1995 - now
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199550 jaar Scapino Ballet
Scapino celebrates its 50th anniversary with the performance Romeo & Julia. Ed Wubbe turns the classic love story into a contemporary ballet. The revenue earned at the premiere and the tour is donated to UNICEF. Hans Snoek attends the opening night. [photos Hans Gerritsen]
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1996Perfect Skin
Perfect Skin, a performance that premiered in 1992, reprises this season. Dutch national newspaper Trouw calls the black-and-white decor and costume designs ‘a kaleidoscopic pannatic’ and ‘a panorama that gives rise to various associations, from jungles to swirling seas’. [photos Hans Gerritsen] 
Nico
Scapino works closely together with pop legend John Cale, known from the band The Velvet Underground. Music and poetry by Nico, the illustrious and destructive singer of The Velvet Underground, play a central role in the show that Ed Wubbe creates with John Cale. In March 1998 Located behaviours, shaped in attitude premiers. It is the first choreography by our new in-house choreographer Georg Reischl.
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1998Epoxy
Twenty dancers from Scapino Rotterdam and seven dancers from Dance company Krisztina de Châtel perform together in the show Epoxy, choreographed by De Châtel. Thom Willems composes the music especially for this performance. [photo Hans Gerritsen] -
1999TWOOLS
A new concept is started by Scapino Rotterdam: TWOOLS. Under this name, several short performances by young and talented choreographers are put on stage. These short performances are connected by Ed Wubbe’s divertissements. The second edition is the most spectacular: classically trained dancers are sharing the stage with 010Bboys breakdancers. A real first! This is also Scapino’s first year at Lowlands music festival where it is the first dance and theater company to take part. [photo Hans Gerritsen]
2000 - 2010
The audience wants variety
Wubbe continues to make his appealing and expressive dance performances at a rapid pace. He always looks for the right balance between imagination and predictability in his work. He often shows us the dark, shadow side of human beings. He has a great eye for talent and he finds new and young choreographers. One of his major discoveries is Marco Goecke, a German choreographer who makes use of the human body in an unusual and almost uncomfortable way.
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2000Nanine Linning joins Scapino
Aged 22, Nanine Linning is Scapino’s youngest in-house choreographer ever. Her first major performance is The Neon Lounge. After that she creates: SCUM, Lighthouse, Bubble Gum Wrapper and Endless Song of Silence. After 4 years, Nanine Linning leaves Scapino to continue her career in Germany with her own dance company. [photos Hans Gerritsen] 
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2001Scapino x MVRDV
In 2001 Rotterdam is European Capital of Culture. Rotterdam Marketing invites Scapino to create a dance performance for this occasion. And so Manyfacts, life in the 3D city is created. It is an unconventional, joint project by dance company Scapino and MVRDV architects. Manyfacts is set in a city of the future which is shown on large screens. This is also the year when Hans Snoek passes away at the age of 90. [photo Ruben Stern] -
2003Four for Nothing
American choreographer Amanda Miller, well-known for her innnovative choreographies, creates Four for Nothing for Scapino. Scapino dancer Mischa van Leeuwen recites a 20-minute monologue. It wins an award, The Swan, for best production. [photo Hans Gerritsen] 
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2005Rotterdam dances
Six dance companies from Rotterdam join forces. Scapino and Conny Janssen Danst, Dance Works Rotterdam, Meekers Uitgesproken Dans, Rogie & Company and Dansatelier organise presentations called Rotterdam Danst (Rotterdam is dancing). The highlight of the year is DANSnacht (Dance night) featuring dozens of dance performances and dance workshops filling every corner of Theater Rotterdam (known as Rotterdamse Schouwburg at the time). [photo workshop Joke Schot]
Marco Goecke
In 2005 Der Rest ist Schweigen (The rest is silence) premiers. This first choreography of the new in-house choreographer Marco Goecke causes a thrill in the world of dance. His highly original style shows his near obsession with dance. Goecke’s star is already rising in the German world of ballet. At Scapino he also conquers the Netherlands and he makes his international breakthrough. During his 7 years at Scapino as in-house choreographer he creates 11 choreographies.
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2006Dancing on a lawn
In The Green, Ed Wubbe juxtaposes the magnificent greatness of Bach’s St John’s Passion with the small futility of mankind. Seven male dancers take on the challenge of dancing to this very intimidating music. They do so on a bright green lawn of 10 x 8 metres. [photo Hans Gerritsen] -
2007Tous les jours, a tous point de vue, on va de mieux
Between 1977 and 1985, choreographer Hans Teurlings regularly creates performances for Scapino. Now he returns with a special show: Tous les jours, a tous point de vue, on va de mieux. Teurlings does not only challenge the dancers technically, but he also appeals to their theatrical appearance and their readiness to be themselves. [photo Hans Gerritsen]
The Nutcracker by Marco Goecke
In-house choreographer Marco Goecke presents his version of the Scapino classic The Nutcracker (De Notenkraker). Emphasizing the dark aspects of this story, he calles it a ‘ballet noir’. The decor is completely black, decorated with thousands of black walnuts.
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2009Holland
Ed Wubbe puts together an evening full of dance: three choreographies that are closely connected by the Holland theme. For the title piece Wubbe returns to the Golden Age, where the Dutch identity originated. [photo Hans Gerritsen] 
2010 - 2020
A melting pot of dance styles
There is more and more attention for dance thanks to popular dance programmes on television. Scapino grows and hires more dancers from different backgrounds. Scapino becomes a melting pot of street dance, hip hop, classical ballet and other styles. There is also room for elements of circus, variety shows, opera and live music in the dance performances. Scapino starts to make an effort for audiences who do not naturally come into contact with dance, such as the blind and partially sighted in close cooperation with Foundation Komt het Zien (Come and See).
Songs for Drella
Scapino’s in-house choreographers Ed Wubbe and Marco Goecke are co-producing Songs for Drella. Their source of inspiration is the album by Lou Reed and John Cale from 1989 – which is an ode to their deceased friend: the world famous visual artist Andy Warhol.
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2011Another financial setback
The Dutch government announces severe cuts in the subsidies for the cultural sector. Scapino tries to survive by organising the option of becoming a member of Scapino for 10 euros per person. Thousands of fans of ballet and dance support Scapino this way so it continues to exist, but its income is greatly reduced. Pearl by Ed Wubbe has its opening night. It is inspired by baroque. The music is by composers such as Vivaldi is performed live by Combattimento. The tour is sold out within two weeks, that’s how popular it is. [photos Hans Gerritsen] 
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2012Le Chat Noir
An ode to Paris with dance and music: Le Chat Noir (The Black Cat) by Ed Wubbe. He is inspired by the theater and cabaret café with the same name in Montmartre in 1900. It is a combination of different styles of music, dance and variety shows and Ed Wubbe stretches his creative boundaries towards theatrical performances. [photo Hans Gerritsen] -
2015Henry
All eyes are aimed at our new in-house choreographer Itamar Serussi, who introduces himself to the audience with Henry. A season ago he created a shorter dance performance: Wolf, which received lots of praise. In Henry he once again shows his playful and energetic style of moving – with soundscapes by composer Richard van Kruysdijk. [photo Joris Jan Bos]
Les Fêtes Vénitiennes
Invited by opera director Robert Carsen, choreographer Ed Wubbe works with 10 Scapino dancers during the entire month of January in Paris on ballet opera Les Fêtes Vénitiennes (The Venetian Party). After the opening night in Opéra Comique, this production goes on tour to Caen, Toulouse and New York.
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201670 years of Scapino!
This anniversary is celebrated with an ambitious project: TING! It is a multidisciplinary and spectacular performance in which Ed Wubbe combines Scapino dancers with circus artists and the Dutch popular music band Nits in a magical fantasy world. It is to be the largest production of Scapino ever. TING! is performed in the derelict Ferro Dome in the docklands of the port of Rotterdam which is transformed into a theatre with a rotating dance floor, 1250 chairs, bars, a restaurant and exhibition centre. In 2018 TING! is put on the stage again in Carré Amsterdam and in the Luxor Theater in Rotterdam. [photos Eric Fecken, Joris Jan Bos] 
Scala
Choreographer Ed Wubbe celebrates his 25th anniversary at Scapino with a baroque performance called Scala, the sequel to Pearl. Live music is performed by Combattimento. After the premier, Wubbe is presented with the royal award ‘Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw’. Throughout the entire Scala tour, Scapino asks for donations for the Princess Beatrix Spierfonds (Dutch charity dedicated to curing all neuromuscular diseases) and collects €25,000.
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2019All hands on deck
This unusual and highly surprising collaboration between Scapino en Släpstick (formerly known as Wëreldbänd) results in All hands on deck. It is a performance full of miraculous combinations of dance, humor, music and theater. One of the performances is co-produced with Foundation Komt het Zien! (Come and See!) for a blind and partially sighted audience. [photos Rob Becker, Bas Czerwinski] 
2020 - 2030
Crisis, farewells and success
An exciting time is dawning for Scapino. We are close to losing our position as a BIS company and the corona pandemic is putting theatre performances on hold. But there are also new opportunities. We are the first cultural institution to launch a video on demand platform Scapino Streamt, allowing us to stay connected with our audience. These years are also marked by farewells: star dancer Bonnie Doets bids farewell to the stage and artistic director Ed Wubbe hands over the baton after more than 30 years.
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2020Double crisis
At the beginning of 2020 Covid hits the world. The Netherlands also goes into a lockdown. This means that a large number of performances in the spring of 2020 are cancelled. To make matters worse, Scapino nearly loses its position as BIS company (Basic Infrastructure for cultural organisations in the Netherlands). Thanks to our wonderful audience, many of whom sign the petition – and thanks to the support of theaters, the dance world and politics Scapino manages to keep the right to receive funding from the Dutch government. -
2021Energizers
Scapino makes children dance and that has everything to do with our origin as a youth dance company. As a gift to all primary schools, we develop DANS-energisers: videos of about seven minutes with a dance instruction by a Scapino dancer and a dance along part. In these digital dance lessons, more than 160,000 primary school pupils were introduced to Scapino and the four dance elements: time, power, space and body.
Oscar
By invitation of Royal Theatre Carré choreographer Ed Wubbe created an ode to founder Oscar Carré in honour of the theatre's 135th anniversary. In the arena, dance, theatre, circus and live music come together. Oscar's eighteen performances were all practically sold out. Night after night, the full ensemble of dancers from Scapino, the eight circus artists from Codarts Circus Arts and Blaudzun received a standing ovation from the audience, which rated the performance with an average score of 9.1.
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2023Farewell Bonnie Doets
With Oscar, star dancer Bonnie Doets danced her last major premiere. 2023 is the year she bids farewell to the dance stage after a career spanning more than 30 years. Bonnie danced in all of Ed Wubbe's choreographies and remained with Scapino throughout her career. She continues her path as a ballet master with our company. [photos Khalid Amakran]
Disclaimer
With this timeline, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam wants to paint a picture of its 75th anniversary. We do not have the ambition, nor the means to be complete. In the unlikely event that you discover an error or see a major omission, please contact us.
Imagery
Scapino Ballet Rotterdam has done its utmost to trace the sources and rights holders of the visual material that is used. If, nevertheless, images are shown of which you are the (co-)owner and for the use of which you have not given permission, you can contact us.
Photography chapters: Hans van den Busken (1950s), Jorge Fatauros (1980s), Hans Gerritsen (1990s), Joris Jan Bos (1900s), Eric Fecken (1910s). The photographers of the other photos are unknown.
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