Choreographer Donna Chittick began as a dancer with Solid Ground Movement and rose to become core dancer of dance company BackBone under Alida Dors. As BackBone's new artistic director, Donna retains BackBone's basic attitude and adds her own vision to it. From that vision, she wants to bring different disciplines together to collaborate, have conversations and be open to other perspectives and starting points. Donna wants to use hip hop to make her voice heard to the public, with themes that inspire her, but also themes that are important within today's society.
BackBone's performances under Donna are first created from a micro perspective; zooming in on a particular person or small group. During the creative process, that perspective widens.
"It is topics that often recur in the everyday and personal life of normal people that inspire and touch me. With my performances I want the audience to be able to put themselves in each other's situation, by showing understanding towards each other. But also that people see themselves again: although the situation is just different, the feeling is the same." - Donna Chittick
Donna will lead BackBone along with business leader and sparring partner Mara Liza de Bakker. Donna and Mara Liza will maintain the basic attitude of BackBone, with the values of hip-hop as their starting point. They will build on that solid foundation from the core values of togetherness, equality and room for development. With BackBone they also want to emphasize giving space to autodidacts and their professional development.
Picture: Selwyn de Wind
