Finally Recognition (2011)

Directed by: Bas Berkhout | 40 minutes | documentary

It is actually hard to imagine that it was only a generation ago that dance performances could not be seen throughout the Netherlands. In the 1970s, most of the dance on offer was provided by the Dutch National Ballet and the Nederlands Dans Theater. For dancers who did not come from the Randstad, there was often little choice but to move to the west, there was at least more employment there. Ton Wiggers, a student at the Arnhem Dance Academy, felt that this should change: ballet should be widely accessible to everyone, especially in his region: Gelderland and Overijssel. Together with Hans Focking, owner of a theater agency in Arnhem, he founded ballet working group Studio LP in 1971: a small-scale but ambitious company that slowly but surely managed to grow into a dance company to be reckoned with. In 1979 the group receives subsidies and is renamed Intro-Dans. Of course, the money was nowhere near enough to guarantee the continued existence of the dance company, but thanks to Wiggers’ vision, passion and determination, Introdans (which was written together from the mid-eighties) achieved great success. For example, the company received the Theater Criticism Prize in 1984 and Introdans regularly performs during Queen Beatrix’s state visits. Despite this, Ton Wiggers had to endure strong criticism. While the company was initially simply ignored by the national newspapers, when the ballet group’s performances were finally deemed good enough for a newspaper article, Wiggers was criticized for the fact that his group’s ballets were too superficial and clichéd. Fortunately, the spectators always kept flowing in: an enthusiastic audience, that’s what you do it all for. And Wiggers proved that there was indeed a breeding ground for his original idea: making dance as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.

With the documentary ‘Finally recognition’, co-produced by Omroep Gelderland, director Bas Berkhout sketches a beautiful and intimate portrait of a fascinating and beautiful person. He often lets Ton Wiggers speak, but also artistic director and ex-lover of Wiggers, Roel Voorintholt, tells the audience about his colleague’s enthusiasm. These short interviews create a fairly complete picture of the founder of Introdans: a sensitive and passionate man, who lives for his work and is fully committed to it. A life after Introdans is not for him, that much becomes clear. “He has grown with the company.” and “Probably at eighty-eight he’s still walking through the business, changing toilet rolls,” something similar is noted in the documentary. But in addition to a fascinating portrait of a man who has been able to make his dream come true and more, ‘Recognition at last’ also tells – albeit between the lines – the history of the Introdans company, which has been around for forty years in 2011. A well-dosed mix of archive footage and new recordings by Berkhout and his team, supported by beautiful music, shows meetings with members of the royal family, meetings where important and difficult decisions are made, a tour of Bangkok and a visit to Dresden. Moreover, the viewer is presented with impressive scenes of beautifully choreographed dance performances. The continuous struggle for money for culture is also touched upon.

All this makes ‘Finally Recognition’ a fine documentary for anyone who has even the slightest interest in (Dutch) art and culture. Dance lovers should not miss this expertly made documentary.