I started dancing when I was about 9 years old. But even before I had ever set foot in a dance school I wanted to be a ballet teacher. So when I finally started dancing there was no stopping me. Soon one ballet class a week turned into multiple classes with point shoes, caractere, contemporary, tap and flamenco. After a successful audition for the Highschool of Music and Dance of Codarts in Rotterdam I started my professional training.
After more successful auditions throughout the country I chose to study at the Dance Teacher department of the Theaterschool in Amsterdam. This program gave a lot of space for choreography and this gave me an opportunity to express my creativity to the fullest. And even though flamenco was not part of the program I could not stay away from it. After a short period of intensive private lessons in Seville with Carmen Segura Rodriguez I was hooked. I had to go back, and so I did. I went back for five weeks of intensive classes at the Museo del Baile Flamenco de Christina Hoyos where Juan Paredes made me even more excited about flamenco. I have also participated in the Curso Intensivo de Verano of the Fundacion Christina Heeren in Seville (summer ’07).
My other big passion is contemporary dance. Since the summer of 2008 I am a regular guest teacher for the Centre de Danse du Marais in Paris. For my other contemporary classes check the NEWS page. I also believe that you should always keep learning and because of that I moved to New York City (United States) in 2010 to study Cunningham Technique. I was privileged to study in the International Training Program of the Merce Cunningham Studio with the help of a Foreign Fulbright Award and en grant from the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. A lot of what I have learned here I use in my contemporary classes.
After returning from New York City I started with a pre-master course in Public Administration at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. I received my Master of Science title in Public Management after completing my internship at the Arts Department of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture in the Netherlands. Here I was involved in projects centering around new forms of financing in the arts. I wrote my thesis on leadership in the changing cultural landscape in the Netherlands. Since graduating from the Erasmus University I have helped several cultural organizations with the business side of things. I have worked for Theatergroup Poolse Vis, Art Generation, ZID Theater and Holland Dance Festival, where I still work today.
Even though all these organizations have challenged me in different ways, dance is always an integral part of my life. So in the spring of 2016 I was part of Pictures of Things by Amos Ben-Tal that was performed at Korzo Theater. In the summer of 2016 and 2017 I was teaching in Paris again and after that I worked for Attakkalari Center for Movement Arts in Bangalore (India). In 2017 I also got to be part of the Monday Movement Intensive showing choreographed by Heather Ware (Leine & Roebana) in collaboration with Korzo Theater.
My current home base is Paris (France) where I teach classes at the Paris Marais Dance School, BeTogether Academie/Carreau du Temple and Kâyastha Yoga on a regular basis and where I have based Omaro Productions together with my wife Carolina Kzan for which I’m a choreographer and producer.
