Clearence
Koorndijk: KIC Choreographer:
Clearence is a streetdancer, choreographer and trainer.
His first introduction to theatre and dance was as a teenager
in a 1992 production in Amsterdam directed by David Greaves
and choreographed by Nita Liem. Clearence worked for several
years as a performer with David and Nita in the Nultwintig
Youth Theatre Company and, with their support and with
friends from Nultwintig, he formed a dance group in Amsterdam
called The Force.
Clearence now combines his freelance work as a professional
dancer and choreographer for the R&B group Ebony with
dance training and choreographic assignments for David
Greaves and Nita Liem. Clearences work with young people
uses influences that include club dance from South Africa
and New York which, combined with his own black dance
cultural references, forms a unique modern dance approach.
Clearence has been working as a dance trainer and choreographer
with KIC since Autumn 2001 and says of this work: Ôø‡Ôø‡Ôø‡As
a trainer As a trainer and choreographer I need to know the young people
I work with over a period of time before the work we create
together becomes truly individual. I am also inspired
by the KIC peer leaders and how much they give of themselves
every time I work with them. They open up a lot to me
and I in turn build a lot of trust with them. This openness
and trust between the choreographer and the performers
is necessary for us to begin making art together.
KIC is one of three major projects for Clearence in 2003/4,
the others being Nita Liem's Don't Hit Mamma and a newly-formed
group for Kunstweb, both based in Amsterdam. Clearence
is Joint Artistic Leader with Glen Faria in Kunstweb,
and has been working as a dancer in the latest Don't Hit
Mamma project, in particular in Johannesburg with Moeketsi
Koena, winner of the South Africa choreographer of the
year award 2001, and other South African partners. Of
his work in South Africa, Clearence says, "It gives me
insights into other dance styles which both complement
and enrich my dancing and choreography, both back in Amsterdam
and with KIC in Belfast. KIC provides me with an ideal
canvass to bring all my experiences together on one floor."
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