NDT 1, consists of 28 phenomenal dancers from all over the world, aged 23 to 40 years old. The dancers are world famous for their theatricality, stunning technique and unparalleled expression. Each season, the first company performs four Dutch programs in addition to numerous large tours through either Asia, the United States, South America or Australia.

In 1978 the company founded NDT 2 under the inspiring leadership of Jiří Kylián. In a three year trajectory, this second company prepares sixteen recently graduated, often classically trained dancers, for the world top. Initially, NDT 2 was considered a talent development program from which the greatest talents could progress to NDT 1. Over the years, and under the former leadership of Arlette van Boven, Gerald Tibbs and Fernando Hernando Magadan, NDT 2 has developed into an independent company with its own repertoire and extensive national and international touring schedule. The collaboration with many (upcoming) choreographers gives dancers the opportunity to quickly assimilate to different dance languages, techniques and working methods.

From their home base in The Hague, both companies work continuously to make a significant contribution to the future of contemporary dance, both in the Netherlands and far beyond. Dance talent, choreographic innovation, experimentation and a high degree of productivity – the company creates an average of 10 new works per season – define NDT since its early beginnings.

Discover all the dancers

“Five minutes of the performance is sufficient to be certain: this company is one of the seven wonders in the world of dance” Le Figaro

“If the world’s dance companies occupied the shelves of a bar, Nederlands Dans Theater would sit comfortably on the top like a fine liquor — smooth, complex, potent.” The New York Times

“The dancers of Nederlands Dans Theater showed just how wonderfully exhilarating contemporary dance can be.” The Daily Telegraph Sydney

“Raw, organic and in your face […].” Trouw

“They are the world’s most magnificent dancers: a retina-shredding spectacle of passion and power” The Sunday Herald

“Unpredictable NDT is memorably modern” LA Times
 

“Every now and then, one encounters a dance show of such visual originality, such technical brilliance and such emotional potency that you feel you are witnessing the reinvention of the art form.” The Telegraph
 

“If you see only one live performance this year… NDT is the one to see.” The New York Times

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“NDT 2 is a distinct phenomenon, and phenomenal” The Independent

“Today, NDT 2 is a company that is barely secondary to the main company. Not only do the dancers - all between 18 and 23 years old - become acquainted with repertoire, but also the risk that NDT 2 takes by inviting new names, makes the group as exciting as it is electrifying.” Theaterkrant
 

“The dancers of NDT 2 in Friday night’s performance at the Joyce look absolutely primed for main-company action. They are pliant, exquisite technicians with superb musicality and sense of dynamics.” The New York Times
 

“A night of superlatives: the youth arm of the famed NDT makes a stunning debut (…) it’s ranks are filled with prodigiously talented dancers” The Straits Times
 

 “The dancers are beautifully articulated, knife-edge virtuosi, with an assurance that belies their youth.” Dancing Times
 

“Every time NDT 2 hits our stages, the usual superlatives fall flat in speechless admiration at 16 dancers, who can handle anything the top-ranking choreographers care to task them with.”
The Herald

As a professional dance company with a rich history and an enormous dedication to a meaningful contribution to the art of dance, it is also very important for NDT to pay attention to the support and cultivation of dance talent.

The Talent Development & Education department organizes a wide range of activities every season in which various target groups get to know NDT in different ways. The Education activities mainly focus on children in primary school. Projects such as Danser in de klas and the recently designed dance apps are good examples of this. However, the talent development projects are aimed at developing dance talent at both amateur and professional levels. Examples include the Young Talent Project (YTP) and the NDT Summer Intensive.

Educational and talent activities