Every tiny piece of the jigsaw falls into place when ideas come together. I walked past De Dutch Don’t Dance Division’s dance studio and suddenly the vision of a calendar (Eng, calendar) burst upon me. I smiled and saw the whole thing in my mind, growing, exploding in one giant ball of energy. I talked very enthusiastically to my colleague Sacha Grootjans about it and after some pressure he was convinced and we went to the De Dutch Don’t Dance Division to discuss the idea. It all started from there…
When i start to create i need a few pointers to go from. I questioned in my mind why do we call March, March and where did the naming of the months come from? I ended up at the Roman empire. Every month has a different meaning.
Janus is the Roman god of gates and doorways. When I traveled passed Duindigt I immediately imagined the image of horses in the gates and a ballerina in the middle of it .When I came home, I tried to draw it. It didn’t become the month of January as I intended, but it did float out of my head and become better than I envisaged
Februa is the Roman festival of purification. I thought of the beach and the water and when I went to the Pier I snapped this picture and drew these dancers in it.
I made many other drawings from the location pictures. Locations which we could get and some which we couldn't. Sometimes we found the location at the very last minute because our first choices became unworkable due to weather conditions.
‘It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours.’
This was my quote for the ballerina with the horses, in the beginning of the creating process. I still think it belongs with the picture
After location scouting and creating within 3 weeks we did the different photoshoots. With 8 shooting days and a week of post-production. We where exhausted and not agreeing with different colors what can be barely seen with the eye. But we finished it and where happy with the result.
The final result was De Dutch Don't Dance Calender presenting to marjolein poot. City Council member of culture with the Dancers and my fellow Colleague Sacha Grootjans.
The pictures are now also hanging in the city hall, The Hague.