FLASH #31 – BORN TO CREATE – IHSAN RUSTEM

During the final weeks of November Rustem completed an intense 10-day creation process with our dancers; however that is not to say that he is a newcomer to our studio. In 2023 his extremely individual, quirky version of Ravel’s BOLERO was one of the highlights of the JBA year, hitting the sweet spot of dancers and public alike. So it was with great pleasure and curiosity that we welcomed his return to the studio to create a new piece for our June ‘26 program FLOW, a triptych made up of 3 different works, each by a different dance maker.  

British-born Rustem studied at London’s famous Rambert School of Dance, where he completed his training and where he was drawn into choreography from an early age. During the final years of his 15-year-long dancing career, he became more involved in the teaching side, a factor which helped him to exponentially increase his kinetic knowledge and in particular, develop a deeper sense of his own physicality.

Today, in the studio, this super-charged artist bristles with vitality, good humor and honesty. This last important element, he explains, is one he learnt to value most as a student and constantly motivates him to win the dancer’s trust and to draw out the best they are capable of.  

It also underlines his motto in performing; ‘A dancer should never ‘perform for’ an audience – instead they should ‘draw’ people in, invite them to be participants of a special and unique created world’.

JUDITH DELMÉ IN CONVERSATION WITH IHSAN RUSTEM

JD: How do you start out on a new creation and with a new group/company?

IR: “My approach is always identical, no matter if I’m working with highly professional dancers, with juniors or even with students. They all have to enter my world, become acquainted with my working method, be it use of space, of floor, the approach to the musicality or working with a partner – something I really love to explore! So to start out, I give the dancers structures (‘building blocks’), some sort of improvisational tools which help them enter my physical vocabulary, in order that when we come to start creating, the artists will have a definite point of reference and this speeds up the working process.”

JD: How did you proceed with this new creation for JBA?

IR: “The outline of the piece is similar to one I created in Seattle a few years back. I wanted to rework it but with entirely new material for this generation of JBA artists. I hardly ever make things up in advance. What I do is I generate a great deal in the studio in the beginning, and then additionally offer the dancers improvisational tasks of their own based on tools and material I have developed. Simultaneously I’m throwing in much of which emerges from my own vocabulary. Ultimately, when I see these small nuggets taking shape, I can use them to colour in the outline of the whole structure by ‘jiggling’ them around, so to speak.”

JD: What is your idea for the piece and for your choice of music?

IR: “I feel passionately about dance – to me the rehearsal studio is a sacred space. I have here (at JBA) a very talented bunch of young artists but they are on the verge of finding out what and who they are, not only as dancers but as individuals. The idea for the piece grew out of this and it’s very clear that it’s echoed in my choice of music.”

Even in its early stages, Ihsan Rustem’s creation stands to be the epitome and essence of what we hope to demonstrate in FLOW; all the beauty and grace, intelligence and versatility of the art form. We cannot wait to bring it to birth! Stay tuned for more insight on FLOW when we interview Altea Nuñez & Douglas Lee in a future FLASH!

This is possible on 19–20–21* June 2026 at 8 pm/*3 pm at Theater Het Eilandje

© Alain Honorez