Benjamin Feliksdal, auteur
Benjamin Feliksdal was trained as a dancer in Amsterdam (Florrie Rodrigo), Rome (Pieter van der Sloot), Londen (Rambert School of Ballet) and New York. His teachers were Paerl Lang, Lucas Hoving (modern dance), Luigi, Gus Giordano, Nathalia Orlowskaja and others.
During his performing career he was principal and soloist with The Dutch National Ballet en The Royal Ballet of Flanders. The founding of the Dutch National Ballet in 1961 was a milestone for the dance development in the Netherlands and the performing career of Benjamin Feliksdal. Sonia Gaskell, founder and artistic director or the company, invited an impressive range of international dance artists and teachers. Among the choreographers of the extensive repertory in which Benjamin Feliksdal performed are George Balanchine, Leonid Massine, Maurice Béjart, Pearl Lang, Kurt Jooss, John Taras, George Skibine, Henry Tomaszevski and Rudi van Dantzig.
The highlight of his career with The Dutch National Ballet was the partner role with Rudolf Nurejev in “Monument for a dead boy” (choreography by Rudi van Dantzig) wich was performed all over Europe.
After his dance career he specialised as a modern jazz & tap dance teacher. Grants of the state enabled him to train in New York for extensive periods.
Among his tap teachers were Charles Loëwe,
Michael Dominico, Phil Black,Henry Letang,Jerry Ames, Bob Audy, Jack Stanley, Mary Jane Brown, Kathy Burke and Carol Hess. He created a technique integrating elements of jazz, ballet, ethnic, tap and modern dance. In 1975 he founded Benjamin’s Modern Jazzdance Center (European School of Jazzdance) and the Theater Dance Workshop in Amsterdam.
As a former principal dancer of the National Ballet he became a pioneer in professional modern jazz dance training in the Netherlands. During the following twelve years he headed the professional training department and it’s allied dance company. Both school and company proved to be challenging new developments in professional theatre dance in the Netherlands. Due to lack of funding the school had to close down in 1987.
As a guest teacher Benjamin Feliksdal was invited by Alvin’s Ailey’s American Dance Center, The Dance Theatre of Harlem, The London School of Contemporary Dance, Gitis Moscow, the Vaganova Choreographic School in St. Petersburg, Le Ballet Jazz de Montreal, the Palucca Schule in Dresden, the State Ballet School in Berlin and the International Ballet Competition in Varna.
As a choreographer he had assignments in the Netherlands (Theater Dance Company, Amsterdam), Germany (Friedrichstadt Palast, Berlin), Bulgaria (Ballet Arabesque, Sofia) and Israel (Bat Dor Dance Company and School, Tel Aviv). During Glasgow European Cultural Capital, he was engaged as artistic director for a special modern dance project ‘’Young Europeans dance in Glasgow” which hosted young dancers and choreographers from 12 European countries.
As a jury member he was invited for the international dance competitions: a.o. Concours International de Danse de Paris (France), International Ballet Competition Varna (Bulgary) and Modern Dance Competition Vitebsk (Belarus).
His method and technique was documented in the book “Modern Jazzballet” which was published in 1984. “Dancercise” appeared in 1985; in this book he developed a physical fitness program based on dance and exercises of his technique. In 1994 he studied and developed special fitness- and supporting weight training schemes in connection with dance kinesiology for professional dancers. It is his firm belief that the professional training of dancers should express dynamics of technical and artistic qualities. Feliksdal seeks to experiment with all kinds of dance forms and techniques to develop styles and characteristics expressing images and communications of our time.
