Niels Weijer


©Jan Buteijn

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→ InstagramNiels Weijer (1988, NL) is a dancer and choreographer whose work exists in the niche between dance and visual art. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Modern Dance from Codarts Rotterdam and a Master's in Choreography from HZT Berlin. His work has been showcased at Bauhaus Dessau, Museum Quartier Vienna, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Uferstudios Berlin, Kunstquartier Bethanien Berlin, and Lobe Block.


He creates moving sculptures that embrace the idea of oscillating the essence of the work into ever-evolving movements. 
Since 2019 he has continuously developed his method of Choroegraphic-Sculpting through which he composes his choreographies. 





Choreographic-Sculpting

a composing method
Choreographic-sculpting (CS) combines dance with sculpture. My dances are presented as immersive moving sculptures that oscillate through task-driven choreographic scores. The moving sculptures are three-dimensional and hold the full content of their concept in their movement material, which I call navigators. Navigators are piece-specific sets of task-driven guides through which the dancers oscillate, creating the idea of a rotating sculpture with a circular narrative.



The dance in CS is created through a listening-based exchange with objects. By channeling awareness through and with the object, I allow the objects to influence the movements of my body and the concepts of my pieces. The concept and different movement qualities together form the navigators of the work. The navigators are situations, tools, and qualities. 


Situations are agreements in which the dancers are in for a longer period of time (an example of a situation in daily life could be “a picnic in the park with friends”).

Tools are the instructions for how to interact in the situation (in the example of the picnic: chatting with friends, playing a game, etc.). Tools crossover between situations, but could sometimes be situation-specific. 

Qualities are the moods that can give a “color” to the situations and tools. The choreography that unfolds out of this oscillates from one situation to the other and back again. This gives clear distinction between parts of the work but allows for them to be chosen at will. 

The core of this way of working is that work can stay improvised and is shaped through the interaction with the navigators, the object,, and the other dancers. The dancers are always responding to someone or something but have the freedom to decide within the rules what this would be.

This interplay between situations, tools, and qualities can be seen as a kaleidoscope, where shifting patterns emerge from layered elements constantly evolving and interacting. Just like with a turning kaleidoscope, the viewer's perspective continually shifts, revealing new combinations and arrangements, offering a transformative viewing experience.