The appointment of Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten as artistic directors (2014-2018) of Ballet National de Marseille formed the starting point for a tight collaboration between the two organisations. BNM is a leading international dance company consisting of 30 dancers that is characterized by a style that crosses traditional boundaries between ballet and contemporary dance smoothly and without bias. As well as being a dance company, BNM, as 'Centre Chorégraphique National', is a choreographic arts centre like ICK, aiming to promote the development of dance. The choreographers work both in Amsterdam and in Marseille on local and international collaboration.
Amsterdam and Marseille are comparable multi-cultural seaports with populations of around 800 000. They face similar contemporary issues that induce the two companies to comparable missions and ambitions: to bring high artistic quality to a broad multi-cultural audience by offering a varied and layered product. In this respect, both institutions profit by each other's expertise and networks. The exchange of knowledge and experience, the synergy that comes with it, strengthens both organisations and their artistic development. ICK and BNM work together in the field of talent development, education, profiling and marketing. ICK opens doors in France to Dutch choreographers and brings French choreographers to the Netherlands. Moreover, the network of BNM is put at the disposal of choreographers linked to ICK and exchanges can occur in the form of workshops or lectures.
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