David Middendorp
Biography & Curriculum vitae
David Middendorp started as a dancer at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague at the age of sixteen. He soon felt more drawn towards modern dance and therefore decided to join Codarts in Rotterdam. Here, he won the Dansersfonds scholarship of ’79, which enabled him to study at The Julliard School in New York for a short period of time. Middendorp started his professional dance career at the company Introdans, where he performed in works by choreographers such as Nils Christe, Ton Wiggers and Conny Janssen, amongst others.
Middendorp continued his dancing career with the Saarländische Staatstheater and the Ballet Theater München. Here, he created his first choreographies Bread-peace (2002) and Dreamsketch (2003) under the direction of Philip Taylor. This latter piece became part of the Ballet Theater München’s repertoire in 2005. In 2004 Middendorp returned to The Hague where he created several pieces for Korzo productions, all known for Middendorp’s ingenious combination of dance and technology.
In 2007 he founded dance company Another Kind of Blue (AKOB), initially under the name Area 51 and in the following years choreographed for Korzo and Introdans. His works have been performed at festivals such as Lowlands (2009 and 2011), Oerol (2013 and 2014) and the Parade (2014). In addition to AKOB's regular program, in the following years the company also performed for international organizations such as Mastercard, IBM, the royal family of Abu Dhabi and others. And also at events such as the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, Context, Moscow (2013), the VII Gala International de Ballet de Buenos Aires (2016), Youth America Grand Prix Gala (New York), Kuopio Dance Festival, Holland Dance Festival and Festival de Nederlandse Dansdagen.
Great fame followed when Middendorp was asked to perform on the TV show America's Got Talent in 2014, where he reached the finals. This was followed by Middendorp's company AKOB's first full-length show Blue Technology. Two years later Middendorp appeared in another talent show, this time Britain's Got Talent, where he reached the semi-finals.
In the Netherlands, AKOB created the new choreography Painting (2017) for Introdans, followed by the full-length program Flirt With Reality, which premiered at the Zuiderstrandtheater in The Hague in October 2018. That same year, AKOB took Flirt With Reality to London, where they performed in Sadler's Wells. A year later, Middendorp was allowed to perform at an event organized by fashion brand Hermès in Paris with his piece Flyland in a Room.
Just before the corona pandemic broke out in 2020, AKOB created the new piece World Leaders in co-production with Introdans for the show GEK GEZICHT, a full-length production that also featured Middendorp's earlier pieces Face Machine and Blue Journey. And then in October 2020, Middendorp introduced AKOB's stunning virtual reality choreography HandsON in coproduction with Festival de Nederlandse Dansdagen Digitaal. In the following year, 2021, AKOB performed with the new piece The Great Escape for the royal family on Koningsdag in Eindhoven, and a few months later it was at the World Expo in Dubai with Airman. Also in the same year, the new full-length performance WAVE premiered.
Timeline
2022
- “Airman”, Int. Congress 60th anniversary ARAG, The Netherlands
- “Airman”, Innovation Quarters, Amsterdam
- “Airman”, KI Biënnale, Essen
- Continuation of “WAVE” tour, The Netherlands
2021
- Tour “WAVE”, The Netherlands
- “Airman”, World Expo Dubai
- “Airman”, Studium Generale, TU Eindhoven, The Netherlands
- Premiere “The Great Escape”, for the Dutch abroad
- Premiere “Whether a Wall”, Koningsdag (Kingsday), Eindhoven, The Netherlands in cooperation with Chagall and Sioux Technologies
- “HandsON” launched as VR-game for Steam Store
2020
- “HandsON”, Korzo, The Hague, The Netherlands
- Premier “World Leaders”
(Co-production with Introdans) - “Face Machine”, “Blue Journey”, in co-production with Introdans
- “HandsON” in co-production with Dutch Dance Festival Digital, The Netherlands
2019
- “Airman 1”, The Hague, event for Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Netherlands
- “Flyland in a Room”, Beirut, Lebanon (guest appearance Arab’s Got Talent)
- Presentation “Airman”, Bilbao, Spain (Technart Conference)
- “Flyland in a Room”, Paris, France (Hermes)
- ‘’Airman 1’’, Nederlandse Dansdagen, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2018
- “Flyland in a Room”, Abu Dhabi, UAE (Sustainability Week)
- “Flyland in a Room”, The Hague, The Netherlands
(Openinggala bij Holland Dance Festival) - Tour “Flirt with Reality”, The Netherlands
2017
- Premiere “Painting”, Introdans
- “Flyland 2”, at Dutch Dance Festival, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- “Think Bold” for IBM in Cannes, France
- “Flyland 2”, in Venice, Italy
2016
- Britain’s Got Talent (halve finale)
- International Ballet Gala, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Gastoptreden America’s Got Talent (met Andra Day)
- Gastoptreden “Wilkommen bei Carmen Nebel”
- Reprise “Blue Technology”, The Netherlands
- "Flyland in a Room’’, Dutch Dance Festival Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Corporate events
2015
- “Blue Journey”, Singapore, American Express
- Premiere “A dark flirt with grafity”, Delft Moves, The Netherlands
- Lezing Dance and Technology bij “TOP, Delft”
- Tour “Blue Technology”, The Netherlands
- America’s Got Talent theatertour
- Gastoptreden NBC, Arab’s Got Talent
- International Festival of Technology
- A Day of Wonder
- Free to Move festival
2014
- Premiere “Flyland”, Oerol 2014, The Netherlands
- Premiere “Newtons Duet, the test”, Parade 2014, The Netherlands
- Top 12 America’s Got Talent
- “Blue Journey”, Grand prix in Monaco
- Top 12 in America’s Got Talent
- “Flyland”, Oerol, The Netherlands
- Festival de Parade, The Netherlands
- Bergamo
2013
- Premiere “3 Rooms”, Cadance Festival
- “3 Rooms” tour, The Netherlands
(in Dansclick tour) - “Flyland preview” Première, Oerol, The Netherlands
- Context Moscow Diana
- Visneva
- Minitour door Duitsland (Dance Company Schweinfurt)
- Dansclick
- Leverkusen
2012
- “Mixed bill”, Leverkusen and Schweinfurt
- ”Bread-Piece”, Introdans, The Netherlands
- Decorontwerp en animatie “De Notenkraker” van DeDDDD
- “Black Journey”, TEDx Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- “Black Journey”, openingsact Linda Kippenvelconcert bij Heineken Music
- Kandinsky app
- Dance date
- “Hall”
- Dutch Summer Dance Course (Workshop)
- “Blue Journey” (extended)
- “Mixed bill” Curitiba Brazil (Dance Bienale)
- Vivadance Festival International (Curitiba Brasil)
2011
- “Blue Journey” and “Bread-peace’’, Lowlands 2011, The Netherlands
- Dans- en multimediaworkshop voor Dutch Summer Dance Course
- “15 Minute Universe”, Dansclick
- “K.O”, Percossa (animatie- en decorontwerp)
2010
- 15 Minute Universe, World Expo – Shanghai
Premiere “Moon Shadow” - Première “Tafelen” geproduceerd door “Theater Bureau Frontaal”
- Video-ontwerp Hard Shoulder, Marije Nie
2009
- Premiere “15 Minute Universe”, Korzo Theater, The Netherlands
- “15 Minute Universe” Lowlands and Broom Festival, The Netherlands
- Premiere “Mr. hands”, Parade 2009, The Netherlands
2008
- Premiere ”Blue Journey”, Introdans, The Netherlands
- Premiere ”Schuilnaamschaduw”, Stella The Hague, The Netherlands
- Première ”After Dark”, Parade Festival 2008
2007
- “Petty Thief” by Ballet Theater Munich
- Premiere “Bass hatch”
- Tour Dream Sketches
- Dream Sketches, Parade Festival, The Netherlands
- Premiere “Murph!”, De Meekers
(set design and animation)
2006
- “Bread-Peace”, Introdans
Première “Kruimeldief”, Korzo Theater, The Netherlands - “As it Fades”, 2days Art Festival, The Netherlands
- “Dreamsketch”, Dansclick tour, The Netherlands
- “Dreamsketch”, Cadance Festival, The Netherlands
- “Petty Thief”, Dance & Child International (DACI) Festival
2005
- “Bread-Peace”, Dance-pro Norway
- “Dreamsketch”, Ballet Theater Munich
2004
- The "Bread-Peace", Korzo Theater The Hague, The Netherlands
- Premiere “As it Fades”, Cadance Festival, The Netherlands
2003
- “Dreamsketch” premiere, workshop, Ballet Theater München
2002
- “Bread-Peace” premiere, workshop Ballet Theater Munich