Rotterdam-based Conny Janssen Danst has been one of the leading companies for modern dance in the Netherlands since 1992. Artistic leader Conny Janssen is widely known for the physical and theatrical power of her dancers and the surprising variety of her productions. The theme of the big city is an important source of inspiration in her work.

Conny’s Rotterdam-style of entrepreneurship, which infiltrates every fibre of the city, as well as her tireless motivation to keep creating her surprisingly diverse and high-quality work, matches the Kunsthal’s own DNA. And … Conny Janssen Danst is exactly the same age as the Kunsthal! Therefore, its 25th anniversary is reason for an inspiring, 'extra-large' cross-fertilization between the Kunsthal building, the art, the dancers and the public.

Inspired by the performance ‘Inside Out’, Conny Janssen and her regular designer Thomas Rupert are working on a video installation. The public will stand eye to eye with life-sized projected images of dancers – made by film director and dancer Davide Bellotta – that fill the space of an intimate black box. Based on the rhythm of the montage, music is being composed specially for this installation by the Rotterdam musicians iET and Budy Mokoginta, who previously also made the music for ‘Inside Out’.

To choreograph the video installation offers Conny Janssen a new freedom: ‘The installation has a strength, a dynamism and a dramaturgy of its own and gives us the space to be able to explore how close dancers and public can get. This installation gives you the feeling of being there in the choreography among the dancers. You can get so close to the skin of the dancers that you can see every detail.’

In another area of the large gallery the core of the creative process will be almost literally laid bare. The public can experience the décor of the production ‘HOME’ from the inside and at various moments witness live rehearsals and the interaction between young choreographers and the dancers. Davide Bellotta (Conny Janssen Danst), Antonin Comestaz (Korzo) and Lana Čoporda (Dansateliers) are working in the Kunsthal on choreographies for the fifth edition of Danslokaal, the annual talent development project in which promising choreographers are invited by Conny Janssen to develop new work together with her dancers.

Finally, the microscopic analysis of the creative thought process of Conny Janssen by film maker Sonia Herman Dolz shows what is normally hidden from everyone: the first spark of inspiration between the dancers and Conny Janssen.