{"id":1741,"date":"2022-09-27T14:54:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T12:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juniorballetantwerp.be\/team\/irma-swijnen\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T15:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T13:44:08","slug":"irma-swijnen","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/juniorballetantwerp.be\/en\/team\/irma-swijnen\/","title":{"rendered":"Irma Swijnen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Irma Swijnen<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Born in Mortsel, Antwerp, Irma Swijnen received her first ballet lessons from Jeanne Brabants at the Kolvenierstraat in Antwerp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After her training at the Stedelijk Instituut fort Ballet, she joined Jeanne Brabants\u2019 project \u2018Studio Ballet\u2019, took extra pedagogical courses at the Vaganova Institute in St. Petersburg and followed also several courses of classical dance pedagogy with the renowned ballet teacher Dr.Martin Puttke, director of the Berlin State Ballet School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1975 she formed \u2018Dansstudio Arabesque\u2019 where she remained as artistic director until 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1985 Irma was co-founder of the Flemish Organisation for Dance Teachers and a year later became their chairwoman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During years she built an impressive career:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In 1988, third prize for choreography at Bethune, France<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1st edition of the \u2018International Dance Stage\u2019 in Antwerp<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Undertook the future organisation of \u2018 DE International Dance Stage\u2019<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Organisation of annual performances in support of \u2018Aids Memorial Day\u2019 at different locations in Antwerp, o.a at the Sint Carolus Borromeus Church<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Guest choreographer at the Vienna State Ballet School with the choreography \u2018Dance-e-Motions\u2019, mounting it and polishing it in the studio with the students.This performance was brought three times at the Vienna State Opera<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Guest choreographer at the Palucca Dance School, Dresden with the choreography \u2018Dance-e-Motions\u2019<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Art Laureate , Antwerp 2000<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Guest choreographer and teacher for the 13th and 14th \u2018 International Seminary of Dance\u2019 in Brazil<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Member of the jury for the \u2018International Dance Competition\u2019 in Brazil in 2003 &amp; 2004<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Organised a performance in AMUZ Theatre during the 23rd International Dance Stage, Antwerp in 2006. This was for the Junior Dance Company project, a platform to give young starting dancers the chance to work with well-known choreographers, in order to broaden their network and thus improve their chances in the work market<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Creation of the performance \u2018Waterwork\u2019 ( 2007) in collaboration with Ann Van den Broek and Niek Kortekaas during which 450 dancers took part<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As from January 2008, Irma initiated a collaboration with P.A.R.T.S, FONTYS, HID, CODARTS and the students of Dansstudio Arabesque for performances created by choreographers from these institutes to expand their networks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Organisation of workshops lead by Hans Joachim Tappendorff ( classical ballet) and Dr. Martin Puttke ( lesson methodology for teachers)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In 2016 Irma became chairwoman of Friends of the Ballet School.VZW<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since 2019 Irma became co-founder with Alain Honorez, of Junior Ballet Antwerp, giving freely of her year- long experience and knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Irma Swijnen<\/strong>&nbsp;:&nbsp;<em>Although I won\u2019t deny I saw myself as a soloist, there is only place in the ranks for the best talent. That is why chose to devote myself to teaching &#8211; to stand next to the stage rather than on it. It has given me happiness &amp; more satisfaction than I ever could have known as a dancer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Irma Swijnen Born in Mortsel, Antwerp, Irma Swijnen received her first ballet lessons from Jeanne Brabants at the Kolvenierstraat in Antwerp. After her training at the Stedelijk Instituut fort Ballet, she joined Jeanne Brabants\u2019 project \u2018Studio Ballet\u2019, took extra pedagogical courses at the Vaganova Institute in St. Petersburg and followed also several courses of classical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1399,"parent":1737,"menu_order":100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template_team_single.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1741","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Irma Swijnen - Co-Founder of Junior Ballet Antwerp<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Since 2019 Irma became co-founder with Alain Honorez, of Junior Ballet Antwerp, giving freely of her year- long experience and knowledge.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/juniorballetantwerp.be\/en\/team\/irma-swijnen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Irma Swijnen - 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