Meet the new artistic director of Netherlands Dance Theatre

Emily Molnar was supposed to come to Sydney in June, so we interviewed her for Dance Australia. Around that time, she was announced the new director of NDT!

Over the past 10 years or so, a ballet company in Canada has been conducting its own self-revolution. Ballet BC was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2008/9. It is now a leader in innovative and courageous contemporary ballet. The person responsible for this transformation is artistic director Emily Molnar, a native Canadian who took up the challenge of turning the company’s fortunes around.

Such has been her success that Netherlands Dance Theatre, the most iconic of contemporary dance companies, had appointed her as its new artistic director. In announcing the appointment, NDT described her as “continuing the company’s foundations in the big names in the world of modern dance”.

Molnar already had an impressive career as both a dancer and choreographer before being appointed to BalletBC. She was a soloist with the Ballett Frankfurt under director William Forsythe, and a principal dancer with BalletBC. She is also a choreographer, and has created dances for companies all around the world. BalletBC is her first job as an artistic director. Her approach is a holistic one. She has nurtured the dancers and choreographers toward the common goal of revitalising the company, but also with a care for the wider picture of developing Canadian dance and, even more broadly, international contemporary ballet as a whole.

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This is an extract from an interview by Karen van Ulzen in the current (June/July/August) issue of Dance Australia. Buy your copy from your favourite dance shop or here.