Our story

ICK arose from a clash. In 1995, Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten met in a dance studio in Amsterdam. There were great differences between the Italian and the Dutchman, the dancer and the director, the Protestant and the Communist. Differences of opinion too, about what dance is and could be.

But there was also a strongly felt common goal. Both experienced a gap in the dance landscape of the time. Besides the virtuoso body on the one hand and the conceptual body on the other, they missed the intuitive body. The body that is in motion and naturally capable of generating ambiguous meanings from within. Greco and Scholten felt the need to develop a new dance vocabulary in which there is room for vulnerability and the body's impulses.

In 1996 Greco and Scholten wrote their artistic Manifesto: The 7 Necessities. These propositions are an attempt to put dance into words. In the manifesto they laid the foundation for a dance vocabulary, which goes back to the inner necessities of the dancing body. It comes from a consciousness of time and space, stored in the memory of the body. Until today, the Manifesto, the curiosity for the body and its inner motives have always been the motivation for Greco and Scholten when creating new work, stimulating talent and initiating research. It became the basis for the foundation of ICK.

In 2021, the choreographer duo received the Golden Swan, presented by Minister van Engelshoven, in recognition of their great contribution to Dutch dance.

Since its foundation in 2009, ICK has been constantly changing, sailing with the course of the times we live in. And sometimes against the current. With a research and education department, the International Choreographic Arts Centre (ICK) is more than just a contemporary dance company. Greco and Scholten also present more than just their own work: new and established makers are also ICK.

In 25 years, they have won the trust of funds and subsidizers, with new plans starting in 2021 that include a new role as a production house for dance and the new location Space for Dance Art in the iconic Westbeat building.

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Alwin Poiana
© Alwin Poiana
© Alwin Poiana
© Alwin Poiana
© Alwin Poiana
© Alwin Poiana
© Alwin Poiana
© Alwin Poiana

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