Nicola Balhuizen Hepp
Teacher Improvisation, Composition, Choreography
Born in Malmö, Sweden, I practically grew up in my father's dance studio. I started as a little girl with classical ballet and it did not take long before I knew that I wanted to continue dancing and was recruited at the Swedish Ballet School in Malmö. Here, as a child, I have built up a lot of experience with on stage and dancing in large ballets, operas and musicals such as Coppelia, De Nutcracker (where I danced Clara), Falstaff and The King and I. When I was sixteen I was accepted on the Swiss Ballet School in Zurich where I then moved alone, behind my dream to become a dancer. Here I first came into contact with modern dance. I knew the same - this is it! Later I chose Amsterdam and the Modern Theater Dance, because the Netherlands was where you had to be if you wanted to do modern dance.
I have already given workshops and lessons during my training executive dancer, in Sweden and in the Netherlands. I also made a lot of solos and smaller pieces for myself and my fellow students. After my education I danced for Johan Greben, Wies Merkx, Carolien Hermans and Ailed Izurieta.
Soon I was asked to give modern dance lessons at the National Ballet Academy and the Extracurricular Pre-training (now 5 o'clock) in Amsterdam. Here I discovered how much fun I experienced in teaching children and young people dance. I enjoy letting students discover how liberating it can be to move from your feelings and dare to go beyond your own limits. From that moment on, my attention moved very quickly from dancing to teaching and setting up projects. I followed a master in choreography and new media from 2004-2006 in Amsterdam where I focused on dance and video. In recent years I have taught and / or made choreographies for Fontys Dance Academy Tilburg, Ballet Studio Marieke van der Heijden, New Dance Studios, CREA Amsterdam, School for Talent Amersfoort, National Ballet Academy, Dance Education and Training Jazz / Musical, now Urban Contemporary at the Amsterdam School of the Arts.
With great pleasure I started teaching at Danshuis Haarlem this season. At the moment they are Improvisation and Composition classes for Pre-VO, VO1 and VO2, together with Sarai Maëla as a trainee.
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