Van Opstals: Heart Drive

A gripping new creation by in-demand Dutch choreographers Imre and Marne van Opstal. An exploration of love, connection and pleasure, as well as the stigmas and moral taboos that exist within. Heart Drive was co-commissioned by Vancouver-based Ballet BC and Tero Saarinen Company. This international co-production premiered in Canada on November 2022. The European premiere, restaged for eight stunning TSC dancers, took place at Dance House Helsinki in 2023 as a part of Tero Saarinen Company’s double bill, together with Jyrki Karttunen‘s Digital Duende.

Duration
32 minutes
Premiere
3 November 2022, Ballet BC, World Premiere: Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver, Canada | 9 June, 2023, Tero Saarinen Company: Dance House Helsinki, Finland
Choreographer's note

”Through multiple stages, Heart Drive invites you to reflect, unburden, and accept instincts and impulses. Where the physical experience of the body and sensations can exist without boundaries, and the acknowledgement of our nature is present. By exploring the primal drive we carry to love, hold, and connect. 

Our sexual nature is a fundamental energy we possess to create, nurture and shape the world. It enables us to create bonds by entertaining our fantasies of love, commitment, and sense of pleasure while forming our experience, social status and desirability. These notions are often shamed, boxed in or even taken advantage of, yet they ultimately ensure our very survival.”

– Imre and Marne van Opstal

Reviews

“Heart Drive is the most overt exploration of sexuality, investigating our inner, animal forces in noncliched and open-minded ways –– movement language is distinct and a bit surreal –– partnering is an innovative highlight –– Haunting and dreamlike –– alluring taste of the European vanguard“

Stir (Canada)

“The spectator is mesmerized by the dancers' openness, virtuosity and unbroken connection. – – Heart Drive exhales sexual energy and primal instincts but it avoids evident pitfalls. The core is the interpretation of love and connection.“

Helsingin Sanomat (Finland)

“The visuals, sound, technically challenging movement language and the dancers were all stunningly perfect.“

Demokraatti (Finland)

“Stunning – absolutely un-ignorable – yells in your face with sexiness and power”

The Vancouver Arts Review (Canada)

Creative team

Choreography Imre Van Opstal & Marne Van Opstal
Music / Composition Amos Ben-Tal
Light Design Tom Visser
Set Design Tom Visser, Imre Van Opstal & Marne Van Opstal
Costume Design Imre Van Opstal & Marne Van Opstal in consultation with Kate Burrows
Assistant to the Choreographers Chloé Albaret
Rehearsal Director David Scarantino

Dance | TSC Chloé Albaret, Amie-Blaire Chartier, Anni Koskinen, Oskari Kymäläinen, Joni Österlund, Katerina Torp, Jack Traylen, Gaya Yemini Understudy Samuli Emery, Anette Toiviainen

Production

A Co-Production of Ballet BC and Tero Saarinen Company

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