NANA ADJOA, TENT, ASTRID BOONS AND NICOLE BEUTLER GO INTERNATIONAL WITH FAST FORWARD 2

19 January 2022
Clockwise from the left: Nicole Beutler, Nana Adjoa, Astrid Boons, TENT
Clockwise from the left: Nicole Beutler, Nana Adjoa, Astrid Boons, TENT

With the Fast Forward programme of the Performing Arts Fund NL, Nana Adjoa, Nicole Beutler, Astrid Boons and TENT house for contemporary circus can pursue a further step in their artistic development.
Fast Forward offers talented mid-career artists the opportunity to spread their wings on the international stage, by collaborating with a prominent foreign-based producer. This way, the makers can work on their personal artistic development and international profile, and also expand their network. Meet the four makers who have been selected for the programme.
Photographer: Latoya van der Meeren
Photographer: Latoya van der Meeren
Nana Adjoa
Nana Adjoa is a Ghanaian-Dutch performing artist, songwriter and producer. Originally trained as a jazz bassist, and after three EP releases since 2017, she definitively made a name for herself with the debut LP Big Dreaming Ants. Nana was nominated for an Edison as Best Newcomer in 2021, and she won a Zilveren Notenkraker.

"I am grateful and honoured to participate in the 2022/2023 Fast Forward programme, coming at the end of a difficult year. The Fast Forward programme will enable me to further develop my skills as a songwriter/composer and producer in an international context, focusing on the United States. I will be observing and working with several producers and (film) composers. First stop is an internship with the New York-based Grammy winner Scott Jacoby (producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter and musician). The ultimate goal of my development process is to connect inspiration with new knowledge by means of research, study, and through practical experience. I look forward to developing and expanding my artistic ability, to increasing my autonomy as a maker, and to learning practically at the international level.”
Photographer: Anja Beutler
Photographer: Anja Beutler
Nicole Beutler
Nicole Beutler (Munich, 1969) has a background in visual arts and German literature and studied choreography at the SNDO in Amsterdam. In addition to numerous nominations, her work was awarded distinctions such as the VSCD Mime Prize (2009 and 2021), the Dioraphte prize (2014) and Music Theater NOW (2021). She also received the Gieskes-Strijbis Podium prize for her oeuvre in 2018.

"I’m very happy with the support of Fast Forward. I have set up several research projects with Vonk! of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, with several weeks of real collaboration and exchange between my team and the Operahuis. These difficult times require long-term international partnerships, and it feels good to receive resources with which to establish bridges and to further develop and intensify that contact. The programme we’ve conceived offers me lots of opportunities to learn about various aspects of grand opera projects on the international level. Our contact and exchange is already so fruitful that we are now investigating how we can eventually wrap up this collaboration with a co-production. I’m really pleased with that.”
Photographer: Marc Faasse
Photographer: Marc Faasse
TENT, house for contemporary circus
TENT is a ‘house for contemporary circus’, established in the Netherlands in 2010. Since then, TENT supports makers in various stages of their artistic and business development by offering various programmes, ranging from performing an act on their open podium to a four-year project as house maker.

"TENT, house for contemporary circus, aspires to be a dot on the horizon for Amsterdam-based circus makers in the form of a physical centre. We want to learn from international peers how you can organise a centre that both presents work and acts as a (co-)producer. What role can we fulfil in Amsterdam’s urban context and in a national context, and how can you flesh out your relationship with local, national and international partners? We have found a solid partner in London’s Jacksons Lane Arts Centre, which enables us to build a long-term relationship with the United Kingdom and with a party unlike any other in the Netherlands. It furthermore allows us to develop a durable network in the United Kingdom for Dutch circus makers."
Photographer: De Schaapjesfabriek
Photographer: De Schaapjesfabriek
Astrid Boons
Astrid Boons is a choreographer and performer. In recent years she has emerged as a talented choreographer, affiliated with The Hague’s Korzo Theater since 2017. She received the BNG Bank Dance Prize and Piket Art Prize for the duet Rhizoma (2017). NRC newspaper named her as one of the most promising talents nationwide in 2020. Astrid was nominated for the Prize of the Dutch Dance Days in 2021.

"I am immensely happy and grateful for being selected for Fast Forward. The programme’s support means that I can pursue a further important step in my career. It offers me the opportunity to investigate how I can further develop my dance idiom internationally, and how I can expand my network. To me, this programme is like a jumping board that will bear its fruits well into the future in the shape of international relations, co-productions, research places and performance venues.”

The following makers were previously selected for Fast Forward 2: Aart Strootman, Alexandra Broeder, Gery Mendes and Jörgen Tjon a Fong, Het Geluid Maastricht, Sevdaliza, Stephen Shropshire, Ensemble Klang, Jorinde Keesmaat, Pia Meuthen and Lisa Verbelen. Fast Forward's intendant Johan Gijsen has now added Nana Adjoa, TENT, Astrid Boons and Nicole Beutler to the definitive selection of Fast Forward 2.
Photo: © Ralph Winedt & Luan Buleshkaj - Distanshá
Photo: © Ralph Winedt & Luan Buleshkaj - Distanshá
Photo: © Nathalie Hennis
Photo: © Nathalie Hennis
The ISPA fellows (clockwise from top left): Mxolisi Masilela (© Mashudu Phophi), Yannick Noomen (© Mario Spada), Andrea Voets (© Koosje Koolbergen) and Maya Roest (© Khalid Amakran)
The ISPA fellows (clockwise from top left): Mxolisi Masilela (© Mashudu Phophi), Yannick Noomen (© Mario Spada), Andrea Voets (© Koosje Koolbergen) and Maya Roest (© Khalid Amakran)